audiobook Seize the Fire: Heroism; Duty; and the Battle of Trafalgar by Adam Nicolson in History

Review

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful. Honour and heroism in the service of victoryBy Mr. JoeSeveral years ago; I had the good fortune to take the guided inspection - available to any tourist with the requisite admission fee - of Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship; HMS Victory; now permanently moored at the Portsmouth (UK) Naval Yard. The experience left a lasting impression; perhaps partly due to the excellence of the guide; a salty; retired Royal Marine. (A subsequent tour of the USS Constitution; moored near Boston and conducted by a young; female petty officer; paled woefully in comparison.)If; in Adam Nicolson's SEIZE THE FIRE: HEROISM; DUTY; AND THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR; you expect a rousing narrative that'll leave you - assuming you're an Anglophile - singing "Rule Britannia"; you'll be disappointed. Rather; what the author gives us is an erudite; scholarly; well-researched; and relatively dispassionate narrative account of the great naval battle off the coast of Spain on October 21; 1805 in which the British Fleet virtually annihilated the Combined Fleet of France and Spain. As everyone knows; Nelson was mortally wounded as he strode his quarterdeck; his death nearly three hours later vaulted him to the head of the queue of England's all-time heroes. In great part; and as the subtitle of the book implies; SEIZE THE FIRE is an examination of what it was about the contemporary English psyche and its perceptions of "duty" and "heroism" that ensured the victory. Indeed; as Nilcolson has it; the outcome of the contest was preordained even before the two sides collided because of the Spanish fleet's medieval command structure and the demoralization within the French fleet brought about by the officer purges of the French Revolution (much as the Soviet Army suffered from Stalin's purges of the 1930s). Love (of its commander); honour; a ferocious and zealous aggression; and skill won the day for the Royal Navy; not tactics.Nicolson's first five chapters (entitled: "Zeal"; "Order and Anxiety"; "Honour"; "Love"; "Boldness"); which deal with the England's national character and that of its naval officers; are cleverly headed with the time of day on that October 21st and the distance between the two fleets as they closed with each other at a walking pace. Thus; it's: 5:50 - 8:30 AM; 10 - 6.5 miles; 8:30 - 9:30 AM; 6.5 - 5.9 miles; 9:30 - 11:30 AM; 5.9 - 2 miles; 11:30 AM - 12 noon; 2 - 1 miles; 12 noon - 12:30 PM; 1 mile - contact. This effectively builds suspense. The last three chapters ("Violence"; "Humanity"; "Nobility") describe the battle itself; Nelson's death; and the shortly subsequent great storm at sea that beset both victor and vanquished.There's a commendable color section of paintings and portraits of the battle and the top commanders; as well as several diagrams showing the various ships' positions at progressive stages of the cataclysm. During the battle sequence itself; the focus is initially on the first English vessel to make contact with the enemy's line of ships; the HMS Royal Sovereign commanded by Admiral Lord Collingwood; Nelson's number two; and then switches to the HMS Victory. The point of reference throughout is; understandably; pretty much the latter; though the actions of many of the English ships are touched upon.The relatively subdued tone of the narrative is given considerable power by the descriptions - perhaps some of the best I've ever read about naval warfare of that period - of the awful carnage. After the French flagship Bucentaure capitulated; boarding British officers found:"Within the remains of (the) ship; the dead were no longer recognizable but lay along the middle of each deck in rough piles of blood and guts through which the roundshot and the splinters had ploughed again and again."It was Nelson; who understood and personified the English concepts of honour and heroism as perceived by his island nation at this point in its history; that engineered the Trafalgar triumph by harnessing the combative potential of his captains and funneling it into the violence and independent action which they; more than their French and Spanish counterparts; were capable of at this time and place. Yet; after Nelson's death; we hear nothing more of him from Nicolson other than that his corpse was conveyed back to England in a massive water cask filled with drinking spirits. There should have been some sort of epilogue - closure to the story - encompassing the Admiral's funeral (from which the love of his life; Lady Hamilton; was apparently excluded). But there wasn't; and I'm knocking off a star.In conclusion; the author writes:"... the uncompromising violence; the dedicated grip on the need for 'annihilation'; the seeking of victory through exsanguination; combined with a hunger for honour; a belief in the reality of noble ideas; self-possession as a mark of nobility; and behind all that a tender and active humanity ... these are the ambivalent ingredients of sublime and noble war; of a kind which Homer and Virgil would have recognized; and all of which were undeniably there on 21 October 1805."0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Great insight. Recommended additional readingBy Ray F. Longaker Jr.Naval History must read as the author thoroughly researched the events leading up to and the actual battle. Great insight. Recommended additional reading; from an "enlisted" "pressed" sailor of the time is "Jack Nasty Face;" where "Jack" describes the subject battle which to me adds significantly to "Seize the Fire." Of particular importance to me this seller's book was advertised as a First Edition with no marks and shipped immediately. Book arrived as advertised and is a prized addition to my library. Will use seller again.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Four StarsBy Dennis F. Millerinteresting book.