Sharpe's Trafalgar: Richard Sharpe & the Battle of Trafalgar, October 21, 1805 (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #4) [Paperback]

Bernard Cornwell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 9, 2002

The year is 1805, and the Calliope, with Richard Sharpe aboard, is captured by a formidable French warship, the Revenant, which has been terrorizing British nautical traffic in the Indian Ocean. The French warship races toward the safety of its own fleet, carrying a stolen treaty that could provoke India into a new war against the British -- and render for naught all that Sharpe has bravely fought for till now.

But help comes from an unexpected quarter. An old friend, a captain in the Royal Navy, is on the trail of the Revenant, and Sharpe comes aboard a 74-gun man-of-war called Pucelle in hot pursuit. What results is a breathtaking retelling of one of the most ferocious and one-sided sea battles in European history, in which Nelson -- and Sharpe -- vanquish the combined naval might of France and Spain at Trafalgar.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For military-history buffs, Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels are the literary equivalent of potato chips: you can't read just one. And in this case, why would you want to? Blending meticulous research and old-fashioned entertainment, the series follows the roguish adventurer Richard Sharpe as he swashbuckles his way through the Napoleonic Wars. In Sharpe's Trafalgar, the author ventures into Patrick O'Brian's maritime territory. Anchors aweigh, lads, and bring on the detailed descriptions of the ship's guns and their firing mechanisms!

In the beginning of the book, our hero sets sail for England after five months of service in India. The plot revolves around a disguised diplomat, a marauding French warship, and an improbable love affair with a comely English aristocrat. But make no mistake, the real draw here is combat. The battle scenes crackle with energy, and we can practically feel the chop of the waves and smell the reek of gunpowder. (We can also smell 600 unwashed men in close quarters with rats, sewage, and bilge rot, but that's another matter entirely.) The last hundred pages fly by at a furious clip, cannons pounding and cutlasses hacking, as Cornwell re-creates the naval battle of Trafalgar.

These days, of course, we know that war is bloody and brutal, not honorable or fair. We like even our most appealing warriors to have some passing acquaintance with their dark side, and Sharpe does take a decidedly antiheroic stance on the experience of hand-to-hand combat:

He was ashamed when he remembered the joy of it, but there was a joy there. It was the happiness of being released to the slaughter, of having every bond of civilization removed. It was also what Richard Sharpe was good at. It was why he wore an officer's sash instead of a private's belt, because in almost every battle the moment came when the disciplined ranks dissolved and a man simply had to claw and scratch and kill like a beast.

Beast or no beast, Sharpe is far more interesting and complex than the musket-wielding action figure he might first appear. And it's nearly impossible not to take some pleasure at his bloody exploits. Sharpe's Trafalgar is a superb example of the ripping good yarn--it confirms our secret conviction that war may be hell, but it's actually pretty exciting too. --Mary Park --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Nobody describes bloody battle scenes better than Cornwell, and even he outdoes himself with this riveting novel about the epic naval battle off Spain's Cape Trafalgar in 1805. This is the 17th volume in his popular Napoleonic War series about Richard Sharpe, a brutish yet admirable soldier in the British army. Here Cornwell jumps back chronologically in Sharpe's glorious career to 1805, when Sharpe is promoted from the ranks for saving Lord Arthur Wellesley's life in India. Loaded down with looted jewels, the bastard son of a London whore heads back to England to a posting with the famous 95th Rifle Regiment. His battlefield promotion to junior officer rank makes common soldiers wary, and gentlemen officers scornful, and Sharpe decidedly uncomfortable in a role he does not yet know how to play. But he certainly knows how to fight. As usual, there is not only plenty of action but romance and intrigue as well. Sailing aboard a large East India Company merchant ship, Sharpe encounters a wealthy married woman whose charms he cannot resist, a pompous English lord he cannot stand and a host of treacherous fellow passengers. Unusual circumstances, betrayal and some bad luck next find him aboard a British ship-of-the-line in pursuit of a French warship in the Atlantic. Beyond the murky horizon lies an unexpected rendezvous at Trafalgar, where Lord Nelson and the British fleet wait to meet the combined French and Spanish fleets. The naval battle occupies the last hundred pages and is stunning for its ferocity, detail, historical accuracy and suspense. Cornwell's fans will love Sharpe at sea in this latest installment in a first-rate series. (May)Forecast: Cornwell's books are major bestsellers in the U.K. Sharpe's Trafalgar hit the top of the charts and HarperCollins is pushing for similar success in the U.S. An eight-city author tour, national advertising and a 25-city national radio campaign will help, but word of mouth generated by satisfied readers should be even more effective.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; Repack edition (July 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061098620
• ISBN-13: 978-0061098628
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #57 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Sea Adventures

More About the Author

Bernard Cornwell was born in London in 1944 - a 'warbaby' - whose father was a Canadian airman and mother in Britain's Women's Auxiliary Air Force. He was adopted by a family in Essex who belonged to a religious sect called the Peculiar People (and they were), but escaped to London University and, after a stint as a teacher, he joined BBC Television where he worked for the next 10 years. He began as a researcher on the Nationwide programme and ended as Head of Current Affairs Television for the BBC in Northern Ireland. It was while working in Belfast that he met Judy, a visiting American, and fell in love. Judy was unable to move to Britain for family reasons so Bernard went to the States where he was refused a Green Card. He decided to earn a living by writing, a job that did not need a permit from the US government - and for some years he had been wanting to write the adventures of a British soldier in the Napoleonic wars - and so the Sharpe series was born. Bernard and Judy married in 1980, are still married, still live in the States and he is still writing Sharpe.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sharpe once again in the right place at the right time, April 20, 2006

By 

Scott Schiefelbein (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sharpe's Trafalgar: Richard Sharpe & the Battle of Trafalgar, October 21, 1805 (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #4) (Paperback)

In the hands of a lesser author, I'd be irritated with Richard Sharpe's ability to play a key role in seemingly every key British military action in the early 1800s. But thanks to Bernard Cornwell, I can dismiss petty contrivances and just enjoy the blasted books - and enjoy them I do.

