Frank Carlson Library

On October 21, 1805, as Britain's Royal Navy under the command of Horatio Nelson clashed with Napoleon's forces in an epic sea battle off the coast of Spain, the fate of Europe hung in the balance. Though the cost was high--and Nelson himself was killed--the British victory prevented Napoleon from invading Britain and paved the way for the eventual defeat of the French emperor. Without Trafalgar there would have been no Waterloo. The Battle of Trafalgar...

From one of the great naval leaders of our time, a master class in decision making under pressure through the stories of nine famous acts of leadership in battle drawn from the history of the United States Navy, with outcomes both glorious and notorious. "From one of the great naval leaders of our time, a master class in decision making under pressure through the stories of nine famous acts of leadership in battle drawn from the history of the United...

"The most feared ship in Britain's West Africa Squadron, His Majesty's brig Black Joke was one of a handful of ships tasked with patrolling the western coast of Africa in an effort to end hundreds of years of global slave trading. Sailing after the spectacular fall of Napoleon in France, yet before the rise of Queen Victoria's England, Black Joke was first a slaving vessel itself, and one with a lightning-fast reputation; only a lucky capture in 1827...