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For military-history buffs, Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels are the literary equivalent of potato chips: you can't read just one. And in this case, why would you want to? Blending meticulous research and old-fashioned entertainment, the series follows the roguish adventurer Richard Sharpe as he swashbuckles his way through the Napoleonic Wars. In Sharpe's Trafalgar, the author ventures into Patrick O'Brian's maritime territory. Anchors aweigh, lads, and bring on the detailed descriptions of the ship's guns and their firing mechanisms!
In the beginning of the book, our hero sets sail for England after five months of service in India. The plot revolves around a disguised diplomat, a marauding French warship, and an improbable love affair with a comely English aristocrat. But make no mistake, the real draw here is combat. The battle scenes crackle with energy, and we can practically feel the chop of the waves and smell the reek of gunpowder. (We can also smell 600 unwashed men in close quarters with rats, sewage, and bilge rot, but that's another matter entirely.) The last hundred pages fly by at a furious clip, cannons pounding and cutlasses hacking, as Cornwell re-creates the naval battle of Trafalgar.
These days, of course, we know that war is bloody and brutal, not honorable or fair. We like even our most appealing warriors to have some passing acquaintance with their dark side, and Sharpe does take a decidedly antiheroic stance on the experience of hand-to-hand combat:
He was ashamed when he remembered the joy of it, but there was a joy there. It was the happiness of being released to the slaughter, of having every bond of civilization removed. It was also what Richard Sharpe was good at. It was why he wore an officer's sash instead of a private's belt, because in almost every battle the moment came when the disciplined ranks dissolved and a man simply had to claw and scratch and kill like a beast.
Beast or no beast, Sharpe is far more interesting and complex than the musket-wielding action figure he might first appear. And it's nearly impossible not to take some pleasure at his bloody exploits. Sharpe's Trafalgar is a superb example of the ripping good yarn--it confirms our secret conviction that war may be hell, but it's actually pretty exciting too. --Mary Park
Book Description
The year is 1805, and the Calliope, with Richard Sharpe aboard, is captured by a formidable French warship, the Revenant, which has been terrorizing British nautical traffic in the Indian Ocean. The French warship races toward the safety of its own fleet, carrying a stolen treaty that could provoke India into a new war against the British -- and render for naught all that Sharpe has bravely fought for till now.
But help comes from an unexpected quarter. An old friend, a captain in the Royal Navy, is on the trail of the Revenant, and Sharpe comes aboard a 74-gun man-of-war called Pucelle in hot pursuit. What results is a breathtaking retelling of one of the most ferocious and one-sided sea battles in European history, in which Nelson -- and Sharpe -- vanquish the combined naval might of France and Spain at Trafalgar.
Download Description
"Special feature! This e-book edition contains ""Sharpe's Skirmish: Richard Sharpe and the Defence of Tormes, August 1812,"" an original and e-book exclusive short story by Bernard Cornwell. It is 1805 and Ensign Richard Sharpe, having secured a reputation as a fighting soldier in India, is on his way home to join the newly formed Green Jackets. The voyage should be a period of rest but his ship is riven with treachery and threatened by a formidable French warship, the Revenant, which is terrorizing British shipping in the Indian Ocean. An old opponent of Sharpe's is aboard his ship, and the voyage is further disturbed by the Lady Grace Hale, apparently as unreachable as she is beautiful. Sharpe also has friends, notably a captain of the Royal Navy who is hunting the Revenant and who rescues Sharpe when all seems lost. The hunt turns into a stern chase as the French warship races home, carrying a treaty that could ignite India into a new war against the British. Yet when the Revenant encounters the combined French and Spanish fleets off Cadiz it seems that Sharpe's enemies on board appear to have him trapped. Yet over the horizon is another fleet, led by Nelson, and Sharpe's revenge will come in a savage climax when the two armadas meet on a calm October day off Cape Trafalgar. Sharpe's Trafalgar introduces Richard Sharpe to the horrors of a battle at sea, and finds him at his most ruthless as he struggles, not just for revenge, but for a woman he loves. "
Customer Reviews:
Great change of pace after the India books.......2007-10-16
An homage to Patrick O'Brian's "Master and Commander", the series based on the British Navy of the same period. The fan of both will see numerous similarities.
Sharpe's new friend, Captain Joel Chase, is the spitting image of Jack Aubrey. He's a bluff, good-natured fighting captain whose men would follow him through the gates of Hell, and he personally feels the same way about Admiral Lord Nelson. Sound familiar? He rarely flogs erring sailors. He loves his coffee. He pays for extra powder and shot out of his own pocket so that his crew can practice gunnery. And he's loyal to friends like Sharpe, who comes to Chase's rescue during a Bombay brawl with a dishonest merchant who cheated them both.
There are other touches as well. Sharpe's struggle to climb the masts and perhaps avoid using the maintop's "lubber hole" refers to the same running gag about Stephen Maturin, Aubrey's friend and intrepid but without sealegs.
Sharpe, a soldier, doesn't really belong at Trafalgar. But Cornwell contrives a plausible way to get him there, as Sharpe returns to Britain in 1805 to join a rifles regiment. The India books were fun but, after we've seen all those city walls stormed, all those rajahs plundered, and all those hideous Oriental tortures meted out, it's time to move on. Putting Sharpe on a ship, with its backstays and quarterdecks and scuppers pouring blood during battle, is a fine change of pace.
Cornwell's battle detail is typically gripping. And in this book Sharpe finds a romance that, one senses, may be more fateful than those he's had in previous books.
Sharpe at Trafalgar- You must be kidding!!.......2007-09-22
I took out this book from the library because I had read Sharpe's Rifles and Sharpe at Waterloo and had liked both of them. But Sharpe at Trafalgar, you must be kidding! Anyway, Sharpe had to get home from India in 1805, so he ends up at Trafalgar. The book works and I could not stop reading it. Two nights I stayed up til 1:00 am reading this book. Highly recommended for a great fun read.
On the way home from India Sharpe gets caught up in the Battle of Trafalgar.......2007-06-15
Only Richard Sharpe could get caught up in a fleet battle on the way home from India and find romance on a Royal Navy line-of-battle ship. But he does, and it's a highly entertaining read.
Sharpe's Trafalgar is set at the conclusion of the trilogy of novels in India in which he obtains some treasure, gets promoted to be an officer after saving the life of General Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington), and deals with the traitor Dodd. Shipping home to join the 95th Rifles, Sharpe initially takes passage on an East Indiaman, and finds an old opponent as one of the passengers. Treachery follows and the ship is captured by the French.
However, as the story is about Sharpe's Trafalgar, we know that he will not remain a prisoner of war for long. And sure enough, after an involved series of events, including the obligatory rescue of a lady in distress, Sharpe and his fellow passengers find themselves guests on a Royal Navy 74 gun ship of the line, chasing a French battleship half-way round the world. Until both ships arrive off Cape Trafalgar on 21st October 1805 ...
As usual Bernard Cornwell has done a great deal of research so that the Napoleonic era battles he describe seem real, and in the historical note at the end he explains that many of the events described during the battle of Trafalgar were based on things which really happened.
The next novel after this in the chronological sequence is "Sharpe's Prey," the main action of which is set two years later in 1807 when Napoleon's continental blockade results in war between Britain and Denmark. That book also tells you what happens to Sharpe's relationship with Grace, the heroine of "Sharpe's Trafalgar".
If you liked the other Sharpe books, you will like this one.
A Great Series.......2006-08-15
This is another entry on the Sharpe series. It is fun, entertaining and very readable. Cornwell's research is as excellent as usual. He takes some licenses for the shake of the story and continuity, but this is OK. Some people are outraged by the portrait of some of the real historical characters, but historical characters are rarely depicted accurately in historical fiction, so I think this can be forgiven. Besides, usually a more serious account of these characters is given at the end of the book on the Historical Note.
