The death of Nelson is a well-known story, but most people know much less of the battle in which he died: the single afternoon, off the coast of southern Spain, which put an end for ever to Napoleon's hope of invading England, and established a British supremacy at sea which lasted until the age of air power. David Howarth offers a masterly reconstruction of the background to the conflict, the battle itself and a deeply moving account of the fate of Nelson and the others who died in this tumultuous clash at sea. 'One of the most moving studies of Nelson and his final battle that has yet been written' Sunday Times