News from Chatham

Napoleonic Newsdesk

by Paul Chamberlain

Chatham Publishing continues to produce interesting titles on naval subjects, and they now have a website www.chathampublishing.com on which may be found details of all their current and future titles plus pre-publication price discounts. They have a number of books planned for the coming months.

Jack Nastyface: Memoirs of an English Seaman was written by William Robinson, who served in the Royal Navy from 1805 until he deserted in 1811. He served in the 74-gun Revenge at Trafalgar, and fought at the controversial Basque Roads attack and the disastrous invasion of Walcheren in 1809. His memoirs were first published in 1836 and is a rare account of life on the lower deck, describing the routine of shipboard organisation and the often-harsh discipline. This edition includes an introduction by Oliver Warner, himself the author of many books on the navy of the Napoleonic Wars, and is illustrated with caricatures by George Cruikshank, for whom the curious world of the seaman was common theme (to be published in April 2002, paperback, £9.95).

April also sees the publication of Trincomalee: The Last of Nelson's Frigates by Andrew Lambert (hardback, £20.00). This work examines the development, function and working of the frigate in the age of sail, as demonstrated in one of the last survivors of the type, HMS Trincomalee. A sister of the Shannon of War of 1812 fame, this ship has been beautifully restored at Hartlepool to display to the public the history of the frigate type.

The Nelson Encyclopaedia is the ultimate sourcebook on the life and times of Britain's greatest naval hero, by the country's leading expert on Nelson - Colin White. Although alphabetically arranged, the entries are of essay-length, giving proper context to people, events, ships and places important in Nelson's life, and examining in depth the latest findings and controversies surrounding each topic. It will be published in June (hardback, £30.00).

In August will be published Edward Pellew by C. Northcote Parkinson (paperback, £12.95), about Sir Edward Pellew, Viscount Exmouth, one of the most famous frigate captains of the Nelsonic era, with an outstanding and active career down to his great victory over the Barbary States at Algiers in 1816. The same month will appear Falconer's Universal Dictionary of the Marine 1815 (edited by William Burney). This was the best known, and most comprehensive, of the eighteenth century marine encyclopaedias. 'Falconer' went through a number of revisions, but this 1815 edition is widely regarded as the most useful to modern readers since it reflects naval practice at the height of the Napoleonic Wars (hardback, £45.00).

Napoleonic News Desk

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