Many people insist in compare this series with Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander. I don't think this is fair for any of the series, they are different entities. What they have in common is that once you start you may get hooked and devour one book after another...
And in the literary world today that is a rare and marvelous thing.
an Aubrey/Maturen fan's first forray into Sharp's books.......2006-06-13
Well, this is a very preliminary write-up of this book and I do promise to come back to it if I have anything that will make me give it more than three stars...
I am sorry to say, I am not happy. This particular book, Trafalgar, is the first I'm reading in the series. I have just finished the entirety of the Aubrey/Maturin series. (I weep that there is not more!) I tried Hornblower and could not face the incredibly poor writing and the odious character development. I gave up on that. Then I found this book... My hopes soared!! Then they were crushed!
Here is a nice quote that motivates what I am going to say next. Here is Sharpe on the deck of a company ship at night with one "Lady Grace" ... for god's sake. (I hope you have your barf bag handy.)
"... once they [her arms] were free she snaked them around his neck and pulled his face to hers and kissed him so fiercely that Sharpe tasted blood from her lip. She sighed, then placed her cheek against his. `Oh, God.' she said softly, `I wanted you to do that since the moment I first saw you.'
Sharpe hid his astonishment. `I thought you hadn't noticed me.'
`Then you are a fool, Richard Sharpe.' "
Then, they head down to the virmin-filled stearage and have woopie! I am not even kidding you!
I must tell you I was almost violently ill. This is the kind of hideous flaring-nostrils writing reserved for Jessica Steele novels. Why not just rename him Fabio Sharpe and have done. I am still dry retching as I write these words. This is just plane old trash.
I will, as I say, give it another chance. One more. If I am more impressed I will come back and modify my rating and add to this. Oh, God! I hope this improves.
Book Description
To mark the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar, fought in October 1805, comes
The Trafalgar Companion, a lavishly illustrated volume that surpasses, in both scale and authority, anything ever published on this historic naval battle.
Customer Reviews:
Magnificent book.......2007-04-02
It's one of the best books of that type I've ever read, too much details, but not boring, explains everything and gives you a full idea about how the seamnship of that period, strategy life at seas and of course of the battle of Trafalgar. I would reccomend it without any hesitation.
Probably the title of the book isn't so attractive as it's the book itself.
Tremendous value.......2006-03-15
What a book! This book is huge and contains just about everything you would want to know about the people, the ships and the battles. I was really impressed to see the hour by hour description of the battle and the detailed descriptions of the ships appearance as well as its statistics.
I have no hesitation in recommending this book.
A GREAT book on Nelson's Navy.......2006-01-19
The Trafalgar Companion is probably the best reference book on the Royal Navy in the time of the Napoleonic Wars. It has about 550 pages of small type and is jam packed with information. However, it is much more than its title suggests.
This book could probably be divided into three main parts: the life of Nelson, the Trafalgar campaign, and the background of the Royal Navy. There are nine sections, each with subsections and most with an epilogue. The epilogues comprise the first part, as they describe some aspect of Nelson's life or career. If one wanted to read only about Nelson, one could jump to the end of each chapter and read a very good biography of Nelson. The epilogues include his early life and career, the battles of St Vincent, the Nile, Copenhagen; his stay at Naples, Emma, and a few others. The reader really comes to know a great deal about Nelson. The second section, the background of the Royal Navy, gives the reader about 150 pages on topics such as ship construction and classification, seamanship, navigation, officers, seamen, marines, uniforms, gunnery, tactics, and many others. This section alone is invaluable to understanding the Royal Navy. The third section is about the Trafalgar campaign. The subsections include British and French naval strategy, the fleets, command, opening moves, the battle itself (about 60 pages), and the aftermath of the battle.
So, what makes this such a great book? The topics have all been discussed in tons of other books. Well, first, this book is like an encyclopedia--it brings everything together under one roof. If you want Nelson, you got 'im. If you're reading Hornblower, Ramage, Kydd, or Aubrey and you need some background info on some topic, it's here. However, this book is more than an encyclopedia. If you have several hours to spend on a great story--the battle itself--you've got a great read in front of you. Second, in addition to the text, this book is filled with hundreds of illustrations, diagrams, lists, quotes, maps, paintings, and drawings. For example, the section on fleet comparison devotes a page to each ship from both fleets. The pages include a drawing of a ship, its rating, number and type of guns, number and type of crew (i.e. naval, infantry, marine), a biography of its commander, what the ship did during and after the battle, and, for the British, a list of all its officer--all the way down to the purser! In the section on guns, gunnery, and tactics, there are eight fabulous color illustrations, each covering two pages. The first is a cross section of the Victory with all the rooms labeled. The ship looks like a mini city. Then there are top-view illustrations of each deck. Not only are the guns and other parts of the ship labeled, but also where crew members would have been assigned. I didn't know that a marine was assigned to each gun on the ship. In some cases even known personalities can be placed in certain areas on deck. There is even a page showing the number and arrangement of lanterns to indicate signals in the presence of the enemy! I particularly like the 19 maps in the battle section. The reader can follow the movements and firing of the ships throughout the battle. There are so many topics and all are treated exhaustively.
I could go on and on giving examples of the breadth and depth of this book. Besides the information, the color illustrations and quality of paper make this book visually pleasing. I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone interested in the Royal Navy in the Napoleonic Wars. It's worth every penny you'll pay for it-you won't need anything else.
Fantastic coverage of Trafalgar.........2006-01-07
The Trafalgar Companion by Mark Adkin looked very much like his Waterloo Companion that he wrote earlier. The book covers three subject matters. First is the Trafalgar campaign and battle. Second is the biographical overview of Horatio Lord Nelson and finally the third coverage deals with anatomy of navies and ships of this period although the Royal Navy get most of the coverage. Each three subjects are spread apart into sections and interlocked with the overall coverage of the topic. There are also many side bars notes that inserts interesting trivial if not important information regarding the subject matter at hand.
The book proves to be well written, well researched and easy to read. There are over 200 illustrations that covers everything from battle scenes, diagrams, tactical maps, drawings, ship equipments and so on. There are several pages of a great cross section from the top down on HMS Victory (deck by deck) which showed the ship in battle readiness and show the positions of each crew member by position and officers. There's also a full page coverage on each British, French and Spanish ships involved in the battle as well as history of some of its officers. I can write considerably more on all the great stuff that this book contains.
It pretty obvious that the author went all out to provide one of the most complete coverage of Trafalgar campaign and battle within a single volume. Each of the subject matter appears to be well written and researched. Nelson's biography may not be as detail or indepth as some of the full scale biographies but the coverage proves to be impressive and insightful. All of Nelson's previous battles are in the this book and well covered. While not as detail as Brian Lavery's book, Nelson's Navy, the study of the Royal Navy in this book should satisfied almost anyone. The coverage of the campaign and battle of Trafalgar proves to be complete and highly detailed, helped by charts and maps that gives a clear understanding of the subject at hand.
There is also a short but detail coverage of post-Trafalgar period, fate of the ships, officers and burial of Nelson. Interesting tidbits that can only enchance the reading experience.
In conclusion, while there are books out there who may do a better job covering just the battle or just Nelson or just the details of wooden navy, I believed no book does a superior job in putting all three together and making it work. The 555 pages of this book is crammed with information that can only benefit the reader to the utmost. Its well worth the price you pay.
