Fighting Sail - Three Hundred Years of Warfare at Sea

The span of this book extends from the ousting of oared vessels by sail at the end of the 15th century until the complete revolution brought about by the coming of steam in the 19th century. During this romantic but bloody era the tactics of sea warfare changed continually as ship design improved, more efficient rigging gave greater speed and manoeuvrability, nautical instruments became more accurate and armament more deadly, copper-sheathed hulls made longer voyages possible, and, at last, that age-old scourge of the seafaring man, scurvy, was finally conquered...