Awash on Unfriendly Tides

After the devastation of the French fleet at the hands of Nelson in the Battle of the Nile, the remnants of the French navy in the Mediterranean were forced into drastic measures to reassert control in a hostile sea. To fulfil the wishes of Bonaparte, a fleet under contre-amiral Linois, trapped in Toulon, must make a daring escape from the Mediterranean and reunite with the Atlantic fleet at Cadiz. But between them and safety are the narrow, claustrophobic confines of the Straits of Gibraltar and the blockading fleet of Rear Admiral Saumarez with specific orders to hunt down any French ships daring to break the Royal Navy’s stranglehold on this coast. Through the logbooks of the ships, memoirs of those present, and the accounts of those who witnessed it, Awash on Unfriendly Tides recounts the lengths Linois and his officers went to in order to evade the Royal Navy for a few days more and the bloody-minded determination of Saumarez to sink or burn them before they reached Cadiz.  

"A delightfully engaging slice of naval history that proves two things: the Mediterranean can be breathtakingly beautiful, and it can also be an absolutely terrible place to find yourself stranded....What makes the book particularly enjoyable for me at any rate is its accessibility. The narrative is presented with clarity and enthusiasm, rather than buried beneath endless dates and military minutiae. The human side of the story shines through, from determined commanders to ordinary sailors who seem to spend much of their time battling not just enemies, but weather, misfortune, and the persistent tendency of ships to be in the wrong place at the wrong time....A lively, absorbing historical adventure that keeps its course steady between scholarship and storytelling, with scarcely a dull moment on deck." carryingsonupthedale.com Blog