John McLean

Price: NZD $60.00 (postage included)

Size: A5

Type: Hardback

Pages: 518 pages plus illustrations

“McLean has drawn a broad canvas in the 518 page book….Following a broad outline, he has divided the book into 48 chapters and presents his stories in a crisp, easy-to-read style that brings the accounts to life.

All the main conflicts and battles are covered, from wars with the Maoris, Russians, Chinese, Germans, Japanese and Koreans, with their grand victories and tragic defeats through to the Navy’s policing and punitive roles guarding Britain’s far flung territories. Stories of heroic single ships are here, HMS Calliope and her fight to clear Apia harbour in a hurricane that wrecked an entire squadron, and HMS Amethyst’s desperate night flight from communist Chinese forces on the Yangtse River. Also covered are the routine but equally important tasks of charting the great ocean and surveying its lands, the carrying of convicts and the provisioning of remote islands for the salvation of shipwrecked mariners. It is his chapters on life at sea and ashore where McLean’s book really shines.

There have been many far more detailed accounts but perhaps few have covered such a diverse range of life at sea aboard sail and steam-powered warships.” – Andrew Stackpool in “Navy” (Australia), April, 2011

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