The Sea Warriors

by Richard Woodman

Overview

Extraordinary maritime heroes of the late 18th and early 19th centuries stride across these pages - some, like Warren, Pellew, Cochrane and Collingwood, are still renowned; others are almost unknown today, yet their brilliant exploits deserve to be pulled from under the long shadow of the greatest naval figure of all, Horatio Nelson. The Royal Navy's struggle is set against the political backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars and the sea war with America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781780339245
Publisher:	Little, Brown Book Group
Publication date:	08/28/2002
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	542,826
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Richard Woodman was born in London in 1944. He became an indentured midshipman in cargo liners at 16 and has sailed in a variety of ships, serving from apprentice to captain. He remains a professional sailor and in 1978 won the Marine Society's Harmer Award.

Richard Woodman served an apprenticeship in cargo-liners, qualified as a navigator and spent another eleven years at sea as a commander. His passion for the sea is reflected in his prolific output, which includes works of both fiction (the Nathaniel Drinkwater series) and non-fiction (recently, The Sea Warriors, published by Constable).

Richard Woodman spent over 30 years at sea. His prolific output includes fiction (Nathaniel Drinkwater series) and non-fiction (recently, The Sea Warriors).



Richard Woodman is best known for his Nathaniel Drinkwater series of historical naval novels. Born in London in 1944 Richard joined his first ship at the age of 16 and spent over 30 years at sea. Married with two adult children, he lives in Harwich.

Editorial Reviews

Woodman recounts the story of the late 18th- and early 19th-century British naval captains. He details the events of the war years, focusing on the blockading of enemy ports, the interception of trade, and the protection of British merchant ships. In addition to the heroics of battle, the monotony of sailing, the prevalence of disease, and outbreaks of mutiny are also discussed. Woodman is a former sailor, from a slightly later period. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

A historical study of the fighting officers and sailors who served in Great Britain's powerful navy during the golden age of Admiral Horatio Nelson. Woodman, best known as an author of historical maritime novels (The Guineaman, 2000, etc.), seems a promising choice to produce a naval history of the Napoleonic Wars. Indeed, he demonstrates an impressive grasp of the era. This extraordinary knowledge of the English captains, ships, crews, tactics, and opponents produces a narrative full of authentic details that should help readers encounter this long-extinct age. The author constructs this quirky history of equal parts military biography, nautical adventure, and naval history. He focuses his writing on the age's most colorful characters, offering readers observations on the tactical audacity and individual courage of captains like Horatio Nelson and Nisbet Willoughby against their French and American opponents. Between the resulting episodes of broadside cannon fire, exploding fire ships, and sea chases, Woodman pauses to describe the domestic life on the ships, teaching readers about such disparate subjects as the ravishes of scurvy and the monotony of sail trimming. He also finds the space to comment on social injustices, shedding light on the impressment of American merchant seamen, and the beatings and executions of sailors that damaged British recruiting and inspired the era's infamous mutinies. Too often, Woodman loses his narrative thread in this blizzard of data, making the history seem like a series of richly detailed but loosely stitched together research projects instead of a coherent history. For fans of Patrick O'Brian or C.S. Forester who crave true stories of highadventure in Nelson's navy—although many of those fans would be better served by numerous, more scholarly histories of the epoch that are readily available.

Kirkus Reviews