Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle

Description

A superbly researched, gripping account of the most important naval battle in British history, which thwarted Napoleon at sea and created a national hero in Nelson. This is the true story of the Battle of Trafalgar, as seen through the smoke-hazed gunports of the fighting ships. In an atmosphere of choking fumes from cannon and musket fire, amid noise so intense it was almost tangible, the crews of the British, French and Spanish ships did their best to carry out their allotted tasks. For over five hours they were in constant danger from a terrifying array of iron and lead missiles fired from enemy guns, as well as the deadly wooden splinters smashed from the ships' hulls by the cannon-balls. While the men manoeuvred the ships and kept the cannons firing, the women helped the surgeons tend the sick or helped the boys - the 'powder monkeys' - in the hazardous job of carrying gunpowder cartridges from the central magazine to the gun decks. Trafalgar set the seal on British naval supremacy, which became the mainspring for the growth of the British Empire.

Roy Adkins is an historian and archaeologist. He is also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Author Location: Exeter, Devon 'The Keys to Egypt: The Race to Read the Hieroglyphs' (about Napoleon's invasion of Egypt)

'Wonderful - the equal of Beevor's STALINGRAD ' Independent on Sunday; 'Adkins's description of the tension during the approach, as well as the nature of the fight itself, is first-rate. His account of the aftermath, both the immediate and the longer- term, are quite fascinating, and filled with glimpses of the humanity of the men who fought so coolly yet ferociously at Trafalgar. Truly, it is a most eclectic but engaging book' Allan Mallinson, The Spectator