Nelson's Ships: A Trafalgar Tribute Book

*A unique tribute published to commemorate the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar, in which Admiral Horatio Nelson secured British supremacy of the seas at the cost of his own life, as one naval veteran salutes another. No man of action in British history has seized and held public affection more firmly than Nelson. His defeat of the French fleet in October 1805 off Cape Trafalgar was one of the most decisive battles in the history of the Royal Navy, and was conducted with not a single British ship lost. Few ships escaped severe punishment, however, and loss of life on both sides was tragically high. Derek Gardner, Britian's finest living marine painter of naval history, celebrates the Bicentenary of Trafalgar in this book by following Horatio Nelson's career through the vessels in which he served. They brought alive again through his skill and craftsmanship, in the oils and watercolors of this master of British Marine painting. The saga ranges from the moment Nelson enlisted as a midshipman on his uncle's ship at the age of twelve to his death at the decisive naval battle against Napoleon thirty five years later. Born in 1941, and now the grand old man of British marine painting, Derek Gardner saw distinguished service at sea during World War II. A wartime injury resulted in a loss of hearing whch spurred him into developing his faculties, and almost a sixth sense as a painter. His passion became his profession.Read More