Fighting Sail

The Seafarers

by A.B.C. Whipple, Time-Life Books

This volume in The Seafarers recounts the golden age of the Royal Navy in the half-century or so up to and including the Battle of Trafalgar

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Naval History, Military History, Maritime

184 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1978

About the author

Addison Beecher Colvin Whipple was an American journalist, editor, historian and author. Before his retirement he was editor of Life's International Editions and executive editor of Time-Life Books.

Reviews

[Jackie Warham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Y’all this was fire, like actually so much fun to read. Live Laugh Horatio Nelson, I had no idea this book centred around him before picking it up (also had never heard of him before)but holy moly was it so much fun to learn about that dude😭🙏🙏. Also mandatory shoutout to Admiral De Grasse of the French Navy who was regularly 6’2 but was 6’6 on days of battle, never stopped thinking about that fact throughout the whole book🙏🙏🙏

[Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fighting Sail covers the half-century or so up to and including the Battle of Trafalgar. Perhaps Whipple can be criticised for his Anglo-centric bias, but a certain slant was inevitable - this was the golden age of the Royal Navy. Their mighty ships-of-the-line ruled the oceans, and no figure stood taller (metaphorically speaking) than the flawed, captivating Horatio Nelson. A certain concentration on the details of his life and career cannot be avoided.

It's a desperate shame that Time Life no longer produce books like this. Personally, The Seafarers is my favourite Time Life series. Handsomely bound, richly detailed and superbly illustrated, it vividly evokes faraway places, distant times, and the characters that inhabited them. These books captured my imagination when my seafaring father purchased them more than 30 years later, and they still inhabit a proud position on my straining bookshelves.

A third generation, my 12-year-old son, is reading Fighting Sail right now, as a primer ahead of tackling Forester's Hornblower series.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is out of one of those Time/Life series that no one ever owned but seemed to grace every high school library in the 1980's and 90's. There was a series about WWII, Vietnam, The Civil War, the Old West and I vaguely recall one about the occult or the supernatural that completely freaked me out. I absolutely loved them back then and I love them even more now, despite the the fact that they are extremely goofy.

The "contemporary" illustrations are so pathetic that I didn't know whether to vomit or laugh, so I split the difference and voughed.

Fighting Sail is essentially an homage to Horatio Nelson, who, as it turns out, was one strange cat.

[Brackman1066 · Rating 4 out of 5]

My DH found this in a used books store and got it for me. It's an enjoyable (though very biased) account of Lord Nelson's career and the naval battles which he fought. There was some good detail about these actions, and if you are interested in the subject but not already greatly knowledgeable, this is a worthwhile read.

[Crissy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The great age of fighting sail and I enjoyed every word. The golden age of the Royal Navy began when it changed its tactics and turned itself into a force to be reckoned with. But of course it is about the characters who made it so and it wasn't just Nelson. There were many others worthy of mention which the author does and not just on the British side. The description of the battle reminds us that war is not always a glorious sight.

[Matt schmm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative. I love ships of All kinds. As a kid I was lucky enough to spend some weekends on my grandparents sail boat, but I can only dream of sailing on one of these big rigs made of wood. I loved the war stories .

[Ray Savarda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but it should have been titled "english naval superiority 1700's-18012". Talks little about anything else.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite in the series.