Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Required reading for all sea-lovers
What a great book! I wish I'd read it before I started reading any naval fiction (or fact, for that matter).
Not as detailed as Dr.Roger's 'Wooden World' but much more readable, with lots of snippets of info and descriptions of procedures that are taken for granted in most books - like 'what is a messenger and how is it used?' - most buffs have a vague idea, but not in the detail that is shown here.
The text is lively, flows logically from one subject to an allied one, keeping one interested as one is taken through the construction, manning and working of the ship. Then we are treated to remarkably un-jingoistic descriptions of the famous battles of the Napoleonic era, with blow-by-blow diagrams showing the positions of the opposing fleets throughout the action.
My only complaint is that not quite enough space is given to shipboard life, and a little too much praise is heaped on Nelson (after all, that's what Nelson expects....) but not a mention of Cochrane, whose tactics, gung-ho zeal and inventiveness were the epitome of what a fighting captain should be (at least, in the eyes of the public - and Patrick O'Brien).
However, a damned good show
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