Author: Padfield, Peter:
Title: Rule Britannia: The Victorian and Edwardian Navy.
Description: London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981. 1st Ed., H/B dark blue cloth bds with gold lettering on spine, Fine, v. sl. discol. at btm of spine, unclipped d/w, VG+, minor furling at top and sl. creasing, contents fine and tight illust. in b/w throughout. The Royal Navy of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries accumulated many legends. This book sets down the reality of these legends in the words of those who served. For example how an expedition was mounted to punish an African tribe, what a sailor was paid and how he was disciplined, what he ate etc... It penetrates beneath the legend describing each of the navy's tasks and illustrating the lives and attitudes of both officers and the men of this superbly arrogant force.

Keywords: Royal Navy, navy, legends, seas, sailors, force, Forces, nineteenth century, twentieth century, pay, food, diseases, discipline, punishment, tasks, lives, ships, officers, war.