Collected Works
of a Nautical Nature
by Paul Chamberlain
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As the Bicentenary of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars gathers pace, a veritable flood of books is being published covering all the major subjects of the period. Many are new works; while others are reprints of books that were produced some years ago and are now being made available to a new generation of enthusiasts. It is impossible to review all these books in a magazine such as First Empire; there is simply not the space. Collected Works is a way of presenting information on recently published books and bringing to the attention of the reader such works as may be of particular interest to him/her, while at the same time not using up too much space within the pages of the magazine.
A number of interesting books have been published on naval history recently. Life in Nelson's Navy by Dudley Pope (Chatham Publishing 1997, £ 9.95) is a republished work by an eminent author of fiction (the Ramage novels) and non-fiction who sadly died in 1997. The book was first published in 1981 and describes in vivid detail how the Royal Navy of Nelson's era was organised and equipped; and how the ships were manned. It dispels many of the myths surrounding the Royal Navy of the period, for example, the author relates that 'the picture of a curly-haired midshipman not yet past his fifteenth birthday was often correct, but 50% of a ship's midshipmen were likely to be in their thirties or forties'.
A very interesting section examines the workings of the Impress Service. Mr Pope makes extensive use of original documents such as ship's logs, naval correspondence (both official and private) and autobiographies to describe in a highly readable and interesting manner all aspects of the navy of that era. The Royal Navy is placed in the context of the time, describing every aspect of this force from the workings of the Admiralty down to the recruitment of officers and seamen. This vivid account comes from an author who knew his subject and certainly knew how to tell a story.
For a much more detailed history of the Royal Navy, the seven volume work The Royal Navy: A History From the Earliest Times to 1900 by William Laird Clowes (Chatham Publishing 1996-97, £ 18.00 per volume) describes the evolution of Britain's navy from the Roman period through to when the author wrote this monumental work in the 1890s. Each volume looks at all aspects of the navy during a specific period, with Volume Three covering 1714-1792; Volume Four from the American Revolution to the Peace of Amiens in 1802; Volume Five 1803-1815; and Volume Six the period from the war against the United States of America 1812-15 through to the conclusion of the war with Russia in 1856. Each volume describes every part of the Royal Navy and its actions, and details the opponents faced by Britain throughout the centuries.
The author has included very detailed tables of ship losses; officers involved in the administration of the navy; statistics for the strength of the fleet in both ships and men for given periods. It is not only the military actions that are covered. Voyages of exploration and the social life of the navy are included in what is a comprehensive guide to the Royal Navy.
The story of the Royal Navy is very much a story of the men who served on board the ships. Every Man Will Do His Duty: An Anthology of Firsthand Accounts from the Age of Nelson by Dean King with John B. Hattendorf (first published in the USA by Henry Holt 1997, $27.50, now available from Conway at £ 17.99) is a collection of personal narratives from the men who served in the navy of Nelson's time. This book draws on a wide range of sources from all ranks of seamen and goes beyond the heroic moments, offering an insight into the nature of life and war at sea; the monotony, the deprivation, and the pain. It covers three distinct conflicts: the French Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812; using twenty-two different accounts to tell the story of naval life during this long period of warfare. Stories are related of fleet battles, frigate duels, fire-ship missions, shipwrecks and deadly encounters with cannibals. Many of the authors whose accounts are included have served as the inspiration to many of the great historical novelists such as Patrick O'Brian, C.S.Forester, Alexander Kent and others. It is certainly a book that brings the naval history of the period vividly to life.
The story of the ships in which such men served, fought and died is told in Fighting Ships: Ships of the Line 1793-1815 by David Davies (Constable 1996, £ 19.95). This is a general account of the ships and how they were constructed, armed and manned; set against the battles of the time such as the Glorious First of June, Camperdown and Trafalgar. As a simple introduction to the Royal Navy of the Napoleonic period then this book is of use, complete with its glossary of nautical terms.
Of the publishers of books on the naval period, Chatham Publishing has rapidly developed a reputation for very high-quality and detailed works covering all aspects of the naval conflict. Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Eras by Terence Grocott (Chatham Publishing 1997, £ 30.00) is an unusual and certainly different way of looking at the navies of the period. This is a subject that is rarely touched upon in many works. More vessels were lost at sea through shipwreck than through enemy action, and this book covers all the causes of such losses, from navigational error; the perils of winter voyages; collision; fire/explosion; to ships that were unfit for sea but were still sailed. It is a chronological account of all the ships that were lost through these various causes, drawn from the Annual Register, newspaper reports and naval publications, plus accounts written by survivors. Many of the entries relate the story of loss in great detail, so not only is the book a chronology of shipwrecks, but is also the story of the men and women involved.
Chatham Pictorial Histories is a major series covering the great maritime events of the pre-photographic era using contemporary paintings, prints, drawings, charts and plans; many never published before. As many of these illustrations are gleaned from the archives of the National Maritime Museum, and their museum reference details are included with each picture, these books are also in effect, catalogues of the illustrations in the museum collections. The volumes published so far are Navies and the American Revolution 1775-1783; Fleet, Battle and Blockade: The French Revolutionary War, 1793-1797 and Nelson against Napoleon: From the Nile to Copenhagen 1798-1801 all edited by Robert Gardiner (each book is written by a number of experts in the naval field and is priced at £ 30.00). By concentrating on a relatively short timespan, each volume covers that period in great detail, looking at every aspect of the warfare during those years, not just the naval actions. For example, Fleet, Battle and Blockade examines London as the commercial capital of the world, and the commercial backbone of the war effort. The cruise of a frigate is described using sketches done by Lt. Edward Bamfylde Eagles of the Royal Marines; being a lively representation of everyday incidents, such as the frigate leaving harbour; a frigate with a convoy; and the ship's company taking prisoners of war out of a prize.
For a book that describes the Trafalgar campaign in a concise and readable format, then Trafalgar: The Nelson Touch by David Howarth is probably a classic (The Windrush Press 1997, £ 12.99). It was first published in 1969 and has been republished in the Great Battles series produced by Windrush. The story of one of the most famous naval actions in history is related in its context of ending Napoleon's hopes of invading England, and the establishment of Britain's naval supremacy. The course of the campaign and the battle is told through the eyes of the men involved.
Many of the naval actions of the Napoleonic Wars inspired writers of fiction to invent their own naval heroes and relate their stories against the backdrop of actual events. C.S Forester's series of Horatio Hornblower books has achieved cult status amongst enthusiasts of the age of fighting sail. Cecil Northcote Parkinson has chronicled the rise to eminence of a young midshipman in 1794 to a revered admiral of the fleet in 1847 in his fictional biography of the man entitled The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower (Sutton Publishing 1996, £ 12.99, first published in 1970). While a fictional work, it relies very much upon factual events to relate the story of the famous fictional naval officer, presenting an historical backdrop to the adventures involving Hornblower.
All the publishers mentioned produce catalogues of their books and details of any forthcoming titles. While much of this news is presented in the Napoleonic Newsdesk, interested readers may like to contact these people direct. The details are as follows:
Chatham Publishing, FREEPOST LON6756, London N1 6BR.
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