Storm and Conquest: The Clash of Empires in the Eastern Seas, 1809

The Indian Ocean was the final battleground for Nelson's navy and France. At stake was Britain's lifeline to India and its strategic capacity to wage war in Europe.

In one fatal season, the natural order of maritime power since Trafalgar was destroyed, when Britain lost fourteen of her great Indiamen, either sunk or taken by enemy frigates. Many hundreds of lives were lost, and the East India Company was shaken to its foundations. The focus of these disasters, military and meteorological, wa...