"Admiral Lord Collingwood, the eldest son of a Newcastle merchant, went to sea in 1761, at the age of thirteen. In his nearly fifty years in the navy, keeping a diary throughout, he rose to become a fine seaman, a master of gunnery, a battle commander the equal of his friend - and rival in love - Nelson. He was also an accomplished writer and wit, a doting father, inveterate gossip, and consummate diplomat and strategist. Collingwood's service took him to Boston, where he lived and fought during the American Revolution; to Antigua, where he and Nelson both fell in love with Mary Moutray, and drew each other's portraits; to Corsica; Sicily; and Menorca, where he began as a young midshipman and ended his career as the effective viceroy of the Mediterranean, dealing with beys and pashas, kings and queens and an eighty-strong fleet. He was 'England's prime and sole minister acting upon the sea'. Max Adams, archaeologist, writer and broadcaster, fascinated by the story of the unjustly little known Newcastle hero, the admiral who defeated Napoleon Bonaparte in battle, paints a vivid, engrossing and often moving portrait in this debut biography. Based on Collingwood's letters and recently discovered log books, here is an intimate view not just of the man himself, but of his life and times, of shipboard ways and all too brief periods on shore with his family."--Provided by the publisher.