Product Description

The battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, in which the British fleet routed French and Spanish ships off the coast of Spain, marked the final defeat of Napoleon’s plot to invade Britain – and made Nelson his nation’s greatest hero, even though it cost him his life. This book brings together first-hand accounts of the lead-up to battle, the horrors of the conflict and its aftermath. It is a story told through the letters, diaries and naval documents – many previously unpublished – of the people who witnessed it, from Nelson and his officers to the crews from both sides. They show sad farewells between sailors and their loved-ones; the pursuit of the French navy; the tension of waiting as the fateful day dawns; carnage and chaos in the heat of the battle as guns fire from all sides; and Nelson’s agonizing death on the Victory after being hit by a musket ball. Vivid, exciting and moving, this graphic recreation tells the very human story behind these historic events.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #427302 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

About the Author
Author of eight books on Nelson, Tom Pocock is author of The Terror Before Trafalgar: Nelson, Napoleon and the Secret War (2003), Horatio Nelson (1994), Nelson's Women (2002). He has also written biographies of Captain Marryat, Rider Haggard, and Alan Moorehead. He lives in London. Author of eight books on Nelson, Tom Pocock is author of The Terror Before Trafalgar: Nelson, Napoleon and the Secret War (2003), Horatio Nelson (1994), Nelson's Women (2002). He has also written biographies of Captain Marryat, Rider Haggard, and Alan Moorehead. He lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Everyone home should have one.
This is a wonderful little book. Tom Pocock has marshalled Admiralty transcripts, minutes, sailors letters and newspaper reports to create a concise and highly succinct book about the prelude to the great sea battle, its course and its aftermath. But what gives this book added depth are that similar French sources are used thus giving a richness to the human experience that might have been lacking in a less generous essay.

Naturally, much of the focus is on Nelson himself but not to the exclusion of other principal characters most noteably Vice Admiral Collingwood whose vessel initially breached the french/Spanish line. On occasion the tales of derring-do and conduct becoming of gentlemen - 'tis but a fleshwound'- lean towards the Pythonesque but, even handed as ever, Pocock shows that bravery was not the sole preserve of the English.

Pococks narrtive interventions are kept to a minimum thus letting the documents speak for themselves and tell the story; in fact they are in a less intrusive lower case.

It is no wonder that the English refuse to forget Nelson or Trafalgar. Without that decisive, bloody, bloody battle England would have lost control of the seas and England could well have fallen to Napoleon's armies assembled on the French coast and the monumental course of Britains history - think of The Empire - would not have been so.

It's too much to hope, I think, given that Britain has a particularly myopic and anti-history New Labour government who would, no doubt, want to apologise to France for all the ships we sunk, but this is a part of British history that surely every school child should be taught. And for those of who had forgotten just what the battle of Trafalgar on the 21st of October 1805 came to mean then we could have no better a reminder than this justifiably classic book.

Collection of first hand accounts of Trafalgar
Tom Pocock has assembled a wonderful collection of eyewitness accounts of the battle of Trafalgar.

There are a lot of excellent books about this battle, but this is certainly one of the better ones. Pocock has organised the accounts he quotes into a narrative which hangs together very well. It also gives those of us who have been fortunate enough never to have been within a hundred miles of a real battle about as good an understanding of what it must have been like to be there as we have any chance of attaining.

Very strongly recommended.

The voices of experiance from the Battle of Trafalgar
Having just finished this book I feel privalaged to have been given an incite into people experiance and personal writings about Trafalgar. As well as reading about the events previous too and after the battle upto Nelson funeral.

This book is really easy to read and understand. It provides a voice for the people from that time, to tell us about what happened and what they went through. For those who know little about what happen and would like to know more, I would highly recommend reading this book.