Patrick O'Brian's Navy : The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World

Editor Richard O'Neill, a military history expert and author, has gathered an experienced team of writers who are both naval historians and devotees of the Aubrey-Maturin sequence to explain the historical background clearly and provide a wealth of information about the fighting warships of the period, the life of the serving sailor (both officer and ordinary seaman), how ships were built, manned, and sailed, how they actually fought one another, and the rewards that awaited a successful crew. Included are profiles of the real historical personalities whose exploits O'Brian used to give his fictional characters more authenticity. For the first time, Patrick O'Brian's Navy also relates this information back to the novels themselves so that readers can return to individual titles to explore the intricacies of O'Brian's fictional world with far greater insight.