Rule Britannia

A social and operational history of the Victorian and Edwardian Navy. Descriptions of the life of officers and men together with the tasks in which the navy engaged in policing the empire, chasing slaves and pirates, mounting punitive expeditions ashore, build a portrait of a legendary service which claimed supremacy on every ocean.

Book Author

Peter-padfield Peter Padfield was born in 1932 and educated at Christ's Hospital. After service as a navigating officer in P&O liners, he gained a berth as a mariner aboard the replica seventeenth century Mayflower on her recreation of the Pilgrim Fathers' voyage and later panned for gold in the disused gold mines on Guadalcanal. He described his time in the Pacific and the Mayflower voyage in his first book The Sea is a Magic Carpet. Returning to Britain, he worked in nautical journalism and in manufacturing industry until the international success of The Titanic and the Californian enc...
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Book Reviews

  • LLoyd's List
    "For this reviewer's money, Rule Britannia is Peter Padfield's best book so far [1981]. It affords a hitherto unequalled insight into the human side of the British Navy in its greatest days, into the spirit and character of sailors and officers which made that navy unbeatable."
  • Vice Admiral Sir Peter Gretton, The Naval Review
    "I enjoyed his descriptions of life on the messdeck, in the gunroom, in the wardroom and in the cuddy very much. He brings the quality of life alight and he has found a fine collection of sketches and photographs to illustrate the text... I think the best bit is the description of life on the messdecks, of the relationship between seamen and stokers, between executive officers and engineers and, of course, the relationship between officers and men... To sum up, I enjoyed reading this book very much and I can unhesitatingly recommend it."
  • The Sunday Telegraph
    "This highly informative and lavishly illustrated volume by a naval historian who is also an experienced sailor describes the Navy's many tasks and explores the lives and attitudes of the officers and men of a uniquely powerful force."