This is a re-read of a book in my library. A very interesting account of life in the Royal Navy during the Nelson era. The daily hardships of life under sail were almost as bad as battle, in fact it seems that combat was preferred to peace, at least the sailors then had some excitement and relief from the drudgery of regular duties. I like books like this which do not give huge amounts of space to a re-telling of the battles but actually concentrate on the life of the average sailor.
The most telling aspect to me is the fate of the "pressed" man, often a merchant sailor just back in port after a long voyage, enjoying a drink in a tavern, who found himself grabbed by the press gang before he even had time to go home, and then facing literally years of service on a Royal Navy ship with no escape other than death by disease or battle or the eventual paying off of the ship.
An excellent book for those interested in naval matters during the Napoleonic wars.
The Adkins have written another good book on the social life and times of Jane Austen's world. A similar book on the Georgian Navy (Jane Austen's brothers were Navy officers) and the social history background in Britain during these Nap Wars is Jenny Uglow's In These Times.
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