Jack Tar
Life in Nelson's Navy
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Jack Tar
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Narrated by:
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John Telfer
About this listen
The Royal Navy to which Admiral Lord Nelson sacrificed his life depended on thousands of sailors and marines to man the great wind-powered wooden warships. Drawn from all over Britain and beyond, often unwillingly, these ordinary men made the navy invincible through skill, courage and sheer determination.
They cast a long shadow, with millions of their descendants alive today, and many of their everyday expressions, such as 'skyscraper' and 'loose cannon', continuing to enrich our language. Yet their contribution is frequently overlooked, while the officers became celebrities. Jack Tar gives these forgotten men a voice in an exciting, enthralling, often unexpected and always entertaining picture of what their life was really like during this age of sail.
Through personal letters, diaries and other manuscripts, the emotions and experiences of these people are explored, from the dread of press-gangs, shipwreck and disease, to the exhilaration of battle, grog, prize money and prostitutes. Jack Tar is an authoritative and gripping account that will be compulsive listening for anyone wanting to discover the vibrant and sometimes stark realities of this wooden world at war.
©2008 Roy Adkins, Lesley Adkins (P)2008 Hachette Audio UKListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"An enthralling book." (Sunday Telegraph)
"Fascinating." (Sunday Times)
What listeners say about Jack Tar
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- sean milne
- 03-09-24
Straight to the point
Actually using the letters from seaman's life experiences.gives a sense of what they went through.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Karl A.
- 05-12-23
Accents can be annoying but not in this case
Attempts at accents can be really annoying, and extremely distracting if done poorly, but that’s not the case in this book. Great story, excellent detail, very well read.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 18-09-22
Many interesting details
Found it easy to listen to. Lots of interesting details, helpful when listening to other historical books of the same era.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Christine
- 05-08-21
Real stories
Whilst this is a very thorough account of all things Navy, the thing I enjoyed the most were the very frequent quotes from diaries and letters. To hear how sailors and officers really felt about life at sea was very poignant, and brought me close to the time period.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- arthur bland
- 03-02-22
The Men and women of Nelsons Navy Speak
lovely book, none was new to me , but so beautifully put together and presented it was a joy.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- P. Edwards
- 05-06-24
Excellent, full of information
one of the best buys from audible, if you are interested in the Georgian Navy. Full of interesting snippets that are still in common use today.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- shane vearer
- 22-02-24
very good
no snowflakes in them days, men were rock hard and not brain washed by the media!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- David Greenly
- 29-09-21
Immerse yourself in history
Really interesting immersion into the life in the British navy through the centuries.
I suspected it would be harsh and brutal for the sailors but wow !
Thoroughly enjoyed this book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- George
- 26-01-24
Splendid
I really like sea ships they be sailing in the ocean and that, the sailor boys sailing the sail ships are superbly interesting
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- David Rampling
- 29-11-23
Wonderful, and easy to listen to. Maritime history at its best.
This was even better than i had hoped. Great evocative narration. These unsung heroes deserve some recognition. Wonderful stuff.
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