Sharpe's Trafalgar

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Sharpe's Trafalgar

First edition cover
Author Bernard Cornwell
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Series Richard Sharpe stories
Genre Historical novels
Publisher Harper Collins
Publication date
 3 April 2000
Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback) and audio-CD
Pages 288 pp (hardcover edition))
384 pp (paperback edition)
ISBN ISBN 0-00-225874-9 (hardcover edition)
ISBN 0-00-651309-3 (paperback edition)
OCLC 42952997
Preceded by Sharpe's Fortress
Followed by Sharpe's Prey

Sharpe's Trafalgar is a historical novel by Bernard Cornwell, a Sharpe adventure in a different setting. Cornwell blends Sharpe's history into this greatest of Britain's sea triumphs. Sharpe meets a new set of characters, rogues, rascals and heroes, including a personal meeting with Lord Nelson. He also has a love affair and plays a major role in the battle. Even though it is highly unlikely that a character such as Sharpe could have been at the Battle of Trafalgar, Cornwell makes his presence there plausible.

Plot introduction

Sharpe's Trafalgar is a nautical adventure that finds ensign Richard Sharpe in the middle of one of history's most historically significant naval engagements: the battle at Cape Trafalgar off the west coast of Spain, in 1805.

Plot summary

The year is 1805, and Richard Sharpe is heading from India to England aboard the cargo ship Calliope. Also on board is the lovely Lady Grace Hale, whose presence promises to provide intrigue and distraction to an otherwise uneventful voyage home.

Uneventful the voyage is not, for the Calliope is captured by a formidable French warship, the Revenant. The French warship is headed to its own fleet, carrying a stolen treaty that, if delivered, could provoke Indians into a new war against the British.

The arrival of Admiral Horatio Nelson's well-led fleet results in a breathtaking retelling of one of the most ferocious and one-sided sea battles in European history, in which Nelson, and Sharpe, vanquish the combined naval might of France and Spain at Trafalgar.

Characters in "Sharpe's Trafalgar"

  • Richard Sharpe – now an ensign in the British army
  • Lady Grace Hale – another passenger on the ship Calliope and wife of Lord Hale
  • Lord William Hale - British Diplomat
  • Horatio Nelson – Admiral of the British fleet
  • Joel Chase - Captain of the Pucelle and friend of Sharpe from India
  • Peculiar Cromwell - Captain of the Calliope until her capture by the Revenant

Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science

  • Significantly retold, the novel make numerous references to the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar.
  • In his historical note, Cornwell comments that, aside from Sharpe, a fictional character, only one person in recorded history was present at the Battles of both Trafalgar and Waterloo: Miguel de Álava, originally a Marine in the Spanish Navy (at the time when Spain was allied with France), later a general and close personal friend of the Duke of Wellington.

Release details

External links

Richard Sharpe stories (in historical order) by Bernard Cornwell
The Sharpe Series
The Starbuck Chronicles
  • Rebel (1993)
  • Copperhead (1994)
  • Battle Flag (1995)
  • The Bloody Ground (1996)
The Warlord Chronicles
The Grail Quest
The Saxon Stories
'Susannah Kells'
  • A Crowning Mercy (1983)
  • Fallen Angels (1984)
  • Coat of Arms (aka The Aristocrats) (1986)
Thrillers
  • Wildtrack (1988)
  • Sea Lord (aka Killer's Wake) (1989)
  • Crackdown (1990)
  • Stormchild (1991)
  • Scoundrel (1992)
Others
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