Download or read book Commander The Life and Exploits of Britain s Greatest Frigate Captain written by Stephen Taylor and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2012-10-15 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Nobody describes a naval battle better than Taylor…a flawless demonstration of the biographer’s craft." —Jan Morris, The Guardian Edward Pellew, captain of the legendary Indefatigable, was quite simply the greatest British frigate captain in the age of sail. Left fatherless at age eight, with a penniless mother and five siblings, Pellew fought his way from the very bottom of the navy to fleet command. Victories and eye-catching feats won him a public following. Yet he had a gift for antagonizing his better-born peers, and he made powerful enemies. Redemption came with his last command, when he set off to do battle with the Barbary States and free thousands of European slaves. Opinion held this to be an impossible mission, and Pellew himself, leading from the front in the style of his contemporary Nelson, did not expect to survive. Pellew’s humanity, fondness for subordinates, and blind love for his family, and the warmth and intimacy of his letters, make him a hugely engaging figure. Stephen Taylor gives him at last the biography he deserves.
Download or read book Frigate Commander written by Tom Wareham and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2004-09-19 with total page 494 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The naval historian presents the thrilling true story of a Royal Navy officer’s frigate command in the tumultuous late 18th and early 19th centuries. Based on the private journals of Admiral Sir Graham Moore, Frigate Commander recounts his experiences as a Lieutenant and then Captain during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Moore's journal gives a detailed account of life as a serving naval officer, revealing the unique problems of managing a frigate crew, maintaining discipline and turning his ship into an efficient man of war. Moore was one of the Royal Navy's star captains, serving continuously as a frigate commander between 1793 and 1804. His early career took him to Newfoundland before serving with Sir William Sidney Smith's squadron on the north coast of France. Moore was present during the Naval Mutiny at Spithead in 1797, and helped to destroy the French fleet off Ireland in 1798. His most famous action occurred in September 1804, when his squadron captured a Spanish frigate squadron carrying a fortune in treasure. The following year his frigate, HMS Indefatigable, was involved in the opening of the Trafalgar Campaign.
Download or read book Cochrane the Dauntless written by David Cordingly and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-08-14 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Patrick O'Brian, C.S. Forester and Captain Marryat all based their literary heroes on Thomas Cochrane, but Cochrane's exploits were far more daring and exciting than those of his fictional counterparts. He was a man of action, whose bold and impulsive nature meant he was often his own worst enemy. Writing with gripping narrative skill and drawing on his own travels and original research, Cordingly tells the rip-roaring story of a flawed Romantic hero who helped define his age.
Download or read book Master and Commander written by Patrick O'Brian and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2007 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Set sail for the read of your life! Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written. Now these evocative stories are being re-issued in paperback by Harper Perennial with stunning new jackets.
Download or read book Patronage and the British Navy 1775 1815 written by Catherine Beck and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2025-01-21 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that patronage served a very useful function and should not be seen as a form of corruption. This book, based on extensive original research, examines the rich and varied nature of patronage in the British navy at the end of the long eighteenth century. Patronage underpinned naval advancement, determined where officers, seamen and dockyard workers were stationed, and fashioned their reputations. It was also a system of trust whereby an individual's connections acted as guarantors of their ability, character and suitability for a position. This book moves beyond considering patronage as being primarily about promotion to uncover its deeper social and cultural implications. Considering not just the officer class, but also warrant officers, ordinary seamen and dockyard tradesmen and workers, it reveals the fuller extent of naval patronage as it operated between both elite and non-elite men and women, within all forms of friendship, not just professional or political alliances, and beneath veneers of fashionable sensibility, duty and honour. Historians of the navy in this period are well aware of the importance of patronage, but the subject has never previously been studied in such detail. The book will be very welcome for uncovering the full nature of patronage, both for naval historians and also for cultural and social historians interested in the period more generally. Catherine Beck completed her doctorate at University College London in collaboration with the National Maritime Museum.
