Every Man Will Do His Duty: An Anthology of Firsthand Accounts from the Age of Nelson [Hardcover]

Dean King (Editor), John B. Hattendorf (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1997

The history of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars comes alive through letters, diaries, official chronicles, accounts of life at sea, and eyewitness descriptions of great sea battles, such as Cape St. Vincent and Trafalgar, the death of Nelson, and more."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The story of Great Britain was written in seawater, and no period was more important than the two decades under scrutiny in Dean King's Every Man Will Do His Duty. This collection of memoirs, diaries, and accounts written by Royal Navy personnel (both English and American) during the Napoleonic period will be a sure hit with any reader who has devoured the Aubrey-Maturin novels of Patrick O'Brian. Every Man Will Do His Duty—the title is, of course, Admiral Lord Nelson's famous admonition to his sailors at Trafalgar—pulses with the vividness, immediacy, and honesty that only primary sources can supply. The book is filled with intriguing details of war as it was practiced on the high seas from 1793 to 1815. Editor King has done an excellent job selecting his sources; in addition to views from the captain's quarters, Every Man Will Do His Duty boasts plenty of material penned by mariners of a much humbler station; their accounts provide the bulk of the book's humor. Fans of the nautical novel will find this book a worthy addition to their library, and so will students of English history.

From Library Journal

Readers of Patrick O'Brian and C.S. Forester will enjoy this collection of contemporary accounts about life in the Royal Navy from 1793 to 1815, many of which form the basis of the fiction series of both writers. Editors King and Hattendorf, whose previous works, Sea of Words and Harbors and High Seas (both Holt, 1996), are commendable companion volumes to O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels, have gathered together the best accounts from the period and presented them in chronological order. With just enough narrative to link the passages, the book moves smoothly from chapter to chapter. Many selections have been long out of print; among the best are William Dillon's "Of the Glorious First of June," Thomas Cochrane's "Cruise of the Speedy," and William Beatty's "Death of Lord Nelson." Recommended for all collections.?David Lee Poremba, Detroit P.L.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 425 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co; 1st edition (June 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805046089
• ISBN-13: 978-0805046083
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,071,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

An award-winning and best-selling author of nine non-fiction books, Dean King has chased stories across Europe, Asia, and Africa. His goal is to draw you into a rich, nuanced, and accurate historical narrative that allows you to live with the characters, to feel their pain, suffering, striving, and joy, and to grow with them. He prefers that you decide what you think about the characters' decisions and actions, rather than telling you what to think. He rides the camels, climbs the 14,000 foot passes, walks the yardarms,and tracks down far flung sources to bring you the sounds, smells, sights and insights you need. Then he writes and edits until his knuckles have no skin, his elbows ache, and his family is looking for him, all to give you pleasure in lean, melodic, and meaningful prose. In the end if he makes you desperate to take his book and hit your favorite easy chair or crawl into bed and curl up with it, he's happy. If you learn something or feel changed, then it's all the better.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Authentic Voices from the Age of Fighting Sail., May 8, 2000

By 

Donal A. O'Neill - See all my reviews

This review is from: Every Man Will Do His Duty: An Anthology of Firsthand Accounts from the Age of Nelson (Hardcover)

This splendidly enjoyable anthology - an ideal bedside book - includes some twenty-two first-hand narratives, from British and American sources, of naval life and death in the French Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. Though some are extracts from memoirs written many years after the events described, others stem from closer to the action and so have an immediacy and freshness that sweeps away the two intervening centuries so that the reader all but feels the presence of the story-teller. Accounts by officers, some to achieve yet higher rank, such as Cochrane and Porter, alternate with less-polished descriptions from the lower deck, some frank in the extreme, particularly as to scrapes ashore. Of particular interest is Surgeon William Beatty's account of Trafalgar and of the death of Nelson, which is often referred to in other texts but is quoted here in full - even today, it is impossible to read it without emotion. Every aspect of the naval officer's and seaman's life, whether afloat or ashore, is covered here, but a consistent theme throughout is the cheerful courage, camaraderie, humanity and sense of honour in the face of unrelenting hardship and adversity that characterised all levels in the service. Devotees of the naval fiction of Forrester, Kent, Pope and O'Brian may on occasion wonder whether the reality can have been as consistently violent and hazardous as their novels portray but this volume confirms that if they err, it is on the side of moderation. William Henry Dillon's view of the Glorious First of June from the gun-deck of HMS Defence and Samuel Leech's account of the HMS Macedonian vs. USS United States duel are as grim and blood-spattered as anything in such fiction. Cochrane's swashbuckling depredations of enemy shipping in the Mediterranean in HMS Speedy would deemed too unlikely for any novel and George Vernon Jackson's extended escape efforts in Napoleonic France rival those of Colditz detainees in a later conflict by their resourcefulness and persistence. Throughout all these accounts however one is struck by the humanity and decency that characterised relations between enemy forces outside actual combat in the age before militant nationalism added a new bitterness to warfare. William Robinson's account of the aftermath of Trafalgar proves that Nelson's prayer that magnanimity in victory might characterise the Royal Navy struck a chord with officers and men alike, Jackson's account is full of kindnesses received from ordinary French people while "on the run" and Porter's account of the courtesies that preceded and followed the USS Essex's murderous show-down with HMS Phoebe off Valpariso show that honour was not merely a word, but a way of life, to the officers of the time. In summary this anthology is a delight to be savoured over a long period, a well to be dipped into with pleasure for many years to come.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for anyone interested in Naval history, June 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Every Man Will Do His Duty: An Anthology of Firsthand Accounts from the Age of Nelson (Hardcover)

This is a magnificant piece of editing. All the accounts are threaded together so well that the book reads like a novel, except in this case it is factual, first-hand history. The maps and editorial notes help as well. Some of the accounts are riveting, putting the reader squarely in the action. I highly recommend this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS IS A GREAT BOOK, October 3, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Every Man Will Do His Duty: An Anthology of Firsthand Accounts from the Age of Nelson (Hardcover)

I read this book after I was given a copy by a local radio station. I have read all the O'brien books, all the Forester, and most of the books on this period. this is one of the best books I have come across, both because it is real, and because it is exciting. the other interesting thing is that you see where the novels came from, and you understand that truth is stranger than fiction.