A Must Have.......2006-01-03
This is one of the most outstanding books on the subject of Trafalgar, Nelson and the sailing navy I have come across. The small details are brought vividly to life in a way that makes interesting reading. The artwork in this book is specially commissioned for the book and is therefore technically accurate. This differs from other books on this subject that use art from around the time with foot notes explaining the technical inaccuracies in the pictures. The life of Nelson is covered in detail and is tied in with explaining life in the navy of the time interspersed with stories of individuals of various ranks and what their life was like. Personal stories, where available, are included to bring the whole picture to life. The artwork along with all the maps and diagrams is in full colour making everything easily understandable.
Average customer rating:
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Nelson's Surgeon: William Beatty, Naval Medicine, and the Battle of Trafalgar
Laurence Brockliss ,
John Cardwell , and
Michael Moss
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0199287422 |
Book Description
In the lead-up to the bicentenary of Trafalgar a number of important new studies have been published about the life of Nelson and his defeat of the Combined Fleet in 1805. Despite the significant role played by the health and fitness of the British crews in securing the victory, little has been written hitherto about the naval surgeon in the era of the long war against France. This book is intended to fill the gap. Sir William Beatty (1773-1842) was surgeon of the Victory at Trafalgar. An Ulsterman from Londonderry, he had joined the navy in 1791. Before being warranted to Nelson's flagship, Beatty had served upon ten other warships, and survived a yellow fever epidemic, court martial, and shipwreck to share in the capture of a Spanish treasure ship. After Trafalgar, he became Physician of the Channel Fleet, based at Plymouth, and eventually Physician to Greenwich Hospital, where he served until his retirement in 1838. As the book makes clear in drawing upon an extensive prosopographical database, Beatty's career until 1805 was representative of the experience of the approximately 2,000 naval surgeons who joined the navy in the course of the war. The first part of the biography provides a detailed and scholarly introduction to the professional education, training, and work of the naval surgeon. But after 1805 Beatty became a member of the service elite, and his career becomes interesting for other reasons. In the final decades of his life, Beatty was far more than a senior naval physician. As a Fellow of the Royal Society, director of the Clerical and Medical Insurance Company, and director of the London to Greenwich Railway, he was a prominent figure in London's business and scientific community, who used his growing wealth to build a large collection of books and manuscripts. His later life is testimony to the much wider contribution that some naval and army medical officers made to the development of the new Britain of the nineteenth century. In Beatty's case, too, the contribution was original. By publishing in 1807 his carefully crafted Authentic Narrative of the Death of Lord Nelson, he was instrumental in forging the myth of the hero's last hours, which has become a part of the national consciousness and has helped to define for generations the concept of Britishness.
Book Description
Ramage, finally reunited with his beloved Sarah, hopes to spend at least a few quiet weeks with her. Instead, he is summoned by Admiral Nelson himself. His orders: Ramage is to join Nelson's fleet blockading the combined French and Spanish navies in the port of Cadiz. But Nelson's plan is not merely to blockade the enemy's fleet. He intends to confront it head-on in the biggest naval battle the world has ever seen.
Customer Reviews:
Ramage at Trafalgar.......2006-07-02
Not only entertaining reading but much detail of how living ws in that century.
Also really detailed info on how ships and their cews lived and died.
The description of the gunpwder room is particularly detailed, something missing from other eloquent writers of this genre.
Total yawn.......2004-07-06
Dudley Pope might be thorough on the nautical detail, but when it comes to general historical detail of the period, this book is seriously flawed. Ramage apparently has one servant who does everything around the house (butler, groom, coachman - and poacher and smuggler); his wife, the daughter of a marquis, travels without a maid; and don't even get me started on the scene where Ramage gives his own wife a sponge bath in the London town house of Ramage's parents' . . . These people are wealthy aristocrats, for pete's sake! And they never act like it! Pope needed a serious dose of Georgette Heyer to do the on-shore scenes better.
The rest of the tale? A yawn-fest about the Battle of Trafalgar, as Ramage and his familiar crew race to the scene in the Calypso, carry out an all-too-easy espionage mission, wreck one ship and then capture another during the battle itself. This story should have been flowing and exciting; instead, it is as top-heavy with incidental detail as the Santissima Trinidad. Ramage disobeys orders and gets away with it yet again, naturally.
I appreciate the difficulty of grafting a fictional character into historical events. But "Ramage at Trafalgar" is seriously unbalanced, the large chunk of the book taken up by Ramage's family having nothing to do with later events and introducing a feel that does not match the second half of the book. Why not just limit it to a nautical tale focused solely on the battle? There's more than enough material there, after all. And why have Ramage and Nelson apparently forgotten the events in "Ramage and the Guillotine"? Other Ramage books are much better. This one is perfunctory and boring in its execution.
Fascinating.......2002-12-14
After a good deal of interesting matters on shore, Ramage and his faithful crew (already rich with prize money but faultlessly loyal to their captain) race off to join Admiral Lord Nelson before Cadiz in Spain, and the great naval battle of Trafalgar in 1805. More than any other nautical novel I've read, this one makes clear just how revolutionary were Nelson's killer tactics. It is worth reading just for the views of Nelson at home and at war. The reasons why Nelson is Britain's greatest hero are made clear. The story is constructed with a long narrative line building to a thrilling climax, and a wonderfully sad ending as Ramage appears headed for another court-martial due to his valiant actions taken without orders.
Book notes: poorly proof-read for a McBooks book. The only title in the Ramage series with a genuinely old painting on the cover (but has nothing to do with the story). While it can certainly stand on its own better than most in the series because it more closely concerns real historical figures than usual, as the 16th of 18 this volume is probably not the place to start.
Book Description
An explosive chronicle of historyÂ's greatest sea battle
In the tradition of Antony BeevorÂ's Stalingrad, NelsonÂ's Trafalgar presents the definitive blow-by-blow account of the worldÂ'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.
Customer Reviews:
Well Written and Readable Account of the Last Great Battle of Wooden Ships .......2007-08-18
Adkins provides a highly readable account of the Battle at Trafalgar where Napoleon's fleet with his Spanish allies are virtually crippled by highly effective British crews that are the actual turning point in the last great battle of wooden ships. The book is particularly welcome to those unfamilar with nautical terms as Adkins slides in definitions and illustrations that help a landlubber know the difference between starboard or port and for everyone he describes the life of a crew member from grog to the unique ways they treated their clothing and sails. The book is full of brief but effective biographies obviously with Nelson receiving the full treatment. In additionm there are descriptions of the various crew titles and responsibilities that provide a full appreciation for how an early 19th century ship was run. Also contrasted with the British fleet is the difficult relationship between the Spanish and French that may have contributed to a somewhat fractured command. The battle details are written with first hand accounts with mapping showing the intricate locations of ships durig the development of the battle. It is quite amazing that the ship positions could be reproduced with such relative accuracy. The less appreciative may grow weary of the lengthy detail of the battle but anyone who appreciates naval history will be impressed with these almost individual accounts of the ship battles as ships virtually fight in clusters or as individuals as Nelson's plan is to go right at them. Also fascinating is Napoleon's heavy but not so effective influence on the French fleet. The outcome of course effects the strategic situations on land contributing to the future land campaign against Napoleon.
Education and Information.......2007-07-14
Mr. Adkins wrote a very well researched, well written book on the Battle of Trafalgar. He included enough information about the lifes and times of the sailors to paint a thorough picture in the reader's head of what things must have been like. Best of all he uses a terrific set of maps with estimations of the locations of the various ships involved in the battle as it unfolded. These maps made reading the book and tracking what was happening when very easy.
Nelson's Trafalgar (Book Review).......2007-06-09
Nelson's Trafalgar: The Battle That Changed The World by Roy Adkins
Bought it a couple of months ago, but never got to finish it, until now. Just in time, too, since I just saw "Pirates Of The Carribean 3", which were using the same ships mentioned in the book, so I got to appreciate what a "3-Deck Ship Of The Line" looks like.