Download or read book Hornblower s Historical Shipmates written by Heather Noel-Smith and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2016 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating account of varied careers, providing a rich snapshot of the later eighteenth-century sailing navy in microcosm. This book sets out the lives of seventeen 'young gentlemen' who were midshipmen under the famous Captain Sir Edward Pellew. Together, aboard the frigate HMS Indefatigable, they fought a celebrated action in 1797 against theFrench ship of the line Les Droits de l'Homme. C. S. Forester, the historical novelist, placed his famous hero, Horatio Hornblower, aboard Pellew's ship as a midshipman, so this book tells, as it were, the actual stories of Hornblower's real-life shipmates. And what stories they were! From diverse backgrounds, aristocratic and humble, they bonded closely with Pellew, learned their naval leadership skills from him, and benefited from his patronage and his friendship in their subsequent, very varied careers. The group provides a fascinating snapshot of the later eighteenth-century sailing navy in microcosm. Besides tracing the men's naval lives, the book shows how they adapted to peace after 1815, presenting details of their civilian careers. The colourful lives recounted include those of the Honourable George Cadogan, son of an earl, who survived three courts martial and a duel to retire with honouras an admiral in 1813; Thomas Groube, of a Falmouth merchant family, who commanded a fleet of boats which destroyed the Dutch shipping at Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies, in 1806; and James Bray, of Irish Catholic descent, who was killed commanding a sloop during the American war of 1812. Heather Noel-Smith is a genealogist and a retired Methodist minister. Lorna Campbell is a digital education manager at the University of Edinburgh and an education technology consultant. They are both independent researchers.
Download or read book Naval History written by and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 490 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book American Sanctuary written by A. Roger Ekirch and published by Pantheon. This book was released on 2017 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The book is a triptych, beginning with the mutiny on the Hermione and the ensuing manhunt for members of her crew. The second section recounts the arrival of a handful of mutineers, including Jonathan Robbins, in the United States before examining in depth the political crisis that engulfed John Adams and the Federalist Party. The final three chapters focus on the election of 1800 and the protracted consequences of Robbins's martyrdom during the years of Republican ascendancy"--Page xiii.
Download or read book Nelson s Trafalgar written by Roy Adkins and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-10-31 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An explosive chronicle of history's greatest sea battle, from the co-author of the forthcoming Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History (March 2018) In the tradition of Antony Beevor's Stalingrad, Nelson's Trafalgar presents the definitive blow-by-blow account of the world's most famous naval battle, when the British Royal Navy under Lord Horatio Nelson dealt a decisive blow to the forces of Napoleon. The Battle of Trafalgar comes boldly to life in this definitive work that re-creates those five momentous, earsplitting hours with unrivaled detail and intensity.
Download or read book The Mauritius Command written by Patrick O'Brian and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 1994 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stephen Maturin brings Captain Jack Aubrey secret orders to lead an expedition against the French islands of Mauritius and La Reunion, but the conduct of two of his own officers threatens the success of the mission.
Download or read book Man of War written by Anthony Sullivan and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2017-06-30 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The career of Guernsey-born Admiral James Saumarez reads like an early history of the Royal Navy. His first battle was against the American revolutionaries in 1775, but thereafter his main opponents were the French and the Spanish, and the first fighting ship he commanded, the eight-gun galley Spitfire, was involved in forty-seven engagements before being run aground.Rising through the ranks, Saumarez fought on land and at sea, and was involved in actions in the English Channel, being given command of a squadron of ships based at Guernsey. He served on HMS Victory, took part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent, the Blockade of Cadiz, and was with Nelson at the Battle of the Nile.Promoted to Rear Admiral, he led his ships at the battles of Algeciras and the Gut of Gibraltar. Saumarez was then dispatched into the Baltic, where he helped thwart Napoleons attempt at conquering Russia.So prominent was Saumarez during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, he was featured in the Hornblower novels and other fictional books, including Master and Commander. Tony Sullivan, however, tells the true story of one of the most remarkable individuals of the great days of sail, in the first biography of Saumarez for more than 170 years.
Download or read book The Struggle for Sea Power A Naval History of the American Revolution written by Sam Willis and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2016-02-15 with total page 672 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating naval perspective on one of the greatest of all historical conundrums: How did thirteen isolated colonies, which in 1775 began a war with Britain without a navy or an army, win their independence from the greatest naval and military power on earth? The American Revolution involved a naval war of immense scope and variety, including no fewer than twenty-two navies fighting on five oceans—to say nothing of rivers and lakes. In no other war were so many large-scale fleet battles fought, one of which was the most strategically significant naval battle in all of British, French, and American history. Simultaneous naval campaigns were fought in the English Channel, the North and Mid-Atlantic, the Mediterranean, off South Africa, in the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean, the Pacific, the North Sea and, of course, off the eastern seaboard of America. Not until the Second World War would any nation actively fight in so many different theaters. In The Struggle for Sea Power, Sam Willis traces every key military event in the path to American independence from a naval perspective, and he also brings this important viewpoint to bear on economic, political, and social developments that were fundamental to the success of the Revolution. In doing so Willis offers valuable new insights into American, British, French, Spanish, Dutch, and Russian history. This unique account of the American Revolution gives us a new understanding of the influence of sea power upon history, of the American path to independence, and of the rise and fall of the British Empire.
