Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

The book discusses captains' career development, the opportunities for making money and reputation, how they looked after their crews, and how they were controlled by the Admiralty. It argues that the navy in this period was highly efficient, with promotion being primarily based on merit.

Articles profiling important military leaders are arranged in A to Z format.

Excerpt from The Life of George Lord Anson: Admiral of the Fleet, Vice-Admiral of Great Britain, and First Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty, Previous to and During, the Seven-Years' War In this kind of feeling Howe and St. Vincent parti cipated. The former never talked of the glorious lst of June, nor did the latter of the 14th of Feb ruary it is said indeed he always discouraged that topic being brought into conversation. I think it was Lord St. Vincent who once made the observation, that it was that man only who had performed one little exploit who was for ever talking about it. But if the Life of Anson affords not scope for recording many brilliant deeds of his own, he had the great merit of preparing fleets, selecting, appoint ing and making officers to command them, by which and by whom the British navy was never more tri umphant, nor that of France more humbled and reduced, than in the seven-years' far, when Anson may be said to have had the whole direction of the naval department. No one ever formed a juster esti mate of naval characters and it is worthy of remark that the officers who served under him, in his cele brated voyage, were those who highly distinguished themselves in the said war Saunders, Keppel, Brett, Denis. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.