In the Hour of Victory: The Royal Navy at War in the Age of Nelson
The greatest victories from the British Navy’s golden age, told through never-before-seen letters from the officers themselves.

When Napoleon eventually died in exile, the Lords of the Admiralty ordered that the original dispatches from seven major fleet battles—The Glorious First of June (1794), St Vincent (1797), Camperdown (1797), The Nile (1798), Copenhagen (1801), Trafalgar (1805), and San Domingo (1806)—should be gathered together and presented to the nation. These letters, written by Britain’s admirals, captains, surgeons, and boatswains and sent back home in the midst of conflict, were bound in an immense volume, to be admired as a jewel of British history. 

Sam Willis, one of Britain's finest naval historians, stumbled on this collection by chance in the British Library in 2010 and soon found that only a handful of people knew of its existence. Willis here shapes that material into wonderful character portraits of the commanders on both sides, assessing their strengths and weaknesses. He also provides concise and illuminating explanations of the convoluted political circumstances surrounding each battle as he expertly reinterprets these key engagements in extraordinary and revelatory detail.

A beautifully illustrated dramatic narrative, In the Hour of Victory tells the story of these naval triumphs as never before and allows us to hear once more the officer’s voices as they describe the battles that made Britain great.

1113985941
In the Hour of Victory: The Royal Navy at War in the Age of Nelson
The greatest victories from the British Navy’s golden age, told through never-before-seen letters from the officers themselves.

When Napoleon eventually died in exile, the Lords of the Admiralty ordered that the original dispatches from seven major fleet battles—The Glorious First of June (1794), St Vincent (1797), Camperdown (1797), The Nile (1798), Copenhagen (1801), Trafalgar (1805), and San Domingo (1806)—should be gathered together and presented to the nation. These letters, written by Britain’s admirals, captains, surgeons, and boatswains and sent back home in the midst of conflict, were bound in an immense volume, to be admired as a jewel of British history. 

Sam Willis, one of Britain's finest naval historians, stumbled on this collection by chance in the British Library in 2010 and soon found that only a handful of people knew of its existence. Willis here shapes that material into wonderful character portraits of the commanders on both sides, assessing their strengths and weaknesses. He also provides concise and illuminating explanations of the convoluted political circumstances surrounding each battle as he expertly reinterprets these key engagements in extraordinary and revelatory detail.

A beautifully illustrated dramatic narrative, In the Hour of Victory tells the story of these naval triumphs as never before and allows us to hear once more the officer’s voices as they describe the battles that made Britain great.

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In the Hour of Victory: The Royal Navy at War in the Age of Nelson

In the Hour of Victory: The Royal Navy at War in the Age of Nelson

by Sam Willis
In the Hour of Victory: The Royal Navy at War in the Age of Nelson

In the Hour of Victory: The Royal Navy at War in the Age of Nelson

by Sam Willis

Overview

The greatest victories from the British Navy’s golden age, told through never-before-seen letters from the officers themselves.

When Napoleon eventually died in exile, the Lords of the Admiralty ordered that the original dispatches from seven major fleet battles—The Glorious First of June (1794), St Vincent (1797), Camperdown (1797), The Nile (1798), Copenhagen (1801), Trafalgar (1805), and San Domingo (1806)—should be gathered together and presented to the nation. These letters, written by Britain’s admirals, captains, surgeons, and boatswains and sent back home in the midst of conflict, were bound in an immense volume, to be admired as a jewel of British history. 

Sam Willis, one of Britain's finest naval historians, stumbled on this collection by chance in the British Library in 2010 and soon found that only a handful of people knew of its existence. Willis here shapes that material into wonderful character portraits of the commanders on both sides, assessing their strengths and weaknesses. He also provides concise and illuminating explanations of the convoluted political circumstances surrounding each battle as he expertly reinterprets these key engagements in extraordinary and revelatory detail.

A beautifully illustrated dramatic narrative, In the Hour of Victory tells the story of these naval triumphs as never before and allows us to hear once more the officer’s voices as they describe the battles that made Britain great.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780393243147
Publisher: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date: 04/28/2014
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 416
Product dimensions: 7.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Sam Willis is a maritime historian, archaeologist, and broadcaster. He is the author of a number of books on maritime and naval history, including the Hearts of Oak trilogy and the Fighting Ships series. Willis has appeared in and presented numerous TV series, including Shipwrecks and Castles for BBC4 and Operation Grand Canyon for BBC2. He is a Visiting Fellow in Maritime and Naval History at the University of Plymouth, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements xiii

List of Illustrations xv

List of Maps & Battle Plans xvii

Preface 1

The Finding 1

Introduction 3

The Writing 3

The Forgetting 6

The Content 9

The Commanders and their Fleets 14

The Demands of Seapower l7

The Navy and the Nation 20

The Recipients 21

A Note on the Transcriptions 26

1 The Glorious First of June 27

The Banner 29

The Extremists 30

The Sea Dog 34

The Convoy 37

The Dispatches 39

2 St Vincent 81

The Palace 83

The Allies 84

The Stickler 86

The Storms 88

The Dispatches 90

3 Camperdown 115

The Replica 117

The Invasion 119

The Scotsman 122

The Coercion 125

The Dispatches 126

4 The Nile 157

The Lightning Conductor 159

The Prey 161

The Favourite 164

The Discovery 166

The Dispatches 169

5 Copenhagen 205

The Manor 207

The Puppet 208

The Newlywed 214

The Conundrum 215

The Dispatches 217

6 Trafalgar 243

The Relics 245

The Mismatch 247

The Cripple's Friend 250

The Desperado 252

The Dispatches 254

7 San Domingo 299

The Sextant 301

The Survivors 302

The Aspirant 304

The Goose Chase 308

The Dispatches 311

Conclusion 330

The Paradox 330

The Uncertain 333

The Change 335

Postscript 337

The Photograph 337

The Appeal 340

Appendix I The Secretaries of the Admiralty 342

Appendix II The Royal Navy's Prizes 347

Glossary 369

Notes 375

Further heading 381

Note on the author 383

Index 385

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