'An enthralling book' Sunday Telegraph
'Fascinating' Sunday Times
The Royal Navy to which Admiral Lord Nelson
sacrificed his life depended on thousands of sailors and marines to man the great wind-powered wooden warships. Drawn from all over Britain and beyond, often unwillingly, these ordinary men made the navy invincible through
skill,
courage and
sheer determination. They cast a long shadow, with millions of their descendants alive today, and many of their everyday expressions, such as 'skyscraper' and 'loose cannon', continuing to enrich our language. Yet their contribution is
frequently overlooked, while the officers became celebrities.
JACK TAR gives these forgotten men a voice in an
exciting,
enthralling, often
unexpected and always
entertaining picture of what their life was really like during this age of sail. Through personal letters, diaries and other manuscripts, the emotions and experiences of these people are explored, from the dread of press-gangs, shipwreck and disease, to the exhilaration of battle, grog, prize money and prostitutes.
JACK TAR is an
authoritative and
gripping account that will be compulsive reading for anyone wanting to discover the vibrant and sometimes stark realities of this wooden world at war.
