I met Tony Noon at the Bowlines Maritime Literature Festival last weekend. Tony is publishing the best of the contemporary first-hand accounts from the age of sail, with essential annotations regarding the people, the places, and the historical background. I’m reading the first two of these: William Beatty’s ‘The Death of Horatio Nelson’ and William Robinson’s autobiography, ‘The World of Jack Nastyface,’ and I thoroughly recommend them both. Tony has done the heavy lifting in terms of research, and his notes save hours of delving into obscure references. They’re definitely worth reading and I’m looking forward to future volumes.

Both volumes are available from Amazon.