John Masefield's Sea Life in Nelson's Time is the brilliantly told story of the ships of Nelson's navy and, more especially, of their sailors and a naval glory 'built up by the blood and agony of thousands of barbarously maltreated men'. From beginning to end, from the floor of the mould-loft where the master shipwrights drew up the plans of their ships, through to the epilogue, a poetic eulogy for sailors long dead and gone, Masefield breathes life into the bare facts of life on board for the men and officers: the duties of each man, the unwholesome food, the cramped and filthy living quarters, the inhuman punishments, the 'floating hell' of a ship in action and the pitifully primitive hospital facilities. The life of the ordinary seaman in the British Navy in the late 18th century fascinated and appalled Masefield, who described it as 'brutalising, cruel and horrible', but it fired his imagination and his prose and this vividly realistic study, the first of its kind, remains the most comprehensive introduction to the subject.