Sharpe's Trafalgar, by Bernard Cornwell

Sharpe's Trafalgar: Richard Sharpe & the Battle of Trafalgar, October 21, 1805
By Bernard Cornwell

Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #4

Bernard Cornwell starts the Historical Notes section of this novel by saying, "Richard Sharpe has no business being at Trafalgar." All I can say is that I was glad he was. After three novels set in India with in many ways much the same plots (good though!) it was fun to have Sharpe at sea literally and figuratively. He held more or less still, that is, he stayed in one place allowing for far more interaction with other characters, and it was fun to meet Horatio Nelson.

Sharpe leaves India to become part of an experimental unit of rifles. Muskets were the norm in those days, with all their inaccuracy. The spiral grooves, or rifling, inside the newer weapon's barrel made it far more accurate and more suitable for skirmish fighting. The new unit has just been re-designated the 95th Rifles, a name near and dear to all Sharpe fans. Sharpe books passage on a ship owned by the East India Company whose captain promptly sells out to the French warship, Revenant. Along comes the Poucelle, whose captain's fat Sharpe has just pulled out of the fire. Captain Chase is a swell guy, capital, really prime. He just happens to be on the prowl for the Revenant so off they go to catch it on its way back to Europe to stop a spy from delivering secrets to Napoleon about India. The Poucelle catches up with her nemesis just in time for both to become embroiled in the Battle of Trafalgar. Of course, that's not the entire story. Lord William Hale and his beautiful wife Lady Grace are aboard as well. While looking down her aristocratic nose at the very common Sharpe she nonetheless gets the hots for him, and he for her, and they "make the beast with two backs" -- hey, her husband said it, not me -- and spend much of the rest of the voyage worrying about being caught at it. By the end of the novel, Grace is carrying Sharpe's child.

It is interesting to see Sharpe coping with an unfamiliar environment. He fits in well with the marines aboard and is put in charge of a small detachment of them during the famous battle. He gets to climb the masts and arms and rat lines and all that nautical stuff. He even gets to throw a grenade. It's not like Sharpe has never shown his ruthless side, but something about a couple of the killings he does in this novel I found a bit surprising. He decides to see if he can pull off, no pun intended but nevertheless achieved, the Jetti trick of twisting a man's head right around and later just throws a guy overboard. That they were mean and nasty fellows is his reason, but it's still rather cold-blooded. The second man fills the billfor Sharpe's tendency to play James Bond villain and walk away before seeing the man actually die... so I suspect the French spy will show up again.

It's fun to see historical figures' portrayal in these books that only trot them out for cameos. Nelson, who dies in the Battle of Trafalgar, seems to be a regular guy who just happens to be a naval genius. Cornwell supplies Wellington's own record of meeting the man in the Historical Notes, an event that took place just three weeks before Nelson's death. Until Nelson realizes that Wellington is, as the future Duke himself says, "somebody" Nelson acts right foolish, then sobers and starts talking strategy, winning Wellington's respect. Sir Arthur comments that had the Secretary of State been prompt in meeting Nelson that day, he would never have seen that admirable side of the admiral.

The next novel in this series is the last of the Star Wars-like return to an earlier time, then back to the books in their original order. Stay Tuned.