As a naval commander he was an inspiring hero, honored to this very day
as the essence of bravery. In his private life, he was a cad, conducting
a scandalous openly adulterous affair with Lady Emma Hamilton and
humiliating her cuckold husband. In victories at sea and in the boudoir,
Horatio Nelson was an indomitable conqueror and deserving of his
immortal reputation. He was the sworn enemy of Napoleon and the French,
and considered himself a failure if a single enemy ship escaped
destruction. His strategies to achieve this end are still studied and
marveled at. Bradford brilliantly recounts the events of Nelson's life
and details the naval warfare of this thrilling period in British
history. Ernle Bradford was born in 1922 and died in 1986. He was a
noted British historian specializing in the Mediterranean world and
naval topics. Bradford was an enthusiastic sailor himself and spent
almost thirty years sailing the Mediterranean, where many of his books
are set. He served in the Royal Navy during World War II, finishing as
the first lieutenant of a destroyer. Bradford lived in Malta for a
number of years. He did occasional broadcast work for the BBC, was a
magazine editor, and wrote many books, including Hannibal, Paul the
Traveller, Julius Caesar: The Pursuit of Power, Christopher Columbus,
and The Mighty Hood.
