Product Details:
Title: Nelson's Navy
Author: Brian Lavery, foreword by Patrick O'Brian
Conway Maritime Press
Length: 320 pages
Illustration note: 100 photographs and 350 line drawings
ISBN: 9-780-8517-7521-0
Dimensions: 298 x 252 x 28mm
The ideal guide to Nelson's Navy for those with an interest in the workings of a great fleet. Foreword by Patrick O'Brian.
The most successful Conway Maritime title, this book is the perfect guide to Nelson's Navy for all those with an interest in the workings of the great fleet.
The book is eminently readable and is the first single-volume work to cover in such depth this vast and complex subject.
Written by one of the world's leading authorities on the sailing navy the book contains considerable original research to give a clear and authentic picture of the Senior Service as a whole.
With a foreword by one of the most successful maritime fiction authors of the current age, the book is also of interest to all those with enthusiasm for the literature based on the Nelsonic-era.
First published in 1989 and reprinted many times since, 'Nelson's Navy' is a comprehensive overview of Britain's navy during the 'classic' period of the Napoleonic wars. Just about all bases are covered from the organisation of the entire navy to running a sick bay, together with an outline of the relevant wars for background context. If there is anything omitted then I can't think what it could be!
The reader is treated to an excellent grounding in all subjects from intricate details such as the construction of a Coles-Bentinck chain pump to wider issues like behaviour in victory or defeat. Of course, the scope of such a book precludes extended discourse on any individual aspect, but is more than adequate for most readers, though I would like to have seen a 'further reading' section for those who wish to explore in more depth.
Lavery is an acknowledged expert in this field. His narrative is, as always, authoritative yet easily assimilated, and accompanied by a wealth of monochrome illustrations throughout: maps, photos, charts, diagrams, plans, lists and drawings, nearly all of which are taken from contemporary sources [well, not the photos .... obviously!] to provide an essential ingredient of this fascinating book.
As the great Patrick O'Brian writes in his foreword "... anyone who has read and digested the work will have a more than ordinarily sound knowledge of Nelson's Navy". High praise indeed and well justified.
Brian Lavery Biography:
Brian Lavery is a Curator Emeritus at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, and a renowned expert on the sailing navy.
Nelson’s Navy: The Ships, Men and Organisation 1793-1815 is an international bestseller and was used as a technical reference by Peter Weir and his crew during the filming of ‘Master and Commander’.
Brian Lavery’s recent titles include the brand new The Frigate Surprise: The Complete Story of the Ship Made Famous in the Novels of Patrick O’Brian (2008), the highly successful Churchill’s Navy: The Ships, Men and Organisation 1939-1945 (2006) and the acclaimed Churchill Goes to War: Winston’s Wartime Journeys (2007).
He has also just completed a major study of the new breed of officers in the Royal Navy in the Second World War entitled In Which They Served.
In 2007, he won the prestigious Desmond Wettern Maritime Media Award, which recognises an individual’s significant contribution to publicising the importance of the UK’s maritime interests. His naval writing was further honoured in 2008 when he was awarded the Society for Nautical Research’s Anderson Medal.