Publisher: Head of Zeus
SYNOPSIS:
Admiral Lord Collingwood, the eldest son of a Newcastle merchant, went to sea in 1761 at the age of thirteen. In his nearly fifty years in the Navy he rose to become a fine seaman, a master of gunnery, a battle commander the equal of his friend - and rival in love - Nelson. He was also an accomplished writer and wit, a doting father, inveterate gossip and consummate diplomat and strategist.
Collingwood's service took him to Boston, where he lived and fought during the American War of Independence; to Antigua, where he and Nelson both fell in love with Mary Moutray; to Corsica; Sicily; and Menorca, where he began as a young midshipman and ended his career as the effective viceroy of the Mediterranean.
ADMIRAL COLLINGWOOD is an intimate portrait of a forgotten British naval hero and a thrilling portrait of the glory years of the age of sail.
REVIEW:
Considering the importance of men like Admiral Collingwood, I felt that this book was more than a little flat for me as a reader. He was a man with a sense of humour, a man who had worked his way up and when added to the fact that he was a contemporary as well as a rival of Nelson’s all round meant to me that his book should have really stood out.
Yes the author did their research, yes the piece had all the information required, but when you write a biography of someone as magnetic as Collingwood, you need to add more than a little polish to allow readers to grasp not only his brilliance but also to get a fuller flavour of the man himself.
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