The Naval Chronicle: The Contemporary Record of the Royal Navy at War, Vol. 1: 1793‐1798

It is no secret that the inspiration for many an episode featured by novelists of the sailing Navy, from C.S. Forester to Patrick O’Brian, was the 20,000 pages of the Naval Chronicle, published from 1799 ‐ 1819. But few have seen the originals which are to be found only in the largest or oldest libraries. Now a selection from them has been re‐edited by Nicholas Tracy. In order to reduce the bulk down to five volumes he has pruned it ruthlessly of the more peripheral areas: the poetry and fiction, short anecdotes, routine reports of ship movements, promotions, courts...