A detailed account of the Battle of Trafalgar as told by those who were there… The battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, in which the British fleet routed French and Spanish ships off the coast of Spain, marked the final defeat of Napoleon's plot to invade Britain - and made Nelson his nation's greatest hero, even though it cost him his life. This book brings together first-hand accounts of the lead-up to battle, the horrors of the conflict and its aftermath. It is a story told through the letters, diaries and naval documents - many previously unpublished - of the people who witnessed it, from Nelson and his officers to the crews from both sides. They show sad farewells between sailors and their loved-ones; the pursuit of the French navy; the tension of waiting as the fateful day dawned; carnage and chaos in the heat of the battle as guns fired from all sides; and Nelson's agonizing death on the HMS Victory after being hit by a musket ball. Vivid, exciting and moving, Trafalgar: An Eyewitness History is a graphic recreation that tells the human story behind these historic events. Tom Pocock is the author of 18 books (and editor of two more), mostly biographies but including two about his experiences as a newspaper war correspondent. He has contributed to many magazines and appeared on television documentaries about Nelson and the subject of another of his biographies, the novelist and imperialist Sir Rider Haggard.