Horatio Nelson is considered by some to be one of the most inspiring and perplexing characters in history. In this biography of Horatio Nelson, Ernle Bradford discusses Nelson's own battles, but also looks at naval warfare of the period in general. The author describes the strategies, the tactics, the ponderous ship-to-ship bombardments, the terrifying injuries, as well as Nelson's policy of annihilation of the opposing fleet, making the point that Nelson regarded the escape of a single enemy ship as a failure.