The Naval History of Great Britain, from the Declaration of War by France in 1793, to the Accession of George IV; A New Edition, with Additions and Notes, and An Account of the Burmese War and the Battle of Navarino by Captain Chamier, R.N., VOLUME V.

London, England: Richard Bentley, 1837. A New Edition, with Additions and Notes. Leather. Fair. VOLUME V ONLY. Illustrated endpapers. Illustrations. Fold-outs. Footnotes. Cover worn. Some pages have foxing and soiling. Includes chapters on British and French Fleets from 1808 to 1811, as well as diagrams on Seahorse and Badere-Zaffer; Amethyst and Thetis; Amethyst and Niemen; Spartan with Ceres and consorts, commencement of action, and its termination. Includes Appendix and Notes on Annual Abstracts. In one of the most comprehensive histories of the Navy in the Napoleonic Wars ever published, James' rigorous research methodology using various contemporary sources provides detailed descriptions of the operations of the Royal Navy in the period. Fleet campaigns and minor engagements are discussed, with technical and tactical details of ships and battles also provided. These volumes (here reissued from the 1859 edition) remain an invaluable source of information for the history of the Royal Navy during this fascinating period. The book remained a major reference work and was so often consulted that the Navy Records Society published an index to the history in 1895, which is now available on the Internet. Frederick Chamier wrote nautical novels somewhat in the style of Marryat, including The Unfortunate Man (1835), Ben Brace, the Last of Nelson's Agamemnons (1836), The Arethusa (1837), Jack Adams, the Mutineer (1838), The Spitfire (1840), Tom Bowling (1841), a trilogy Count Konigsmark (1845) and Jack Malcolm's Log (1846). In addition, he continued William James's Naval History and wrote some books of travel. William M. James (1780 - 28 May 1827) was a British lawyer and military historian who wrote important histories of the military engagements of the British with the French and Americans from 1793 through the 1820s. William James was trained in the law and began his career as an attorney. He practiced before the Supreme Court of Jamaica and served as a proctor in the Vice-Admiralty Court of Jamaica from 1801 to 1813. In 1812, when war broke out between Great Britain and the United States, James was in the United States. Detained by American authorities as a British national, he escaped to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1813. This experience interested him in the War of 1812 and he began to write about it, particularly defending the reputation of the Royal Navy and pointing out the factual errors and excessive claims that American reports made against the Royal Navy. His initial literary efforts seem to have been letters written to the editor of the Naval Chronicle under the pen name 'Boxer'. In 1816, he published his first pamphlet, An inquiry into the merits of the principal naval actions between Great Britain and the United States. This pamphlet caused a controversy in the United States, leading to much American criticism of James's views. James went on to write his six-volume Naval History of Great Britain, 1793 - 1827 in reaction to American accounts of the War of 1812. Similar in approach, this work was highly critical of the history that his contemporary Captain Edward Pelham Brenton had written on the subject and led to controversy between them that is reflected in successive editions of their works. James's legal background would influence his approach to obtaining evidence. He attempted, therefore, and managed to board American warships and speak to their crews, to verify their characteristics at first hand. In this pursuit he noted, for example, that the USS Constitution was not only much larger, but also more heavily manned and armed, than HMS Guerriere - contrary to previous American claims that the ships had been equal at the time of their engagement. More alleged erroneous American assertions were dealt with. Equally, James was not shy to criticize British officers as well, where he saw fit. James died in South Lambeth, London, in 1827, but his works continued to be published. Captain Frederick Chamier expanded the work in 1837 to include the Burmese War and the Battle of Navarino.