'Background'
The book is about the Battle of Trafalgar, one of the most decisive & spectacular sea battles in the history of mankind.
To give a short summary: Napoleon wanted to invade Britain & claim it as part of the French Empire he was establishing. But doing so requires a seaborne crossing, & because of that he had to make sure that Britain's Navy is sunk, or at least heavily damaged so he can proceed w/ the invasion.
The British knew this, of course, & the legendary Lord Horatio Nelson, the then Admiral of the British Navy assigned w/ the mission to find & destroy the combined French & Spanish fleet, thought the best defense, was a good offense.
So the British fleet pursued & finally cornered the combined French & Spanish fleet on the port of Cadiz in Spain, where they established a blockade. They then just waited for the French & Spanish fleet to sail out, & engage them in a decisive battle that they hope will destroy it, & prevent Napoleon's invasion.
'Detailed Information'
One great things about this book, is that it assumes (rightfully so) that most of its readers are not that familiar w/ 18th century naval warfare. The author, Roy Adkins, is both a HISTORIAN, & ARCHAELOGIST, so the book ended up w/ lot of ACCURATE & DETAILED information not only about the battle, but also things related to naval warfare at that time.
For example, the first chapters are devoted to things like:
- How the Sailors & Officers lived at that time;
- The ships, & the weaponry;
- The strategy & tactics;
- The political background;
- The diferences between the French, Spanish & British navies;
- Nearly EVERYTHING, except the toilet. Oh, wait, they have that, too.
The preparation is so good, that by the time the first shots are just about to be fired to start the battle, you end up almost as excited as the participants in that war.
'The Battle of Trafalgar'
The battle itself is REALLY intense. You could almost visualize the ships as they started trading cannon-fire broadsides at each other, w/ cannon & musket balls flying everywhere, throwing out huge chunks of timber, & flesh & bones. You could almost see the men as they screamed & died, while others went about trying to do their assigned tasks to take out the opposing ship.
There are quite a number of illustrations throughout the book to help you understand better some of the terminologies, & also to show the disposition of the forces as the battle progressed.
In the end, Britain proved it is unchallenged in the seas, w/ none of their ships surrendering despite heavy damage, while taking out of action almost half of the entire French & Spanish fleet. The result effectively ruined Napoleon's plan to invade Great Britain, who eventually orchestrated his defeat later at Waterloo.
'Master & Commander'
I suggest that you watch that superb movie set in about the same period , "Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World", either before and/or after reading the book. The movie is superbly accurate in its depiction of 18th Century naval warfare, w/ most of its elements also detailed in the book.
The book provides much more detailed information, of course, but the movie provides a visual cue of some of the elements.
'Conclusion'
Overall, it is a book I really, truly enjoyed reading. I'm really glad I bought this one, it really has provided a wealth of information of another time, when sailing ships had supremacy of the seas.
The only negative thing I can think of about the book, is the fact that despite all the explanations, some of the ancient naval terms can be overwhelming, especially for landlubbers like me. The old English style of language of some of the accounts also tends to make some passages a bit difficult to absorb. But, these obstacles are not really insurmountable, it just needs a little bit more patience & concentration to understand & absorb.
These difficulties certainly do not rob the book of its brilliance. It's hard to beat in terms of historical detail, & intense action of naval warfare. A classic in the making, a MUST-READ book for me. A terrifically good yarn.
I hope Adkins comes up w/ more books about Lord Horatio Nelson's other famous sea battles.
BOOK HIGHLIGHTS:
- The first 95 pages gives you a complete & almost encyclopedic background of the battle.
- The next 120 pages gives you accounts of the battle from start to finish, with all the intensity & chaos of the battle between both fleets.
- Things slow down a bit during the recounting of the intense storm that came after the battle, claiming even more lives on both sides.
- Events pick up again when the race to tell the news to the British Admiralty went underway.
- The book wraps up w/ what happened to some of the participants & ships after the battle; An analysis on the battle's effects to the entire war; And also recounts the eventual promotion of Nelson to almost god-like status by the British people of being its most beloved hero of all time.
Good description of a critical naval battle.......2007-03-18
Roy Adkins' book, "Nelson's Trafalgar," is a detailed well rendered version of the great sea battle that doomed any chance for Napoleon to claim control over the seas and invade Britain.
The book is a blow by blow account of the planning for the battle and how the plans for each fleet--the English fleet and the Combined fleet of France and Spain--were implemented. Nelson's battle plan was to break the line of ships organized by the French commanding admiral, Villeneuve. The French admiral wanted to maintain his line and have a "mobile reserve" of ships at his disposal. His dispositions went awry and his battle plan never materialized.
The book presents a number of attractive features: (a) detailed battle maps from hour to hour, so that the reader can see the progression of the battle; (b) a listing of the ships of each fleet, including number of cannons and commanding officers; (c) a detailed description of weapons and ships of the two fleets, to provide important context; (d) a description of key figures on each side; (e) excerpts from personal recollections by key actors in the battle; (f) extraordinary detail of the battle itself, including small details.
The book also speaks of the aftereffects of the battle. Included is the possible murder of the failed French commander, Villeneuve, the cheapness of the English government in taking care of its brave victors (including ignoring Nelson's request that Emma Hamilton and his daughter be taken care of), the dominant role of the English navy after Trafalgar.
This is a book that readers with an interest in this dramatic battle will find valuable. The detail gives a sense of the actual events of the time.
Important battle placed in context.......2007-01-03
On October 21st, 1805 the important naval battle of Trafalgar took place. During it two major events happened: the British obliterated a combined fleet of French and Spanish ships; and Lord Nelson who was in overall command was killed. the book claims that this is "The Battle That Changed The World".
As the 200th anniversary of the battle approached, many people released books telling the story of the battle and is various components. While this book is not one of the great ones telling this story, it is clearly written and does an adequate job of telling its story.
Since the book is intended for a general audience who may not know much of the period or the specifics of naval warfare, the author intersperses his telling the story of the battle with many tangents in which he tries to place his story in the context of the times. While this is a logical and reasonable approach, I felt that it actually distracted from this particular story. Perhaps this is due to the fact that I have read many naval novels set in the time period (Hornblower and Bolitho series in particular) and so was aware of the kinds of issues that Adkins brings up.
In the early chapters, Adkins sets the strategic stage with the British fearing an upcoming invasion of their island by the French and Napoleon doing his best to get an invasion underway. We are then told of the preparations in Britain to repel this invasion (this is where one of the odd things is told - many of the items being put in place were not completed until years after this battle and therefore were not really necessary any more). We are also told about the lives of British sailors and officers and their conditions at sea. Anyone of this century who reads these may find these conditions to be completely abhorrent and may wonder why the sailors did not forcibly rise against them, so Adkins shows that those conditions were at times superior to what these same people could expect on shore and were at least equal to shore conditions.
Nelson's career and life at this stage as well as some of the other main officers are also laid out in very brief pages. Those who find this tickling their interest in learning more about these characters will be forced to look elsewhere for the more detailed information available as this book just sketches things out.
The middle of the book is dedicated to the battle itself and is interspersed with maps and diagrams that aid the understanding. This was well done as there were almost 60 ships involved and several of them had either identical or very similar sounding names (Neptune, Neptune, and Neptuno, for instance) so without the diagrams one would get quite lost.
The battle lasted almost six hours and the author does a very credible job in my opinion of explaining what happened during it as well as the import of various things. Again he takes some detours as when he explains the positions and clothing of various jobs on the ships, the reasons why the surgeons operated as they did in the part of the ship that they did, and the names of each of the decks. There are also good explanations of the state of medicine at the time.
