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Commander
- The Life and Exploits of Britain's Greatest Frigate Captain
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
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Publisher's Summary
An incomparable seaman, ferociously combative yet chivalrous, Edward Pellew might have served as the model for Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey.
Edward Pellew, captain of the legendary Indefatigable, was quite simply the greatest British frigate captain in the age of sail. Left fatherless at age eight, with a penniless mother and five siblings, Pellew fought his way from the very bottom of the navy to fleet command. Victories and eye-catching feats won him a public following. Yet he had a gift for antagonizing his better-born peers, and he made powerful enemies. Redemption came with his last command, when he set off to do battle with the Barbary States and free thousands of European slaves. Opinion held this to be an impossible mission, and Pellew himself, leading from the front in the style of his contemporary Nelson, did not expect to survive. Pellew’s humanity, fondness for subordinates, and blind love for his family, and the warmth and intimacy of his letters, make him a hugely engaging figure. Stephen Taylor gives him at last the biography he deserves.
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What listeners say about Commander
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- peter
- 02-02-21
OK
There’s a technique of depicting historical figures based on their correspondence that seems to often miss the mark as far as giving an interesting narrative. This is one of those. Pellew was colorful and interesting enough to serve as a model for at least two famous fictional age of sail heroes - Jack Aubrey and Hornblower - but you could miss that fact in this sometimes boring description of his life and career. The story comes to life briefly in the second last chapter and offers some excitement. It’s not a bad book just not really as good as it’s subject deserves.
1 person found this helpful
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- Douglas A Alden
- 01-28-15
Well done
If you enjoy the history of the Royal Navy, you'll enjoy this book on Edward Pellew. What an amazing life and more amazing that he was comparable to Nelson at the same time in history though without all the fanfare. For readers, I think the most exciting part was his leadership at the Battle of Algiers - well written that I could picture the actions in my minds eye.
1 person found this helpful
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- Anthony Williams
- 02-04-23
Interesting, and well performed reading.
I loved every chapter and enjoyed learning about the real Hornblower and Jack Aubrey. The reader did an excellent job, and was never a boring monotone. I highly recommend this book.
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- Anthony Abby
- 12-10-22
Wonderfully rich
Stephen Taylor brought to vivid life a time period with many oversized characters, set within one of the world’s most turbulent times. With biographies it seems you roll the dice on whether it’s monotone and bland, or rich and vibrant. No doubt about this being the latter.
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- J. Mar
- 09-17-22
Pellew was Awesome
It was so nice to hear and learn about another great sea Captain besides Nelson. Exmouth was so confident, daring and aggressive in his combat style which seemed typical of that age when the UK was a great and powerful nation and empire long ago. I loved this book. The narration by Derek was very good.
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- Wanderer
- 06-07-22
Outstanding
Vivid, entertaining, and informative, this biography provides a unique window into an extinct world. Considering the historical events described, there is little doubt that Pellew was a major inspiration for the character Jack Aubrey in the Master and Commander series. I found the opportunity to hear the real-life version of these amazing stories to be fascinating, and recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about history, the age of sail, or true and inspiring tales of heroes. The world might be a better place if we had more people like Edward Pellew.
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- Patrick B. Shirley
- 04-03-20
Magnificent
A perfect biography. A very interesting man and even better story. The author brings the Age of Sail to life. The narrator is perfectly English. I learned a lot and enjoyed it even more.
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- K. W. Regis
- 09-29-17
Better than Patrick O’Brian . . .
Because it’s real! The real Aubrey; and the narration is superb! I was engaged throughout. Well worth the price and time if you appreciate naval history.
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- Dennis
- 11-22-13
The Facts are just as interesting as fiction
Would you listen to Commander again? Why?
After awhile yes, it had alot of real information Facts that are interesting
What was one of the most memorable moments of Commander?
The battle for Algiers a real slug fest
Have you listened to any of Derek Perkins’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
My first one and he did a great job
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Some of the incidents were very moving
Any additional comments?
I enjoyed hearing what the real RN captains did and how they had to overcome the war at sea and at home
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In the late 18th century, it was widely thought that to be a sailor was little better than to be a slave. "No man will be a sailor," wrote Samuel Johnson, "who has contrivance enough to get himself into jail. A man in jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company." If that were true, historian Nathan Miller suggests, then the record of sailing in the age of tall ships would likely be distinguished by few heroes and fewer grand narratives.
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Misleading description, solid historical summary
- By M J Mills on 08-10-14
By: Nathan Miller
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Give Me a Fast Ship
- The Continental Navy and America's Revolution at Sea
- By: Tim McGrath
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 19 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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America in 1775 was on the verge of revolution - or, more likely, disastrous defeat. After the bloodshed at Lexington and Concord, England's King George sent hundreds of ships westward to bottle up American harbors and prey on American shipping. Colonists had no force to defend their coastline and waterways until John Adams of Massachusetts proposed a bold solution: The Continental Congress should raise a navy. Meticulously researched and masterfully told, Give Me a Fast Ship is the definitive history of the American Navy during the Revolutionary War.
