What was it really like to be at sea in the Navy with Nelson? Were the sailors excited about the Battle of Trafalgar, or suffering scurvy? How did life compare between those of a high range, and those who served them? What were conditions like below the decks, living among the rats and the filth? How did you cope if you suffered from sea sickness? This book takes you back in time to see, hear, smell and taste what life was really like for these brave sailors at sea.

A relentless nautical drama that would define, or end, men’s lives.The English port city of Hull was home to ‘three day millionaires’ – trawlermen on brief shore leave. They were spilling cash from record catches. With months out working fierce seas, who knew if the next trip would be their last?The St Finbarr was set to change all that.She was built as the perfect trawler, no cost spared. She was the future of the industry. She was...

'The art of command is…to be the complete master, and yet the complete friend of every man on board; the temporal lord and yet the spiritual brother of every rating; to be detached and yet not dissociated.'A Seaman's Pocket-Book, 1943 has found huge appeal with the British public. Presented in the same format, The Royal Navy Officer's Pocket-Book gathers together useful advice and instruction for those naval officers fighting the Second W...

A fascinating journey through more than 5,000 years of seafaring history in this essential guide to the most impressive seafaring tales, explorers, and maritime environments.For more than 5,000 years, the seas have challenged, rewarded, and punished the brave sailors who set forth to explore it. This history of the seas and sailing tells the remarkable story of those individuals - whether they lived to tell the tale themselvesor not.From the early Po...

"A beautiful book . . . a goldmine of information to anyone interested in the capital ships of the sailing navy of the 17th and 19th Centuries."—Ships in ScaleThe National Maritime Museum in Greenwich houses the largest collection of scale ship models in the world, many of which are official, contemporary artifacts made by the craftsmen of the navy or the shipbuilders themselves, and ranging from the mid-seventeenth century to the present day. As such they represen...

Do you remember Australia's '70s? The Vietnam War and the Cold War, the politics, the flower people, the music, the hopes?That Member of Parliament who led marches against war, wrote liberation books he struggled to sell, helped bring down a Government? Who gave the hungry press a feast of scandals? Remember those naked full-moon festivals with all the Minister's happy hippie mates?Well, this old hippie was there, and those mates were his mates, all living their stories. Bu...

As she lay in dry dock, devastatingly damaged by one of Hitler’s newly deployed magnetic mines after barely two months in service, few could have predicted the illustrious career that lay ahead for the cruiser HMS Belfast. After three years of repairs to her broken keel, engine- and boiler-rooms, and extensive refitting, she would go on to play a critical role in the protection of the Arctic Convoys, would fire one of the opening shots at D-Day and continue supporting the Operation Overlor...

In this remarkable book, now reissued in paperback, Brian Lavery examines every aspect of the Royal Navy, both ashore and at sea, during the Second World War, and casts a lucid eye over the strengths and weaknesses of an organisation that was put under acute strain during the period, yet rose to the challenge with initiative and determination.Divided into twelve sections, the book delves into the structure of naval power from the Board of Admiralty and shore commands to officers an...

The BBC TV Tie-in to Dan Snow's Timewatch series exploring the navy's rise over four centuries.The year 1588 marked a turning point in our national story. Victory over the Spanish Armada transformed us into a seafaring nation and it sparked a myth that one day would become a reality – that the nation's new destiny, the source of her future wealth and power lay out on the oceans.This book tells the story of how the navy expanded from a tiny force to...

"A wonderful book detailing the construction of the Royal Navy's sailing warships" from the maritime historian and author of Nelson's Navy ( Pirates and Privateers).The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich houses the largest collection of scale ship models in the world, many of which are official, contemporary artifacts made by the craftsmen of the navy or the shipbuilders themselves, and ranging from the mid-seventeenth century to the present da...

May 2015 sees the 250th anniversary of the launch of HMS Victory, the ship that is so closely associated with Nelson and his great victory at Trafalgar and which, still extant, has today become the embodiment of the great Age of Sail. Many books have been written about Victory but none like this, which tells the full story of the ship since she first took to the waters in May 1765. It contains many surprises that she was almost wrecked on her launch; that diplomacy conducted onboard her pl...

From the time of the Restoration of Charles II, when he returned to England from Breda and was presented with the yacht Mary by the burgomaster of Amsterdam, Royal yachts began to be defined as such in England and built with that special purpose in mind. They were built luxuriously and used for royal visits to the fleet, for diplomacy and for racing and cruising for pleasure. Charles II took more of an interest in the sea than any other English monarch. He built a fleet of royal yachts, fi...