While reading the descriptions of the battle, I was struck with how bloody and gory the ships became and how shot up everyone was. The final tally of the battle was that a dozen and a half ships of the French and Spanish capitulated to the British and one French ship blew up while none of the British ships were defeated but many of the ships were completely dismasted, almost all were punctured and were taking on water, and everywhere was there death and despair. Imagine my surprise when at the end of the book the author presents statistics that point out that only 17% of the British sailors were casualties. I was sure during my reading that the casulaty figures must have been greater than 50%!!
A second major component of the story is the aftermath. As it turned out, Nelson was shot early on in the battle and died about midway through it, but he knew that a storm was coming. Well the storm did come and it turned out to be a powerful hurricane that resulted in more damage, destruction, and deaths than the battle itself! Many of the damaged ships were lost to sinking by the waves or being dashed against the rocky shoals of the coast of Spanish so that only about three or four of the captured ships made it back to British ports.
The finaly portions of the book cover the immense importance placed on the loss of Nelson and contrasting it with the fate of the others who took part in the battle on all sides. The author points out how the British King and Government purposely played up Nelson and his heroism as a substitute for taking care of the rest of the people. The final irony in the book is that we are told that Napoleon had already decided not to invade Britain at that point and was involved in the Austerlitz campaign while the battle took place. So, why is the book sub-titled "The Battle That Changed The World"? The author attempts to explain this by showing how France concentrated on the European land mass while England built a larger and larger empire. Stating that this was the direct result of this one battle is stretching it in my opinion.
I enjoyed reading this book as it was a story told well. Those amongst us who are looking for a readable introduction to Trafalgar and its import will do well by reading this book. For those of us who know something of the period and the events of it, this book yields little new information. Experts in the field will probably find the necessary superficiality of it distracting. So, read it yourself and enjoy!
Customer Reviews:
Good as far as it goes.......2007-05-21
While this is a very good and exhaustive compendium of the British ships involved, this book, like so many other written in English, gives quite short shrift to the fleets of France and Spain. 162 pages are given to the British fleet, and a total of 72 pages to include BOTH the Spanish and French fleets! Further, the detail given about the Spanish and French ships themselves is quite sketchy, and includes few drawings or diagrams, and in most cases these are from British sources.
Granted, most of the French and Spanish ships simply did not have the kind of lengthy and varied careers that most of the British ships had, but all the more reason to have a better look at their design particulars. What a pity the authors did not stir themselves and collaborate with the inestimable Mr. Boudriot of France for a proper view of 'the other side!'
All that said, this is an excellent volume, especially if your main interest is the British ships involved (they DID win the battle after all!).
Abundant written detail, visually a little disappointing.......2006-03-11
While this book did indeed contain a wealth of written detail of the ships, I was surprised and disappointed to find that aside from some center color plates, there was no information provided on ship color schemes and none on flags and pennants displayed. Most particularly, the French ship Redoubtable, described in the book as "the most acclaimed French ship to fight at the battle of Trafalgar" had no drawings, model photographs or paintings of her appearance at the battle. Also, a map showing the development of the positions of these ships during the course of the battle would have been useful although this is available elsewhere.
On the positive side, HMS Victory and many others were well represented by line drawings and despite a concentration on technical rather than visual information this is a useful book to those interested in the battle.
A fine naval reference book.......2005-12-07
Peter Goodwin's "The Ships of Trafalgar: The British, French and Spanish Fleets, October, 1805" is a fine new naval reference book. Goodwin is Keeper & Curator of HMS Victory and the author of "The Construction and Fitting of the English Man-of-War, 1650-1850" and "Nelson's Ships: A History of the Vessels in Which He Served, 1771-1805". Like Goodwin's previous books, the present volume is large and clearly printed on heavy, glossy stock. Each vessel present at Trafalgar, whether British, French, or Spanish, from the largest First Rate down to the smallest cutter is described in careful detail, with technical specifications, service history prior to Trafalgar, a description of its activity during that battle, its service afterwards, and its ultimate fate. Many of the ships, especially those of the Royal Navy, are accompanied by plans of some sort, even if only a profile. An insert of colorful paintings and model photographs are a welcome addition to illustrate how these ships look two centuries ago. Appendices discuss comparative armament and sources of timber and fittings.
There have been many "Trafalgar" books published in this bicentennial year, but few can match this book's sumptuous look and level of detail.
Tremendous Detail.......2005-10-11
There were 73 ships from the British, French and Spanish navies in the ocean off Cape Trafalgar. This exhaustively researched book tells the story of each ship that was there from the 136 gun 'Nuestra Senora de Santisima Trinidad' to to the 30 (maybe 35) men on board the Armed Schooner 'Pickle.' (The 'Pickle' was smart enough to stay out of the way of the big boys and watch the battle. Afterward she went in to rescue sailors from sinking ships.)
Each ship is described in detail, many with drawings made by the author for this publication. The history of each ship is given along with a description of what she did at Travalgar. Along with the history of each ship, there is a good bit of summary information about the three fleets. Carrying some 47,000 men these ships were the visible evidence of the most complex things yet devised by man.
This is a beautiful book, and includes several pages of full color illustrations from paintings of the period, modern photographs of models of some of the ships, and current photographs of the preserved flagship 'Victory.'
Book Description
Back by popular demand, this dramatic appraisal of the Spanish Navy and its defeat by the British at Trafalgar in 1805 disproves many long-held beliefs about the competence of the Spanish fleet. The author examines the factors that shaped the development of the Spanish Navy in the eighteenth century and maintains that the well-built ships and skilled forces were nowhere near as ineffective as they are usually represented. The book includes specifics of Spanish warship design and construction and is illustrated with beautiful contemporary plans, engravings, and photographs of ship models, some in full color. 208 pages. 120 illustrations. Hardcover. 8 x 10 1/2 inches.
Customer Reviews:
A good break from Anglocentric Naval Historians .......2005-06-09
Author John Harbron's book is a nice relief from the all long line of Anglocentric Naval historians that like to downplay the accomplishments of the Spanish and, to a lesser extent, French navies in the 1700s. The Spanish Royal Navy did a fine job in the 18th century given the fact that they were outgunned and outmanned and could rarely coordinate effectively with their French naval counterparts in their battles against the British Royal Navy. The results speak for themselves. During the 18th century Spain was able to successfully maintain her vast American empire vitually intact despite contant British Royal Navy attacks. It was only when revolutionary movements in her American empire that Spain lost most of her territories and not because of British actions.
John Hebron's book articulate accomplishments of great Spanish commanders like Blas De Lezo and Bernardo Galvez who had a consistant record of defeating British foes. Facts that are rarely mentioned or glossed over in English language history texts.
Excellent topic, but not followed through.......2001-07-27
While the author has made the point that there were many fine officers in the Spanish Navy, and that there were many excellent ships, the facts indicate that this combination was never capitalised upon, and the result was invariably disasterous. The best of leaders can only do so much with what they are given, and in the case of Spain, this meant far too few seamen, far too much influence by the Army, far too little training for crews, and some of the worst treatment imaginable. There is no point in building enormous warships if they cannot be effectively manned! Further, it is well-documented that ships of the line of the Spanish navy, although enormous in size, were laughably undergunned compared to their contemporaries. This is not made clear in this book. That said, it would also be of enormous benefit to view some of the plans and profiles of these ships, so as to compare them with their British and French contemporaries. Dozens of books have been written about HMS Victory and other Royal Navy ship types, but almost nothing about the ships of the other navies of the time, and even less in English! It is a great pity the author chose to use so many primitive contemporary Spanish paintings for illustration rather than something either commissioned for the book (expensive, no doubt!), or obtained with a bit more research into what is available.
