Admiral Benbow

The Hearts of Oak Trilogy: Book 2
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The dramatic story of Benbow’s last fight in 1702 instantly captured the imagination of the public and since then has become one of the great legends of the English fighting sailor. An extraordinary man who lived in a time of dramatic change in terms of naval technology, strategy, capability and dynasty, he grew up during the English Civil War and served under Charles II, James I, William and Mary and also Queen Anne. He fought barbary corsairs, Dunkirk privateers, Caribbean pirates and the mighty French battlefleets of Louis XIV. Benbow was a leading member of Trinity House and helped realise the construction of the Greenwich Naval Hospital. He was also the very first publicised naval hero. His name was celebrated the length and breadth of the country after his death and his fame secured in song and literature.

The Glorious First of June

The Hearts of Oak Trilogy: Book 3
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The Glorious First of June was the first major naval battle of the French Revolutionary War. The French fleet was well manned, they were equipped with excellent ships, and their morale was high with Revolutionary fervour. A great clash of ideological belief led to this battle, which was widely acknowledged by contemporaries as the hardest fought of the Age of Sail. Both sides believed that they had won: the Glorious First of June was, and still is, celebrated equally in France as it was in England. It was also witnessed by one of the finest artists of the era and the sketches and paintings of the battle are among the most realistic images of naval warfare in the age of sail ever created.

Fighting Ships to 1750

The third and final book of the hugely successful Fighting Ships series, this volume charts the progress of warships from the earliest known examples c.1190 BC right up until the ships of the line of the 1750s that went on to contest the Seven Years War, the first truly global war.

With separate chapters on Antiquity and the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, Warships of Discovery and Empire, the Anglo-Spanish Wars 1585-1604, the Turks, English and Dutch Seapower 1607-1678 and the Anglo-French wars 1688-1750, this book explores in beautiful colour and stunning size nearly 3000 years of naval history.

From Roman triremes to Viking longships; from Drake to Barbarossa; from the Armada to the Battle of Lepanto; from the Dutch Wars to the mighty battlefleets of Louis XIV, every aspect of the development and operation of warships in their earliest stages of evolution is discussed and presented as never before.