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Storyline

It is 1805 and Ensign Richard Sharpe, having secured a reputation as a fighting soldier in India, is on his way home to join the newly formed Green Jackets. The voyage should be a period of rest but his ship is riven with treachery and threatened by a formidable French warship the Revenant, which is terrorizing British shipping in the Indian Ocean. An old opponent of Sharpe's is aboard his ship, and the voyage is further disturbed by the Lady grace hale, apprently as unreachable as hse is beautiful

Sharpe also has friends, notably a captain of the Royal navy who is hunting the Revenant and who rescues Sharpe when all seems lost. the hunt turns into a stern chase as the French warship races home, carrying a treaty that could ignite India into a new war against the British. Yet when the Revenant encounters the combined French and Spanish fleets off Cadiz it seems that Sharpe's enemies have found safety, even as his enemies on board appear to have him trapped.

Yet over the horizon is another fleet, led by Nelson, and Sharpe's revenge will come in a savage climax when the two armadas meet on a calm October day off Cape Trafalgar.

Sharpe's Trafalgar introduces Richard Sharpe to the horrors of a battle at sea, and finds him at his most ruthless as he struggles, not just for revenge, but for a woman he loves.

Review

Where do I start? From the outset, the story sets off at a cracking pace, with Sharpe inadvertently helping out a Naval Captain, and which in return sets Sharpe on the road which would ultimately set British destiny.

The period at sea, which is basically a love story sags a little, but all the while it is busily setting the scene for the main part of the story, and also setting up the various sides. It also introduces some great characters such as Clouter, who gets to live another day and help Sharpe fight another battle.

Once aboard the Pucelle the love story continues, but with it is the threat of blackmail. However the secretary in trying to blackmail Sharpe also sees the danger that Sharpe represents, and tries to protect himself, but in doing so seals his masters fate.

Once we get to the Cape, the book moves up another gear, the preparations for battle, the meeting with Nelson, then the long slow drag as the ships gradually come to bear, and then on into the slaughter that is about to follow. Unlike land based battles, where artillary is fired at a distance, the ships slog it out at pont blank range, so that death comes shrouded in smoke and darkness, noise and flashes of fire.

Having explored HMS Victory, it seems amazing that men and women could live in such conditions and then at a moments notice turn the ship from a cramped damp B&B into a massive artillary platform.

The book captures the essence of the battle, and the Pucelle partly takes the role of (I think )the Temeraire, and so we have the main initial raking of French ships, the attempted boarding before the final defeat of the French ships. Below decks, another battle takes place between Grace and her husband, and one will not make it.

Although earlier I said that the battle would end in carnage, for the British ships, the losses were relatively low compared to the French fleet however French losses were heavy with the crew of the Redoutable being reduced from 643 to only 99.

Before reading the book, go and visit the Victory, and then read Trafalgar, its a cracking read, with love revenge all thrown into the melting pot.

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