Every Man Will Do His Duty

by Dean King and John B. Hattendorf

Book Overview

"I could feel the heaving deck and smell the gun smoke in these pages". -- Admiral Stansfield Turner, USN (retired)The Phenomenal Success Of Patrick O'Brian's seafaring novels has spawned a great... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805046089
• ISBN13: 9780805046083
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Down to the Sea in Ships

For anyone who is interested in naval warfare in the age of sail in general, or in the Napoleonic period, this book is a must. It is simply superb.This anthology of first hand accounts covers events in both the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, including the War of 1812, in which the Royal Navy getting some very nasty surprises, and even nastier defeats, at the hands of the small, but expert United States Navy.Some of the subjects covered are the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in 1797, the sea fight between HMS Macedonian and the USS United States in 1812, the cruise into the Pacific of the USS Essex, and such esoteric subject as 'the noted pimp of Lisbon' and Bermuda in time of peace.This book is an enjoyable read, an outstanding primary source, and one of the best books available on this often neglected subject.

Authentic Voices from the Age of Fighting Sail.

This splendidly enjoyable anthology - an ideal bedside book - includes some twenty-two first-hand narratives, from British and American sources, of naval life and death in the French Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. Though some are extracts from memoirs written many years after the events described, others stem from closer to the action and so have an immediacy and freshness that sweeps away the two intervening centuries so that the reader all but feels the presence of the story-teller. Accounts by officers, some to achieve yet higher rank, such as Cochrane and Porter, alternate with less-polished descriptions from the lower deck, some frank in the extreme, particularly as to scrapes ashore. Of particular interest is Surgeon William Beatty's account of Trafalgar and of the death of Nelson, which is often referred to in other texts but is quoted here in full - even today, it is impossible to read it without emotion. Every aspect of the naval officer's and seaman's life, whether afloat or ashore, is covered here, but a consistent theme throughout is the cheerful courage, camaraderie, humanity and sense of honour in the face of unrelenting hardship and adversity that characterised all levels in the service. Devotees of the naval fiction of Forrester, Kent, Pope and O'Brian may on occasion wonder whether the reality can have been as consistently violent and hazardous as their novels portray but this volume confirms that if they err, it is on the side of moderation. William Henry Dillon's view of the Glorious First of June from the gun-deck of HMS Defence and Samuel Leech's account of the HMS Macedonian vs. USS United States duel are as grim and blood-spattered as anything in such fiction. Cochrane's swashbuckling depredations of enemy shipping in the Mediterranean in HMS Speedy would deemed too unlikely for any novel and George Vernon Jackson's extended escape efforts in Napoleonic France rival those of Colditz detainees in a later conflict by their resourcefulness and persistence. Throughout all these accounts however one is struck by the humanity and decency that characterised relations between enemy forces outside actual combat in the age before militant nationalism added a new bitterness to warfare. William Robinson's account of the aftermath of Trafalgar proves that Nelson's prayer that magnanimity in victory might characterise the Royal Navy struck a chord with officers and men alike, Jackson's account is full of kindnesses received from ordinary French people while "on the run" and Porter's account of the courtesies that preceded and followed the USS Essex's murderous show-down with HMS Phoebe off Valpariso show that honour was not merely a word, but a way of life, to the officers of the time. In summary this anthology is a delight to be savoured over a long period, a well to be dipped into with pleasure for many years to come.

THE REAL DEAL!

Having been in the navy and loving life at sea(though I'm a long way from it now), I always look for books that make me feel like I'm still there. What better book, then, than one written by people who WERE there? This volume collects some of the best first-hand accounts of life at sea in the Royal Navy during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Probably the best of all are admiral Lord Cochrane's telling of his first command, the tiny sloop Speedy, and the experiences of sailors on the gun deck in the heat of battle. Better by far than even the best Hornblower novels(no offense, I love them too). Don't miss this one!

A must-read for anyone interested in Naval history

This is a magnificant piece of editing. All the accounts are threaded together so well that the book reads like a novel, except in this case it is factual, first-hand history. The maps and editorial notes help as well. Some of the accounts are riveting, putting the reader squarely in the action. I highly recommend this book.

THIS IS A GREAT BOOK

I read this book after I was given a copy by a local radio station. I have read all the O'brien books, all the Forester, and most of the books on this period. this is one of the best books I have come across, both because it is real, and because it is exciting. the other interesting thing is that you see where the novels came from, and you understand that truth is stranger than fiction.