PositiveThe Times (UK)...[a] rollicking narrative of life at sea in the age of sail ... Jack Tar as helpless victim. Jack Tar as profligate yob. Those clichés of those who served and suffered below deck held currency for a long time. In this absorbing and original book, Taylor seeks to reveal Jack Tar as an individual. The sailor that emerges in Sons of the Waves is spirited, assertive, articulate and independent ... Taylor’s achievement is to recreate the character of the men \'who established his country’s command of the oceans\' during the period from 1740 to 1840 using the words of the sailors.
