A couple of new books for us Ship Lovers

I agree with Dr. Tilley, for the price these two books aren't a horrible buy, but for about the same price, there are much better "starter" book values available, if purchased used.

For instance, go to    http://used.addall.com/  and do a keyword search on "Chatham Pictorial Histories".  There are at least six titles in this series dealing with the naval wars from 1793 to 1815, which can be had, used, for about the same price, or less, than the two new "duel" books. Repeat a search for the titles, only, to locate more copies for sale (not all are listed with the "Chatham Pictorial Histories" sub-entries).

I've browsed through both of them in the local bookstore.  My suggestion would be:  if you're interested in the subject matter (the Battle of Trafalgar and the frigate actions of the War of 1812) and don't already have several books about it, these books would make a good, sound, reasonably-priced start.  If you do have some books about the subjects already, these two probably won't tell you much that you don't already know.

I was hoping for reproductions of some contemporary plans, or even paintings, of the Redoubtable.  No such luck.  (I have the impression that, though French 74-gun-ships of the period in general are pretty well documented, not much in the way of specifics is known about this one.)  Both books rely heavily on modern, commissioned paintings - nice (certainly better than I could do), but they don't add much, if anything, to what's available in other sources.  On the other hand, the text looked solid and reliable.

I gave both of them a pass.  But I wouldn't try to talk anybody who's relatively new to the subject matter from buying them.