Literary Evening with Alan M Smith:
Balchen’s Victory
Wednesday 16th February at 18.30 | The Drawing Room | £10.00 per person*
Members are invited to join Rag member Alan M Smith as he discusses his latest book publication: Balchen’s Victory – The Loss and Rediscovery of an Admiral and His Ship. It is the story of Admiral Sir John Balchen, his life and career, and HMS Victory, the largest, finest ship-of-the-line in the Royal Navy at the time, and his Flagship when both were lost, along with more than 1,000 crew, in an October storm in the English Channel in 1744.
The exciting discovery of the wreck of HMS Victory in 2008, the subsequent and continuing public and political wrangling over possible salvage, and the 2019 display at Portsmouth of a mighty 42-pounder bronze gun retrieved from the wreck, have been the catalyst for this history of the admiral and his ship, and anyone with an interest in naval or maritime history, whether academic or popular, will be fascinated by the facts about the hitherto virtually unknown predecessor of Nelson’s great flagship. This glorious man-and-ship odyssey, whose intrinsic importance to naval history can now be recognised, is richly and compelling told in this important new book. Book now to avoid disappointment.
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