NELSON'S VICTORY: 250 Years of War and Peace

The author has written more than 30 books on maritime history and this glorious 2015 first edition from Seaforth Publishing was written when Victory was awaiting massive restoration on her hull, slowly being crushed by its own weight. This work brings to the fore the significance of her career so far, and is an eloquent testimonial to her remarkable survival. She first took to the water in May 1765, and was almost wrecked on her launch. Diplomacy conducted onboard her played a crucial role in provoking Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812. In 1914 Kaiser Wilhelm set the First World War in motion at a desk made from Victory's timbers. Lavery's book also tells the story of Horatio Nelson, who was born a few weeks before his most famous ship was ordered, and whose career paralleled her in many ways. Of course he does not ignore the Battle of Trafalgar and indeed offers new insights into the campaign that led up to it. Victory was at different times a flagship, a fighting ship, a prison hospital ship, a training ship for officers and boys, a floating courtroom, a signal school in the early days of radio, tourist attraction and national icon. Lavery looks at her through many eyes including those of Queen Victoria, admirals, midshipmen and ordinary seamen, and even Beatrix Potter who visited as a girl. Victory literally collided with the modern age in 1903 when she was hit by the battleship Neptune. In 1922 she entered dry dock to become a pioneering preserved ship, and survived despite being hit by a German bomb. The book also deals with her designers, the dockyard workers who built her, and the thousands of men and boys who sailed, fought or trained on board her. Admire the beautiful oak from which she is built, the magnificent golden windows of her curved bow and dozens of beautiful colour paintings, contemporary colour photos, diagrams, maps and cartoons in this big glamorous 22.9 x 27cm 208 page tribute.