Amazon.com
On October 21, 1805, the British navy crushed the combined fleets of Spain and France near Spain's Cape Trafalgar, thwarting Napoleon Bonaparte's planned invasion of England and leading to a century of British maritime dominance. There are many books on the Battle of Trafalgar, but this one is different in that Adam Nicolson focuses more on "the mental landscape" of those who fought than on the battle itself. In analyzing why the British scored such an impressive victory, Nicolson looks beyond tactics to study the collective psychology of the three navies, along with the social and cultural forces at work. Part of the study revolves around the concept of the hero at the dawn of the 19th century. The men who fought at Trafalgar "looked on battle not as a necessary evil but as a moment of revelation and truth" that played into their conception of purpose, honor, and duty to king and country--with violence seen as an integral part of duty. No one fit the classic model of the hero more than Admiral Lord Nelson, the "most feared naval commander in the world"; a man who saw himself as a "prophetic agent of apocalypse and millennium" destined to lead England to global dominance. Nelson became the model of the British hero for the rest of the century and beyond.
In addition to an in-depth study of Nelson's background and psychology, Nicolson discusses the cultural differences between the three countries. For instance, in England, a non-aristocrat like Nelson was allowed to rise to the top--an occurrence that would have been impossible in both France and Spain given their strict societal codes. Each nation's motivation was different as well. Spain's social system was based on aristocratic chivalry, while France was acting according to the authoritative whim of Napoleon. Britain, however, was motivated by trade, and Nicolson discusses how England was able to finance its powerful navy by taxing the growing middle class and their seemingly limitless desire for material goods, making Trafalgar "the first great bourgeois victory of European history." Seize the Fire provides an intriguing perspective on one of the great naval battles in history. --Shawn Carkonen
Book Description
In Seize the Fire, Adam Nicolson, author of the widely acclaimed God's Secretaries, takes the great naval battle of Trafalgar, fought between the British and Franco-Spanish fleets in October 1805, and uses it to examine our idea of heroism and the heroic. Is violence a necessary aspect of the hero? And daring? Why did the cult of the hero flower in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in a way it hadn't for two hundred years? Was the figure of Nelson -- intemperate, charming, theatrical, anxious, impetuous, considerate, indifferent to death and danger, inspirational to those around him, and, above all, fixed on attack and victory -- an aberration in Enlightenment England? Or was the greatest of all English military heroes simply the product of his time, "the conjurer of violence" that England, at some level, deeply needed?
It is a story rich with modern resonance. This was a battle fought for the control of a global commercial empire. It was won by the emerging British world power, which was widely condemned on the continent of Europe as "the arrogant usurper of the freedom of the seas." Seize the Fire not only vividly describes the brutal realities of battle but enters the hearts and minds of the men who were there; it is a portrait of a moment, a close and passionately engaged depiction of a frame of mind at a turning point in world history.
Customer Reviews:
The Revisionist's PC Book of Trafalgar.......2007-07-20
This is a book about the Battle of Trafalgar, not so much about what happened there but why it happened.
Much of the flavor of the book can be savored from these words in the preface: "There is a long tradition of English violence.... A higher percentage of the population died in the English Civil War than in the French Revolution.... All this was part of the nation from which Nelson came. He was able ... to summon a scale of aggression from his fleets that seems to have drawn on the deepest levels of common consciousness among his men. This is a difficult area to address, but essential: how does one read into the behaviour of a fighting fleet the deep half-conscious pre-occupations of the people who man its ship? how do the semi-understood but widely-inherited ideas about purpose, violence and victory, which are present in any evolved society, shape the way men behave in battle?"
How does one read into the behavior? Well, Adam Nicolson uses the 317 pages that follow the preface to show us how he does it. (By the way, the English Civil War was just that, a war. The French Revolution was not. Wars, in whatever country and whatever period, tend to kill a lot of people. What percentage of the French population did Napoleon's Wars kill?)
I am not sufficiently familiar with this subject to state that there is no new material in Nicolson's book. I am sufficiently familiar with this subject to state that there is no significant new material in Nicolson's book.
Nicolson has fairly evidently come to this book carrying a considerable weight in baggage. For one thing, he is no warrior and he is both uncomfortable with and unable to appreciate those who are. (Yes, there are very definitely such things as warriors. I have no qualms about admitting that I was the mildest of military rabbits during my nine years in uniform, but I certainly knew and served with men who could only be described as tigers in human form, decorated veterans and, more significantly, survivors of World War II, Korea and Vietnam.)
Nicolson is a determinist. Nelson and the English fleet won the Battle of Trafalgar because they had to. History, technology, economics, and sociology demanded that they win. Maybe. But Nicolson to the contrary, history repeatedly teaches that the battle plan is very likely to be the first casualty arising from any contact with an enemy. Nelson won a spectacular victory because he ignored the established tactical wisdom of his day by turning his fleet toward the enemy and cutting the Franco-Spanish battle line in two places. He did this because he was fighting not so much against the ships of that fleet as its commanders. He had reason to believe that if he did something tactically unsound, he could get away with it and achieve a great success. He was right.
However, victory was not inevitable. The Franco-Spanish fleet outnumbered the English fleet. The individual French ships, at least, were better built, faster and better sailors than the individual English ships (as shown by the haste with which captured French ships were refitted and brought into service with English crews.) And more important than either of those considerations is the fact that the leading squadron of the Franco-Spanish fleet--roughly a third of its total strength--was left entirely unmolested while nearly the whole of Nelson's fleet was totally committed to near-immobilized close-in action during the main battle. If Nelson had been the commander of that squadron, he'd have turned back and gone straight down the attacking line, bringing overwhelming force against one ship after another in sequence and annihilating each one in turn.
Forget about Nelson and that squadron, which failed in the event to do its duty because of the failure of its commander. Consider what would have happened at Trafalgar if Pierre-Andre de Suffren had been born in 1756 rather than 1726.
Suffren was a pre-Revolutionary French admiral. He was a person of a type encountered by the Royal Navy on only two occasions during the 18th and 19th centuries: an aggressive enemy commander. (The other time, of course, was the War of 1812, when American commanders boldly took on English ships and when the surrender of a single American frigate to FIVE English frigates was written up in official despatches as a great victory!) Suffren had led a French squadron in the Indian Ocean, far from any hope of support or succor. He consistently beat the pants off massively superior British forces.
If Suffren had been in charge at Trafalgar, he would cooly have bloodied and certainly blunted the effect of the English charge during the appallingly dangerous turn-in phase of their attack. Then he would have ordered that free squadron to bring about the destruction of the fleet from the nation of shopkeepers.
And two centuries later, Adam Nicolson would have written a book to explain why Admiral Suffren's famous victory off Cape Trafalgar had been inevitable.
In the event, Nicolson's book doesn't really tell us much about the Nelsonian navy, certainly no more than might be gleaned from the fictional adventures of Horatio Hornblower or Jack Aubrey or from the works of Captain Marryat (who had been at Trafalgar as a boy.) It tells us rather more about Adam Nicolson, who doesn't much care for the not particularly gentle men who sailed in King George's ships. He's a familiar character. Shakespeare, in fact, described him to a "T" in "King Henry IV, Part One":
Came there a certain lord, neat, and trimly dress'd...
And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by,
He called them untaught knaves, unmannerly,
To bring a slovenly unhandsome corpse
Betwixt the wind and his nobility....
And that it was a great pity, so it was,
That villainous saltpetre should be digg'd
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd
So cowardly; and but for these vile guns
He would himself have been a soldier.
