The Line Upon a Wind: An Intimate History of the Last and Greatest War Fought at Sea Under Sail - 1793-1815 - Hardcover

Mostert, Noel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0224069225 ISBN 13: 9780224069229

Publisher: Jonathan Cape, 2007

Synopsis

Following the acclaimed "Frontiers", Noel Mostert's new book chronicles the first true 'world war'. In February 1793, France declared war on Britain and Holland. The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars that raged for the next twenty-two years saw European powers manoeuvring for mercantile and political advantage, in a complex and ever-changing web of alliances and coalitions. By 1815, the world was a different place, age-old certainties were shattered, established dynasties and kingdoms overthrown, the United States had been established as a world power and a new age was dawning. This was to be the longest, hardest and cruellest war ever fought at sea - on a scale comparable only with the Second World War. Methods of battle under sail, little altered for centuries, would be forced to change and develop at an unprecedented pace that brought with it the fearsome power of rockets, torpedoes and submarines. While the war on land saw the rise of the greatest soldier the world had known - Napoleon Buonaparte - the war at sea had the unprecedented genius of Horatio Nelson. Mostert writes with intriguing insight about the parallels between the two historic figures. "The Line Upon A Wind" is also the story of the daily lives of the sailors on board the fighting ships, the blood and guts ferocity of engagement in an age of gentility, the struggles of the ships' surgeons to repair broken bodies and the daily efforts to keep the men fed, watered and free of disease. There are heroes and villains here, captains so harsh that crews were goaded to mutiny and those whose concern for the welfare of their crews changed life at sea forever. We see the awful power of the press gang and first-hand accounts of desertion and treachery. It is a story of ordinary men and extraordinary bravery, the building and navigation of fearsome ships of war and of a period of tumultuous conflict, change and innovation. The Great War, as it was known to contemporaries, spanned generations and continents. In "The Line Upon a Wind", Noel Mostert has achieved a work of unparalleled research, rousing descriptions and illuminating analysis - maritime history at its very best.

About this title

About the Author

Noel Mostert is the author of the acclaimed Frontiers (1992). He is Canadian, born in Cape Town. He served as military correspondent with Canadian forces in Europe and was United Nations correspondent for the Montreal Star, based in New York with a roving international assignment. He has contributed journalism and short stories to numerous American publications and is the recipient of several awards for his writing, including Columbia University's National Magazine Award for articles in the New Yorker. He lives in Tangier.

Edition details

• Publisher: Jonathan Cape
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0224069225
• ISBN 13: 9780224069229
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 784