Commander - The Life and Exploits of Britain's Greatest Frigate Captain

Stephen Taylor

ISBN 10: 057127711X / ISBN 13: 9780571277117

Edité par Faber & Faber Ltd, London, 2012

A propos de cet article

Biography of the British navel officer Admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth (1757-1833). 354pp with index, illustrated with 8 pages of colour plates. Gilt lettering to spine, burgundy endpapers. Slight bumping to spine and corners and sunning to pages edges, otherwise good cop with no inscriptions. Unclipped DJ has slight edge and surface wear with small nicks to corners, otherwise good. Size: 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. N° de réf. du vendeur 015871

Détails bibliographiques

Titre : Commander - The Life and Exploits of ...

Éditeur : Faber & Faber Ltd, London

Date d'édition : 2012

Reliure : Black Cloth Boards

Etat : Good

Etat de la jaquette : Good

Edition : 1st Edition.

Type de livre : Book

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis :

Edward Pellew, captain of the legendary Indefatigable, was quite simply the greatest frigate captain in the age of sail. An incomparable seaman, ferociously combative yet chivalrous, a master of the quarterdeck and an athlete of the tops, he was as quick to welcome a gallant foe into his cabin as to dive to the rescue of a man overboard. He is the likely model for the heroic but all-too-human Jack Aubrey in Patrick O'Brian's novels. Pellew was orphaned at eight, but fought his way from the very bottom of the Navy to fleet command and a viscountcy. Victories and eye-catching feats won him a public following. Yet as an outsider with a gift for antagonizing his better-born peers, he made powerful enemies. Redemption came with his last command, when he set off to do battle with the Barbary States and free thousands of European slaves. Contemporary opinion held this to be an impossible mission, and Pellew himself, in leading from the front in the style of his direct contemporary Nelson, did not expect to survive. Pellew's humanity as much as his gallantry, fondness for subordinates and blind love for his family, and the warmth and intimacy of his letters, make him a hugely engaging and sympathetic figure. In Stephen Taylor's magnificent new life he at last has the biography he deserves.

À propos de l?auteur:

Stephen Taylor grew up in South Africa, and after moving to Britain worked as a foreign correspondent for The Times in Africa, Asia and Australia. He is the author of several celebrated books on Africa, including The Mighty Nimrod and Livingstone's Tribe: A Journey from Zanzibar to the Cape. The Caliban Shore was called 'a wonderful book' by Paul Theroux and his most recent book, Storm and Conquest, was called 'a triumph . . . a ripping yarn founded on original research' in the Guardian.