Seize the Fire: Heroism, Duty, and the Battle of... Trafalgar?.......2007-07-20
Mr. Nicolson has done a fine job of writing a book about the notions of Heroism and Duty, with even a dash of Honor thrown in. Societal woes and the blossoming of the bourgeois class are well navigated and occasionally set to a backdrop of one of, if not the greatest of Britain's (perhaps I should say England's) Naval victories. The first half of the book is a muddled read. The author alternately credits Nelson with brilliance of command with a complete denial that this particular engagement was anything more than a continuation of the changing norms of the various nations involved.
Still, a good read, but not one for insight into either Nelson or Trafalgar.
What a Disappointment.......2007-03-17
This is a five CD book. The author does not actually begin discussing the battle until well into the FOURTH CD. Need I say more?
Seize the Fire: Heroism, Duty, and the Battle of Trafalgar.......2007-03-09
Through the words and letters of the British, French and Spanish combatents - we can better understand the mind-set of the people involved, from the lowliest seaman to his officers and their superiors. The British coordinated by its Admiralty - the Combined Fleets officered by elitist aristocrats, answerable to orders issued by a brilliant land commander-in-chief who did not understand the sea.
This is a book that allows the reader to grasp the strategies involved, and better understand the communication gaps and the luck and guess-work involved (on both sides) resulting in the most memorable sea-battle in history.
Honour and heroism in the service of victory.......2006-08-07
Several years ago, I had the good fortune to take the guided inspection - available to any tourist with the requisite admission fee - of Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory, now permanently moored at the Portsmouth (UK) Naval Yard. The experience left a lasting impression, perhaps partly due to the excellence of the guide, a salty, retired Royal Marine. (A subsequent tour of the USS Constitution, moored near Boston and conducted by a young, female petty officer, paled woefully in comparison.)
If, in Adam Nicolson's SEIZE THE FIRE: HEROISM, DUTY, AND THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR, you expect a rousing narrative that'll leave you - assuming you're an Anglophile - singing "Rule Britannia", you'll be disappointed. Rather, what the author gives us is an erudite, scholarly, well-researched, and relatively dispassionate narrative account of the great naval battle off the coast of Spain on October 21, 1805 in which the British Fleet virtually annihilated the Combined Fleet of France and Spain. As everyone knows, Nelson was mortally wounded as he strode his quarterdeck; his death nearly three hours later vaulted him to the head of the queue of England's all-time heroes. In great part, and as the subtitle of the book implies, SEIZE THE FIRE is an examination of what it was about the contemporary English psyche and its perceptions of "duty" and "heroism" that ensured the victory. Indeed, as Nilcolson has it, the outcome of the contest was preordained even before the two sides collided because of the Spanish fleet's medieval command structure and the demoralization within the French fleet brought about by the officer purges of the French Revolution (much as the Soviet Army suffered from Stalin's purges of the 1930s). Love (of its commander), honour, a ferocious and zealous aggression, and skill won the day for the Royal Navy, not tactics.
Nicolson's first five chapters (entitled: "Zeal", "Order and Anxiety", "Honour", "Love", "Boldness"), which deal with the England's national character and that of its naval officers, are cleverly headed with the time of day on that October 21st and the distance between the two fleets as they closed with each other at a walking pace. Thus, it's: 5:50 - 8:30 AM, 10 - 6.5 miles; 8:30 - 9:30 AM, 6.5 - 5.9 miles; 9:30 - 11:30 AM, 5.9 - 2 miles; 11:30 AM - 12 noon, 2 - 1 miles; 12 noon - 12:30 PM, 1 mile - contact. This effectively builds suspense. The last three chapters ("Violence", "Humanity", "Nobility") describe the battle itself, Nelson's death, and the shortly subsequent great storm at sea that beset both victor and vanquished.
There's a commendable color section of paintings and portraits of the battle and the top commanders, as well as several diagrams showing the various ships' positions at progressive stages of the cataclysm. During the battle sequence itself, the focus is initially on the first English vessel to make contact with the enemy's line of ships, the HMS Royal Sovereign commanded by Admiral Lord Collingwood, Nelson's number two, and then switches to the HMS Victory. The point of reference throughout is, understandably, pretty much the latter, though the actions of many of the English ships are touched upon.
The relatively subdued tone of the narrative is given considerable power by the descriptions - perhaps some of the best I've ever read about naval warfare of that period - of the awful carnage. After the French flagship Bucentaure capitulated, boarding British officers found:
"Within the remains of (the) ship, the dead were no longer recognizable but lay along the middle of each deck in rough piles of blood and guts through which the roundshot and the splinters had ploughed again and again."
It was Nelson, who understood and personified the English concepts of honour and heroism as perceived by his island nation at this point in its history, that engineered the Trafalgar triumph by harnessing the combative potential of his captains and funneling it into the violence and independent action which they, more than their French and Spanish counterparts, were capable of at this time and place. Yet, after Nelson's death, we hear nothing more of him from Nicolson other than that his corpse was conveyed back to England in a massive water cask filled with drinking spirits. There should have been some sort of epilogue - closure to the story - encompassing the Admiral's funeral (from which the love of his life, Lady Hamilton, was apparently excluded). But there wasn't, and I'm knocking off a star.
In conclusion, the author writes:
"... the uncompromising violence; the dedicated grip on the need for 'annihilation'; the seeking of victory through exsanguination; combined with a hunger for honour; a belief in the reality of noble ideas; self-possession as a mark of nobility; and behind all that a tender and active humanity ... these are the ambivalent ingredients of sublime and noble war, of a kind which Homer and Virgil would have recognized, and all of which were undeniably there on 21 October 1805."
Book Description
The story of the greatest British naval battle of the Age of Nelson.Renowned historian and novelist Dudley Pope explores the defining moment of the Age of Nelson. His compelling descriptions of the battle itself are backed by a wealth of historical detail, including a chronicle of the preceding year, revealing both the British and the French political motives, and explaining Nelson's strategy and Napoleon's response. Pope creates an intimate portrait of the life in the Royal Navy at its finest hour.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent history telling............2004-06-12
Without a doubt, one of the more entertaining and informative retelling of the Battle of Trafalger. The author put all his talents of a fictional writer and applied it nicely in this well searched and written account of the Trafalger campaign and battle. I am familiar with the author's work on Copenhegan which was also nicely done.
You can probably compared this book with David Howarth's work although Decision at Trafalger provides far more details and more insights into the entire campaign and battle then Howarth. The book read well and even a casual reader can get into the narrative. One of the better books on the subject, belong on a bookshelves of anyone who got an interest in naval warfare during the Napoleonic era.
Very Entertaining book, no dry history here!.......2004-02-28
Trafalgar was an amazing, dramatic event. The grandeur of the ships and the legendary characters involved are well described in this book, and you can tell that Dudley Pope was a man who was fascinated with the age of fighting sail. He was also a very good writer and he described it well.
Pope started out by describing the voyage of the HMS Pickle, the 4 gun schooner which carried news of Nelson's victory as well as his death back to England immediately after the battle. This small part of the great story of Trafalgar might be ignored or briefly mentioned by another author, but Pope related it as the dramatic story that it was. He described the heavy weather which battered the tiny, unescorted ship through hostile waters during her 1000 mile voyage home, causing her to leak badly. He described the overland voyage to London by the young Lieutenant Laponetiere, who arrived at the Admiralty, utterly exhausted, late at night to deliver his stunning news to an elderly, overworked clerk. And all this is just the first chapter.
Subsequent chapters describe the British, French and Spanish navies of the time, the strategies of Napoleon and Pitt, Nelson's life and the relationship he had with his Captains, the life of the common sailor, and even the conditions in Cadiz in 1805. Pope's writing is full of color and detail, and this book moves quickly.
