The first guide to the real world of the fiction writers of the age of sail. Lavishly illustrated with 500 colour and b/w paintings and drawings. Perenially popular title now available in paperback C S Forester, Patrick O'Brian, Dudley Pope, Alexander Kent, Richard Woodman and David Donachie - these are just some of the writers of sea fiction, set in the Napoleonic eras, who have sold hundreds of thousands of copies of books throughout the world. Theirs is a genre which has captivated millions of readers - The Illustrated Companion to Nelson's Navy is the first book ever written which explains, with reference to their novels, the world in which their heroes lived. The aim of the authors has been to bring vividly to life the shipboard world of the Nelsonic seaman, while at the same time illuminating the novels of all those writers who have described that world in their fiction. Using the texts from the novels as well as their own detailed descriptions and analyses and some 500 illustrations and diagrams, they brilliantly describe the complex and fascinating world of the Royal Navy. No aspect has been overlooked. The organisation of the Admiralty, the ships of the fleet, the personnel, daily life on board, ship design and construction, armament, shiphandling and seamanship, as well as all the major and many of the minor actions are all covered and beautifully evoked with Richard Russell Lawrence's detailed illustrations. Appealing to historians and enthusiasts as well as to the masses of readers of Nelsonic fiction The Illustrated Companion to Nelson's Navy has become the single-volume reference work of choice for many who have a broad interest in Nelson and his fictional followers. Reprinted three times in hardback, it is now available in paperback for the first time.