Synopses & Reviews
Edward Pellew, captain of the legendary , was quite simply the greatest British frigate captain in the age of sail. Left fatherless at age eight, with a penniless mother and five siblings, Pellew fought his way from the very bottom of the navy to fleet command. Victories and eye-catching feats won him a public following. Yet he had a gift for antagonizing his better-born peers, and he made powerful enemies. Redemption came with his last command, when he set off to do battle with the Barbary States and free thousands of European slaves. Opinion held this to be an impossible mission, and Pellew himself, leading from the front in the style of his contemporary Nelson, did not expect to survive. Pellew's humanity, fondness for subordinates, and blind love for his family, and the warmth and intimacy of his letters, make him a hugely engaging figure. Stephen Taylor gives him at last the biography he deserves.
Review
"Meticulous archival research vividly presents a real-life hero whose deeds provided material for C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Edward Pellew was 'the First Seaman of the Age.' Taylor illuminates his extraordinary life, and the book is especially vivid and enlightening to landlubbers who don’t know a hawser from a yardarm." Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
An incomparable seaman, ferociously combative yet chivalrous, Edward Pellew might have served as the model for Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey.
About the Author
Stephen Taylor is a former journalist and foreign correspondent. He is the author of Storm and Conquest and Caliban's Shore. He lives in England.