Pope managed to describe the action of the battle very clearly with the use of diagrams of the battle as a whole and of individual matchups between opponents. He made the complex action understandable, and described the dramatic death of Nelson without getting bogged down in melodrama.
The aftermath of the battle, as well as it's importance to the Napoleonic wars and the future of the Royal Navy, are insightfully described towards the end of the book.
Make this your first Age of Sail read!!!.......2002-07-22
This book is simply perfect. Not only does it recount the true events surrounding the Battle of Trafalgar off the coast of Spain, it is an excellent introductory book to the genre. As a fan of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin tales and CS Forester's Hornblower, this new collection of nautical books is a must read.
Dudley Pope's narrative flows smoothly making this one of those books you can't put down until your finished. The nautical terms of the 1790's ~ 1800's are explained to satisfy both the novice and the well read. Whether this is your first Age of Sail book or just another in a long list, this is a must read that you will cherish.
Better that Patrick O-Brien: this is REAL!.......2000-08-27
This is the best written and best researched treatment of the Battle of Trafalgar and Nelson's death that I have ever read -- and I read a LOT of naval history! Most discussions of Trafalgar concentrate on Nelson's slow death on the orlop deck, while the really decisive actions of the battle rage out of view. In this book Pope gives readers a thorough and vivid discussion of exactly what happened between the whole engaging fleets, AFTER Nelson was hit and taken below. The victory was Nelson's, from his strategy and leadership, but many other men on both sides fought to reach that crucial military decision. Dudley Pope brings this to life. If you've ever wondered why Nelson's last order, knowing he was mortally wounded, was for his flag captain to anchor the British fleet, read on! I also highly recommend Pope's other works, including his fictional Lord Ramage series, which gets visibly better from book to book.
Decision at Trafalgar (Heart of Oak Series).......1999-12-19
As both a Patric O'Brien fan and a lover of history works, I very much appreciate the novelistic approach that Mr. Pope takes with the book, which adds much character to the writingas well as a flavor of the life and times. Some detail is sacrificed, but the book is easily readible and the account of the ship actions themselves with included diagrams helps make this complex engagement easy to comprehend.
Book Description
In the tradition of C.S. Forester, ex-sailor Richard Woodman brings history to life in a rousing tale of daring deeds and clashing cutlasses.
It is the summer of 1804 and Napoleon is massing his vast army for the invasion of England. His powerful Combined Fleet is preparing to meet Admiral Nelson's British Fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar. In the annals of history this battle completely decimated the Combined Fleet, ranking second in destructiveness only to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater, newly appointed commander of the frigate Antigone, is preparing for battle off the French coast, as part of Admiral Nelson's highly effective blockade. As the fleets draw together, Drinkwater is unprepared for the irregular role destiny deals him when he becomes a prisoner of the French and takes the brunt of the British bombardment in the orlop of an enemy ship.
Customer Reviews:
6th in this exciting series........2002-11-05
Whereas the 'Corvette' started slow and ended fast; this starts off on page one with a panic situation in a gale off the Lizard, forcing Nat to club-haul the ship out of danger... This is so well-described you can almost feel the ship straining beneath your feet as the anchor wrenches the bows 12 points through the wind onto the other tack and safety.
The threat of now-Emperor Napoleon's invasion requires Nat's constant vigilance over the French ports, destroying any likely transports and incidentally aiding the spy network in their subversive attempts to overthrow the 'little corporal'. During this routine blockading, the intransigent midshipman Lord Walmsley pushes his status too far and ends up over a cannon wearing a check shirt, then a transfer out of Nat's hair - but who turns up in the future, like a bad penny.
Despite the blockade, the Frogs break out and, in company with the Dons, apparently head to the W.Indies, leaving Nat to wait for Nelson appearing from the Med. Nat gets a transfer to a 74, but in a turn of events he is captured by the Spaniards and flung into prison with his officers. The loathsome Santhonax appears again to quiz Nat and do more dirty deeds as the book closes.
Trafalgar forms the high point of the story, with Nat only able to view the carnage from the orlop of the French 'Bucentaure' 80, where he was transferred as prisoner with little Gillespy.
We see more of the character of Mr.Q, Mr. Frey & Lt.Rogers in this book as well as more of the strategy of the defence of Britain, as Nat becomes more accepted by those in command. A small reference in a letter from his wife, tells us that Nat has fostered poor little Billy Cue Maxted, the Mid whose legs were blown off in the action with 'Requin' off Greenland (in the previous volume 'Corvette'). This touching generosity, the tenderness he shows to little Mr. Gillespy and his encouragement of Mr.Frey reveals a different side to the cool, collected tactician we normally see.
Mr.Woodman's writing gets better and better with each story - more fluid and confident, yet providing another level of suspense under the surface; meanings are implicit rather than voiced; inferences made by subtle suggestion rather than bald statement, which makes this a real pleasure to read.
As good as the best in the genre. *****
A well researched historical novel.......2000-12-08
This is book No. 6 in the Nathaniel Drinkwater series. In this story, Drinkwater is in command of the frigate Antigone on blockade duty in the English Channel, the Bay of Biscay, and along the Spanish coast. It covers a time period from March 1804 to April 1806, and involves Drinkwater in Calder's action and in the Battle at Cape Trafalgar, although aboard a French ship in the latter action! The book is well researched and covers details not found in run-of-the-mill history books. It is highly recommended to readers studying this particular segment of history. While the main plot can stand alone by itself, the book carries forward various characters from previous books, so it is helpful to have read the Drinkwater series in chronological order (I have been unable to find books 4 and 5 in the series from any source, but hopefully they will be reprinted).
5 rakings top and bottom for climactic Tragalgar action.......2000-01-18
1805 is the sixth entry in the Nathaniel Drinkwater series. The first six books of the series were copyrighted within 4 years and the next six took ten years to come out. Woodman wrote the first books rapidly. The result is a high level of intensity and some unevenness but the series is of very high quality for the genre. The series has tackled a number of serious themes while incorporating dramatic naval action and 1805 is no exception.
1805 starts in 1804 with Napoleon threatening to invade England. Drinkwater, now a captain, must patrol the English Channel to ensure that the French cannot bring a huge army across and subdue the stubborn English. With the powerful Royal Navy besting the French at every tack, was an invasion of England ever a real threat? Woodman makes a strong case that the answer is yes. Woodman, through letters from Drinkwater's wife, conveys the tension that was felt by English people at the time. Whether the threat was real or not, the reader is convinced that it was.
The reader also gets a sense of the loneliness felt by sailors with months or years of separation from their families. Drinkwater becomes a father figure to Midshipman Gillespy. Woodman presents the irony of Drinkwater being a father to a boy who is not his own while his own son is fatherless at home. The loss of fathers for indefinite periods of time or permanently is one of war's great tragedies and Woodman portrays it with some understatement.
Modern readers also know that 1805 culminated in the Battle of Trafalgar, which was Britain's greatest naval victory and perhaps the most decisive naval battle in history. Drinkwater has a unique perspective on the battle. Woodman's description of the battle through Drinkwater's eyes is a vision of hell, a vision that rings very true. Even though the reader sees the battle from the English perspective and the battle is a victory, Woodman emphasizes the tragedy.
1805 is a little uneven but Woodman more than makes up for this by his description of the events leading up to the Battle of Trafalgar and the description of the battle itself from Drinkwater's vantage point. 1805 is a powerful novel that has probably not received the recognition that it should. Without Trafalgar this is just another naval novel but with Trafalgar it's a masterstroke. It's every man's duty to read this one!
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