Nearly two centuries after his death, does Nelson deserve his reputation
as one of the world's great commanders?
Nelson's triumphs have so caught the public imagination that his
failures are barely remembered. His only victorious battles at sea was
Trafalgar (at Copenhagen and the Nile his destroyed ships at anchor),
while his infatuation with Emma Hamilton, his role in the judicial
murder of the Neapolitan Commodore, Carraciolo, and his flagrant
disobedience of orders brought him disgrace and dishonor. Yet this was a
man who, in an age when the Royal Navy thrived on rum, sodomy and the
lash, turned his captains into a 'Band of Brothers' and whose death
brought tears to the eyes of the toughest sailors.
Did England's naval hero have the star quality which marks the world's
truly great captains? In answering this question, Geoffrey Bennett, a
distinguished historian who himself served in the Royal Navy for
thirty-five years, provides a full and meticulously researched account
of Nelson's life and career which will enthrall students of history and
the general reader alike.