Step aboard with one of the Royal Navy's most beloved and combative characters as he recounts a life lived at full sail and full steam. In these pages, 'Charlie B' Beresford remembers the midshipman's berth of the 1850s, the thunder of the guns at Alexandria, the desperate fighting on the Nile, and the smoke-filled boardrooms where the modern fleet was fought over as fiercely as any sea battle. He writes of shipmates and rivals, of sailors' comforts won and standards defended, with the humor, warmth, and candor that made him a national favorite. This edition reproduces the COMPLETE, UNABRIDGED original text of 1914 exactly as first published, preceded by a new introduction that sets the man, his career, and his famous feud with Admiral Sir John Fisher in context, and accompanied by reader's notes explaining period terms, ships, battles, and personalities. Part of The Founding Texts Library.