BROKE AND THE SHANNON. by Padfield, Peter - 1968

London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1968. 246 pp, 8vo (8 3/4" H). B&w plates, map. " 'Sir, as the 'Chesapeake' appears now ready for sea, I request that you will do me the favor to meet the 'Shannon' with her ship to ship to try the fortune of our respective flags.' So began the challenge to equal combat which Captain Philip Broke sent to Captain Lawrence of the United States frigate 'Chesapeake' on 1st June, 1813. The same afternoon Lawrence sailed to meet him; the engagement which resulted is perhaps the most celebrated single-ship duel in the annals of the Royal Navy. For the challenger, Broke, it was the climax of years of waiting for a chance to distinguish himself, and it succeeded beyond his dreams. In one furious contest the 'Shannon' avenged an unbroken list of five American single-ship victories since the start of the war. (The author) tells the story of Broke's life as it led up to this supreme day and vividly describes the action itself as he has discovered it afresh in contemporary documents and survivors' accounts. As far as possible Broke's own words have been used, in letters to his beloved wife as she waited in Suffolk, in journals and in other papers. He emerges as much more than simply a fighting sailor - he was a sensitive man, lover of flowers and the Latin poets, yet a master gunner whose fascination with scientific devices and ideas on training led to the establishment of the first great gunnery school, 'Excellent', a patriot, a teacher, a loving and beloved husband and father." Dust jacket has been price-clipped, has light rubbing, minor wear/wrinkling at top/bottom of spine and flap-folds - tiny tear at top of spine, minor browning. . First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good+/Very Good.