Download or read book Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute written by United States Naval Institute and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Admiral Satan written by Roderick Cavaliero and published by I.B. Tauris. This book was released on 1994-12-31 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nelson admired him. Marie-Antoinette counted him among France's national heroes. The exiled Napoleon sighed for what might have been had his own navy been commanded by someone of like calibre. His lascar sailors feared him as much as they admired him, and nicknamed him 'Admiral Satan'. In an age of remarkable characters, Pierre-Andre de Suffren Saint Tropez, the Bailli de Suffren, was one of the most remarkable: eccentric, irascible, slovenly, gluttonous, possessed of furious energy and lust for battle. He was also the most daring, innovative tactician in France's pre-revolutionary navy."" ""Suffren began his naval career in the service of the Knights of Malta, protecting the Order's shipping against the corsairs of the Barbary coast. Then began the long, slow climb through the ranks of the pre-revolutionary French navy, during which he saw action in the West Indies, ran the blockade during the American war of independence, and was twice taken prisoner by the British, whom he hated ever after."" ""When at last he achieved independent command, this hatred fuelled his determination to beat the British in the Indian Ocean. At stake was France's alliance with Haidar Ali, the shrewd and battle-scarred Nawab of Mysore, and hence control of southern India. Suffren brought all his tactical brilliance and radical innovation to bear: his opponent, the indomitable Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, was no less determined, and the resulting campaign was as fierce as it was evenly balanced, ending only with the declaration of peace in 1783. Suffren returned to France, to be feted and feasted by nobility and populace alike. He ended his life there, having acquired honours and avoirdupois in more or less equal measure."" ""Roderick Cavaliero's is the first English-language biography of this extraordinary man. It is a vivid portrait of an individual and his world, with sharply drawn descriptions of people, places and events - and, of course, the sea battles, with their mingled excitement and danger. Above all, Suffren himself comes to life, with his immense vitality, his volcanic rages, his eccentricities and his matchless understanding of war in his chosen element, the sea.
Download or read book Boy s Book of Sea Fights written by Chelsea Curtis Fraser and published by Wentworth Press. This book was released on 2019-03-16 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Download or read book Wellington s Eastern Front written by Nick Lipscombe and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-11-30 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At last, in this absorbing and authoritative study, the story of the epic struggle on Spains eastern front during the Peninsular War has been told. Often overlooked as not integral to the Duke of Wellingtons main army and their campaigns in Portugal and western Spain, they were, in point of fact, intrinsically linked. Nick Lipscombe, a leading historian of the Napoleonic Wars and an expert on the fighting in the Iberian peninsula, describes in graphic detail the battles fought by the French army of General Suchet against the Spanish regulars and guerrillas and subsequently the Anglo-Sicilian force sent by the British government to stabilize the region. Despite Suchet's initial successes and repeated setbacks for the allied armies, by late 1813 the east coast of Spain held a key to Wellington's invasion of France and the ultimate defeat of Napoleon's armies in the Peninsula. At a tactical level the allies were undeniably successful and made an important contribution to the eventual French defeat.
Download or read book Sons of the Waves written by Stephen Taylor and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2020-05-19 with total page 535 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brilliant telling of the history of the common seaman in the age of sail, and his role in Britain’s trade, exploration, and warfare British maritime history in the age of sail is full of the deeds of officers like Nelson but has given little voice to plain, "illiterate" seamen. Now Stephen Taylor draws on published and unpublished memoirs, letters, and naval records, including court-martials and petitions, to present these men in their own words. In this exhilarating account, ordinary seamen are far from the hapless sufferers of the press gangs. Proud and spirited, learned in their own fashion, with robust opinions and the courage to challenge overweening authority, they stand out from their less adventurous compatriots. Taylor demonstrates how the sailor was the engine of British prosperity and expansion up to the Industrial Revolution. From exploring the South Seas with Cook to establishing the East India Company as a global corporation, from the sea battles that made Britain a superpower to the crisis of the 1797 mutinies, these "sons of the waves" held the nation’s destiny in their calloused hands.
