The Fighting Temeraire: The Battle of Trafalgar and the Ship that Inspired J. M. W. Turner's Most Beloved Painting (The Hearts of Oak Trilogy) (New edition), ISBN/EAN: 9781605982106 / 9781605982106

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ISBN-10: 9781605982106 (9-781-60598-2) ISBN-13: 9781605982106 (978-1-605-98210-6)

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The extraordinary story of the mighty Temeraire, the ship behind J. M. W. Turner's iconic painting.The H.M.S. Temeraire, one of Britain`s most illustr ... more » ious fightingships, is known to millions through J.M.W. Turner`s masterpiece, The Fighting Temeraire (1839), which portrays the battle-scarredveteran of Britain`s wars with Napoleonic France. In this evocativenew volume, Sam Willis tells the extraordinary story of the vesselbehind the painting and the making of the painting itself. Turner's Temeraire was the second ship in the Royal Navy tocarry the name. The first, a French warship captured and commandeered by the British in 1759, served with distinction duringthe Seven Years' War before being sold off in 1784. The second Temeraire, named in honor of her predecessor, was a prestigiousthree-decked, 98-gun warship that broke through the French andSpanish line directly astern of Nelson`s flagship Victory at Trafalgar in 1805, saving the Vice-Admiral at a crucial moment in thebattle. This tale of two ships spans the heyday of the age of sail:the climaxes of both the Seven Years War (1756-63) and the Napoleonic Wars (1798-1815). Filled with richly evocative detail, and narrated with the paceand gusto of a master storyteller, The Fighting Temeraire is anenthralling and deeply satisfying work of narrative history. « less