Storm and Conquest

Stephen Taylor's Storm and Conquest: The Clash of Empires in the Eastern Seas, 1809. An entertaining, instructive, and moving read. Highly Recommended. Suitable for Young Adults and especially for those with an interest in Military History, Napoleon, Maritime History, the Indian Ocean, India, or the British Empire. A non-fiction book in the spirit of C.S. Forester (Mr. Midshipman Hornblower), Patrick O'Brian (the Jack Aubrey novels beginning with Master and Commander), or Alexander Kent (the Richard Bolithio novels beginning with Richard Bolithio, Midshipman).

Storm and Conquest recounts the tribulations of the East India Company and the British Navy 1808-1810 in the Indian Ocean during which more than half dozen Indiamen were lost to hurricanes, nearly half a dozen British warships were lost to the resurgent French navy and more than 2,000 sailors and civilians lost their lives to battle and mishap. At a time when Great Britain had a population of some 12 million, it would be the equivalent to the US losing some 50,000 people in a conflict in a two year span.

Storm and Conquest reads like Livy's account of the Romans, losing time after time to the Carthaginians at sea, yet bullheadedly returning to contest with their foe once more, eventually winning by dent of deliberate habit.