The Memoirs of Sir Sidney Smith

Out of Print for Over 150 Years. Howard''s Memoirs of Sir Sidney Smith Who was the greatest British admiral of the Napoleonic Era? Horatio Nelson? Perhaps. But, great as Nelson was, a strong case could be made that Sir Sidney Smith was at least his equal. His exploits were every bit as daring as those of Nelson, and in some ways he accomplished even more. But Nelson got the "good press" and Smith did not, and does not even today. In 1793, during the retreat from Toulon, Smith destroyed more French ships than had been destroyed in any British fleet action prior to that. Yet, he was blamed by Nelson and Collingwood (neither of whom were there) for not destroying more. The first person to defeat Napoleon on land-head-to-head-was not Wellington; it was Smith at the Battle of Acre. Everyone knows about Nelson at Trafalgar; but few people realize that there would probably have been no Trafalgar if Smith had not stopped Napoleon in the east. In 1839, Edward Howard, a writing colleague of Frederick Marryat, wrote the first of two seminal biographies that have appeared of Sir Sidney Smith. It was the only one seen and approved by Smith prior to his death. This valuable source document is reprinted here in it''s entirety. A portion of the sale of this book is being donated to The 1805 Club for the maintenance of Sir Sidney Smith''s tomb in the Pere LaChase Cemetary in Paris.For more information go to: www.FireshipPress.com