(And I'm also reminded of the two soldiers in Ken Burns' magnificent Civil War TV history who kept journals and managed to be in over twenty critical battles . . . sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.)

Cornwell has written so many books that he does not feel the need for poetic titles. "Sharpe's Trafalgar" unsurprisingly puts Sharpe at, well, the Battle of Trafalgar. I know only a couple of Brits well, but from talking to them it's easy to see that Trafalgar is to Britain what Yorktown, Gettysburg, or D-Day are for the United States. There is nothing more stirring to national pride than a magnificent, critical military victory. So Cornwell can be forgiven if he jumps through a few odd hoops to have his favorite Army Ensign play a key role in the purely naval clash at Trafalgar.

Sharpe needs to get home from India to join his new regiment, the 95th Rifles. Obviously, Sharpe can't walk back to England from India, and this allows Cornwell to "play Patrick O'Brian." Sharpe learns the ins and outs of life on board a British naval vessel, including the close proximity of your fellow passengers, the problems of sailing with an uncooperative wind, and the perils at sea if your captain sells you out.

Sharpe also spends a lot of time romancing the glamorous Lady Grace, inconveniently married to a British lord, a general in the Army who is more politician than soldier. (This, by the way, means "villain" in Cornwell's universe, and he's a good foil for Sharpe.)

But the whole novel is really an excuse to get Sharpe to Trafalgar, where he meets Admiral Nelson and gets to wreak his unusual brand of havoc against the French navy. These latter chapters is where "Sharpe's Trafalgar" really soars, and it does so in both expected and surprising ways.

First, the obvious - Trafalgar's a battle, and nobody writes a better real-world battle scene than Cornwell. Sure, it's at sea, but that doesn't slow down an author of Cornwell's talent.

But what really makes the battle scenes at Trafalgar powerful is Cornwell's decision to give up portions of the narrative to Captain Chase, Sharpe's friend. I read and re-read several passages where Chase walks the decks of his beloved ship, hands clasped behind his back, as French muskets and cannon fire all around him. While keeping an air of nonchalance, Chase is terrified inside . . . and as such epitomizes the 19th-century British soldier. These are some of the best lines Cornwell has ever written.

I am early into the Sharpe series, and I expect I may find a later book that I enjoy more than "Sharpe's Trafalgar." If I do, that will be a happy day indeed.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sharpe at sea, May 21, 2001

By 

Ironmike (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sharpe's Trafalgar: Richard Sharpe & the Battle of Trafalgar, October 21, 1805 (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #4) (Hardcover)

Another outstanding addition to the classic Richard Sharpe series. With Sharpe departing India and sailing aboard an English warship, he soon becomes embroiled with a renegade, an unfaithful wife, a wealthy and jealous husband, a scattering of nautical characters worthy of Kent and Pope not to mention some terrific descriptions of life at sea aboard a King's ship. The author once again demonstrates his uncanny ability of placing our hero in some dangerous prediciments, with some splendid details about ship board hazards and some rousing sea battles and some rather torrid romantic interludes as well. A worthy addition to the collection, filled with adventure, thundering battle and splintered decks, romance and sudden death. I hope that Mr Cornwall considers doing a few books featuring a new naval hero, his writing style would capture that quite well. Once again, Sharpe marches on.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great change of pace after the India books, October 15, 2007

By 

Daniel Berger (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sharpe's Trafalgar: Richard Sharpe & the Battle of Trafalgar, October 21, 1805 (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #4) (Paperback)

An homage to Patrick O'Brian's "Master and Commander", the series based on the British Navy of the same period. The fan of both will see numerous similarities.

Sharpe's new friend, Captain Joel Chase, is the spitting image of Jack Aubrey. He's a bluff, good-natured fighting captain whose men would follow him through the gates of Hell, and he personally feels the same way about Admiral Lord Nelson. Sound familiar? He rarely flogs erring sailors. He loves his coffee. He pays for extra powder and shot out of his own pocket so that his crew can practice gunnery. And he's loyal to friends like Sharpe, who comes to Chase's rescue during a Bombay brawl with a dishonest merchant who cheated them both.

There are other touches as well. Sharpe's struggle to climb the masts and perhaps avoid using the maintop's "lubber hole" refers to the same running gag about Stephen Maturin, Aubrey's friend and intrepid but without sealegs.

Sharpe, a soldier, doesn't really belong at Trafalgar. But Cornwell contrives a plausible way to get him there, as Sharpe returns to Britain in 1805 to join a rifles regiment. The India books were fun but, after we've seen all those city walls stormed, all those rajahs plundered, and all those hideous Oriental tortures meted out, it's time to move on. Putting Sharpe on a ship, with its backstays and quarterdecks and scuppers pouring blood during battle, is a fine change of pace.

Cornwell's battle detail is typically gripping. And in this book Sharpe finds a romance that, one senses, may be more fateful than those he's had in previous books.