Book Rec: The Illustrated Companion to Nelson's Navy
Please forgive me if I gibber for a moment but I've only just discovered a fantastic book and wanted to share with you. I guess you may already know about this, and if so, then just ignore me, but this is so much fun and such a help when trying to understand the intricasies of O'Brian's books that I just wanted to let you know about it.
'The Illustrated Companion to Nelson's Navy' is by Nicholas Blake and Richard Lawrence, and I thought it looked cool right from the start because the cover illustration is by Geoff Hunt.
Its a very 'familiar' book if that's the right description and is literally 'everything you always wanted to know about Nelson's Navy but were too afraid to ask'.
The illustrations are fun and easy to understand, and it covers every area of study and information you can imagine from the history and background that built Nelson's Navy, to recipes for spotted dog and skillygalee. It has a full explanation of the different rates of ship, the uniforms that were worn, the differences between cannons and cannonades, ship handling, tacking and wearing, rigging, sails and how sailors entertained themselves.
There's a lot packed into it and is easy enough for any committed landlubber to follow and even though I've read O'Brian's books twice I am contemplating a third read with a lot more 'education' now from this great book to help me get to grips with much more of the detail.
If anyone wants to find it the ISBN number is 1-86176-266-6.
Also, can anyone tell me if they've read 'Under Enemy Colours' by Sean Thomas Russell? I'd be interested in people's opinions before I go out and buy it.
Thankyou!
Hope I've not gibbered too much!
'The Illustrated Companion to Nelson's Navy' is by Nicholas Blake and Richard Lawrence, and I thought it looked cool right from the start because the cover illustration is by Geoff Hunt.
Its a very 'familiar' book if that's the right description and is literally 'everything you always wanted to know about Nelson's Navy but were too afraid to ask'.
The illustrations are fun and easy to understand, and it covers every area of study and information you can imagine from the history and background that built Nelson's Navy, to recipes for spotted dog and skillygalee. It has a full explanation of the different rates of ship, the uniforms that were worn, the differences between cannons and cannonades, ship handling, tacking and wearing, rigging, sails and how sailors entertained themselves.
There's a lot packed into it and is easy enough for any committed landlubber to follow and even though I've read O'Brian's books twice I am contemplating a third read with a lot more 'education' now from this great book to help me get to grips with much more of the detail.
If anyone wants to find it the ISBN number is 1-86176-266-6.
Also, can anyone tell me if they've read 'Under Enemy Colours' by Sean Thomas Russell? I'd be interested in people's opinions before I go out and buy it.
Thankyou!
Hope I've not gibbered too much!