Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #241848 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 380 pages

Jan Morris, The Times
"Taylor is a great man for storms and desperate enterprises ... in this irresistible volume he demonstrates his steady scholarship too."

Jeremy Paxman, Books of the Year, Observer
For sheer excitement, what gripped me most is Storm and Conquest ... as thrilling as anything by Patrick O'Brien.

Guardian
A triumph, a brilliant evocation ... this is the richest of works: a ripping yarn founded on original research.

Customer Reviews

A gripping read
Unlike northernfaq, I thought the cover blurb was pretty accurate: this covers the story of the disastrous storms of the 1809 season for the British in the Indian Ocean, and its aftermath when the British invaded what are now called Mauritius and Reunion, the latter being the campaign upon which Patrick O'Brien based his book "The Mauritius Command". However, I totally agree with him (?) on the quality of the book itself: I was gripped from start to finish, and literally couldn't put it down (at least not without great reluctance). Much of Stephen Taylor's research was based on the logs of the East Indiamen involved, now lodged in the British Library, which he succeeds in bringing vividly to life. There is some great fiction surrounding this period, but Taylor's story is every bit as readable.

A bit of a con but superb in its own right
Ok this ISNT a review of the entire Franco-British relationship in the Indian ocean as you might assume from the cover and blurb- its about 3 years of a struggle that lasted most of 3 centuries- but! what it is a gem of a book covering two doomed voyages and their aftermath across the indian ocean in the face of storm, wind, war and frenchmen that really gets you involved and makes for compulsive reading. Not a big book but a genuine (bar the cover and blurb) one that i loved reading.

Excellent story of drama on the high seas
'Storm & Conquest' is essentially two books in one: Part 1 is an astonishing tale of trial and tribulation as two successive homebound convoys of Indiamen meet their doom in ferocious tropical storms across the Indian Ocean; Part 2 is the story of Britain's annexing of the Mauritius island chain from the French to clear a way for total dominance in the area.

The setting for these events is the world of tall ships and 'Nelson's Navy', but it is written with seafaring novices in mind. Indeed, author Stephen Taylor freely admits to being one himself and thus consciously steers clear of most nautical terminology except where absolutely necessary. While those who are familiar with such things may regret this omission, and might enjoy a knowing smile at some of his over-simplified explanations, others will find nothing intimidating.

In any case, Taylor's concern is the human story of the many people caught in these events. Ships are merely vehicles that provide a dramatic setting in which lives are lived and lost, and many reputations made or broken. His descriptions are sometimes lurid and perhaps a little over-sensationalised, but he tells a good tale that never loses its fascination to the end.

Several names bestride both parts to provide continuity, including an infamous frigate captain Robert Corbet, feared equally by his enemies and his own crew, a name familiar to readers of Patrick O'Brian's novel 'Mauritius Command' which was based on the naval exploits described in Part 2. If anything, in real-life the enigmatic and complex Corbet is more interesting than even O'Brian allows.

Overall, a terrific read.