The Line Upon a Wind: The Great War at Sea, 1793-1815

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W. W. Norton & Company, Jul 17, 2008 - History - 800 pages

The thrilling story of Britain's death-struggle with Revolutionary France, wherein Napoleon is checkmated by Nelson's brilliant naval exploits.

In February 1793 France declared war on Britain, and for the next twenty-two years the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars raged. This was to be the longest, cruelest war ever fought at sea, comparable in scale only to the Second World War. New naval tactics were brought to bear, along with such unheard-of weapons as rockets, torpedoes, and submarines. The war on land saw the rise of the greatest soldier the world had ever known—Napoleon Bonaparte—whose vast ambition was thwarted by a genius he never met in person or in battle: Admiral Horatio Nelson.

Noel Mostert's narrative ranges from the Mediterranean to the West Indies, Egypt to Scandinavia, showing how land versus sea was the key to the outcome of these wars. He provides details of ship construction, tactics, and life on board. Above all he shows us the extraordinary characters that were the raw material of Patrick O'Brian's and C. S. Forester's magnificent novels.

 

Contents

Ocean
3
Navy
14
Century
23
Decade
44
The Great War First Phase 17931805
61
Wood
63
Shipboard
77
Toulon
96
Aftermath
503
The Conclusive Struggle 18051816
514
Appraisal
516
Rampage
522
Sandy Hook
529
Chesapeake
535
Abominable
542
Peninsula
546

Buonaparte
109
Corsica
119
Battle
131
Uncertainty
154
Change
172
Triumph
193
Mutiny
202
Tenerife
217
Camperdown
225
Duel
237
Offensive
246
Nile
261
Barbary
279
Neutrality
290
Quasiwar
299
Impressed
306
Naples
315
Acre
329
Return
345
Consul
360
Home
370
Baltic
382
Straits
403
Amiens
413
Temeraire
424
Resumption
430
Boulogne
437
Tripoli
444
Watch
449
Chase
459
Prelude
472
Trafalgar
483
Collingwood
551
Cadiz
555
Catalonia
561
Basque Roads
569
Expeditionary Forces
579
Timor
584
ChinaJapan
590
Crisis
597
Breakdown
600
Swallow
608
Tarragona
612
America
619
War
627
Macedonian
633
Reflection
638
Northwest
642
Lakeland
649
Torpedoes
657
Elba
661
Snow March
665
Patuxent
669
New Orleans
678
Adriatic
695
Adieu
705
Algiers
715
Postscript
721
Notes on Sources
731
Among the varied sources of this central chapter I consulted J Holland
744
Select Bibliography
748
Index
753
Copyright

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About the author (2008)

Noel Mostert was the Montreal Star correspondent in New York and Europe during the 1950s and has since reported for different American magazines from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. He lives in Tangiers.

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