Geoffrey Bennett served in the royal navy for 35 years and had the unusual experience of crewing a replica ship-of-the-line: he is therefore well qualified to describe the great age of fighting sail, its ships and weapons and how they were manned, and the strategy and tactics of the napoleonic wars. His analysis of nelson's campaigns and battles is the first by a professional naval officer since that of Admiral Mahan in 1897. Captain Bennett sets Nelson's failures at Tenerife and Boulogne against his triumphs at Cape St Vincent, the Nile, Copenhagen, and Trafalgar. He does not minimize the consequences of Nelson's passion for Emma Hamilton - the judicial murder of Caracciolo and such a flagrant disregard for orders that he was made to strike his flag.