A SAILOR OF KING GEORGE : The Journals of Captain Frederick Hoffman, RN, 1793 - 1814 by Hoffman, Captain George, RN

London paper edition, 6x9, Chatham, UK first paper edition, FINE CONDITION, 1999 reprint of 1901 edition, 195 pages. ----------------------------------------------- A Sailor of King George is one of the most amusing and revealing accounts of life at sea ever published.Joining the Navy in 1793, the author saw action in the West Indies, the Channel and off Africa. He served aboard HMS Tonnant at Trafalgar, and in 1812 was captured by the French when his ship ran aground off Boulogne and was held prisoner until the end of the war in 1814.Written in a detached, ironic style, the book is full of fascinating stories, including how the incriminating papers of an American privateer were recovered from the belly of the shark which had swallowed them after they were thrown overboard. There are descriptions of sailors' boisterous and free-spending runs ashore; stories of the absurd lengths to which seamen would go to to avoid the Press Gang - dressing up as women and even as babies; and descriptions of life aboard ship that have the feel of contemporary cartoons. This humourous and candid memoir is as true and vivid a picture as any of what it was like to serve in Nelson's navy.