This classic book about the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Nelson is now re-issued in paperback alongside its sister volume, Waterloo: A Near Run Thing

David Howarth, who died in 1991, was one of Britain's best writers of historical events. He himself had worked as war correspondent for the BBC in the Second World War, reporting the chaos of Dunkirk, but with the fall of France he joined the Navy and then came under the command of the SOE (Special Operating Service) running clandestine operations between Shetland and Norway. For this he was awarded the highest honours that Norway could award a foreigner. His own naval experiences in wartime and those in peacetime as an experienced sailor and boatmaker in Shetland, allow him to write with great understanding about a battle amidst the perils of the sea,