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I learned so much
- By William on 05-08-17
By: Tim McGrath
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Ships of Oak, Guns of Iron
- The War of 1812 and the Forging of the American Navy
- By: Ronald Utt
- Narrated by: Stephen W. Davis
- Length: 20 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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In his new audiobook Ships of Oak and Guns of Iron: The War of 1812 and the Birth of the American Navy, author Dr. Ronald Utt not only sheds new light on the naval battles of the War of 1812 and how they gave birth to our nation's great navy, but tells the story of the War of 1812 through the portraits of famous American war heroes.
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Mediocre - do not recommend
- By Peter on 10-30-14
By: Ronald Utt
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Nelson's Trafalgar
- The Battle That Changed the World
- By: Roy Adkins
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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In the tradition of Antony Beevor's Stalingrad, Nelson's Trafalgar presents the definitive blow-by-blow account of the world's most famous naval battle, when the British Royal Navy, under Lord Horatio Nelson, dealt a decisive blow to the forces of Napoleon. The Battle of Trafalgar comes boldly to life in this definitive work that recreates those five momentous, earsplitting hours with unrivaled detail and intensity.
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One of the very best
- By J.Brock on 05-27-22
By: Roy Adkins
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In the Hour of Victory
- The Royal Navy at War in the Age of Nelson
- By: Sam Willis
- Narrated by: Greg Wagland
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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When Napoleon eventually died in exile, the Lords of the Admiralty ordered that the original dispatches from seven major fleet battles - The Glorious First of June (1794), St Vincent (1797), Camperdown (1797), The Nile (1798), Copenhagen (1801), Trafalgar (1805), and San Domingo (1806) - should be gathered together and presented to the nation. These letters, written by Britain's admirals, captains, surgeons, and boatswains and sent back home in the midst of conflict, were bound in an immense volume, to be admired as a jewel of British history.
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Unique look at major Royal Navy battles
- By Tim on 05-21-16
By: Sam Willis
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Cochrane
- The Life and Exploits of a Fighting Captain
- By: Robert Harvey
- Narrated by: Richard Matthews
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The life and adventures of Thomas Cochrane, a young man who rose from midshipman to admiral, are so extraordinary that, to paraphrase Patrick O'Brian, one has to suspend disbelief. In fact, O'Brian admitted to using Cochrane as the model for his character Jack Aubrey. Second only to Nelson among the heroes of the Royal Navy, Cochrane became a household name in Britain during the 1800s as the Admiralty called upon his extraordinary skill as a sailor, his mastery of gunnery, and his daring use of ruses...
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The Real Jack Aubrey
- By Casey Keller on 08-14-06
By: Robert Harvey
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In the Hurricane's Eye
- The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown
- By: Nathaniel Philbrick
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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In a narrative that moves from Washington's headquarters on the Hudson River, to the wooded hillside in North Carolina where Nathanael Greene fought Lord Cornwallis to a vicious draw, to Lafayette's brilliant series of maneuvers across Tidewater Virginia, author Nathaniel Philbrick details the epic and suspenseful year through to its triumphant conclusion. A riveting and wide-ranging story, full of dramatic, unexpected turns, In the Hurricane's Eye reveals that the fate of the American Revolution depended, in the end, on Washington and the sea.
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Even-handed, yet dramatic!
- By Dr. MP on 10-24-18
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1812: The Navy's War
- By: George C. Daughan
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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At the outbreak of the War of 1812, America's prospects looked dismal. It was clear that the primary battlefield would be the open ocean but America's war fleet, only 20 ships strong, faced a practiced British navy of more than a thousand men-of-war. Still, through a combination of nautical deftness and sheer bravado, the American navy managed to take the fight to the British and turn the tide of the war.
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Arghhhh!!! Not meant for audio.
- By Jonathan Love on 07-07-12
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Master and Commander
- Aubrey/Maturin Series, Book 1
- By: Patrick O'Brian
- Narrated by: Patrick Tull
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, Royal Navy, and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of life aboard a man-of-war in Nelson's navy are faultlessly rendered: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the road of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.
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Choice of Narrators
- By Frank R. Adams on 04-23-10
By: Patrick O'Brian
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Sons of the Waves
- The Common Seaman in the Heroic Age of Sail
- By: Stephen Taylor
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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British maritime history in the age of sail is full of the deeds of officers like Nelson but has given little voice to plain, "illiterate" seamen. Now, Stephen Taylor draws on published and unpublished memoirs, letters, and naval records, including court-martials and petitions, to present these men in their own words. In this exhilarating account, ordinary seamen are far from the hapless sufferers of the press gangs.
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Navy Guy Recommends this Title
- By Lexcast on 06-17-20
By: Stephen Taylor
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To Rule the Waves
- How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 29 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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To Rule the Waves tells the extraordinary story of how the British Royal Navy allowed one nation to rise to a level of power unprecedented in history. From the navy's beginnings under Henry VIII to the age of computer warfare and special ops, historian Arthur Herman tells the spellbinding tale of great battles at sea, heroic sailors, violent conflict, and personal tragedy - of the way one mighty institution forged a nation, an empire, and a new world.
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Superb and easy to listen to.
- By Mrs. on 02-16-17
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