Adrian Westbrooke has long been a student of the sea, its history, and the men and ships who contended upon it. His fascination with the great age of sail was first kindled by an early immersion in naval history and has since been deepened by years of wide and exacting reading from the voyages of discovery to the wars that set the Royal Navy against the fleets of France, Spain, Holland and others. An experienced offshore and cruising sailor, he brings to his work not only that lifetime of reading but also a sailor’s own feel for wind, weather, and the rhythms of life under canvas. His writing is grounded in a close attention to the detail of period seamanship, gunnery, and society ashore, while always aiming to draw the reader into the lived experience of that world. His Nicholas Cruwys Naval Series reflects this enduring passion, ranging across the maritime powers of the age from the Royal Navy to its adversaries and allies, and to the global reach of the East India Company. He continues to develop the series, exploring the shifting fortunes of war, trade, and empire across the oceans of the late eighteenth century.