Edward Pellew captain of the legendary Indefatigable was quite simply the greatest frigate captain in the age of sail. An incomparable seaman ferociously combative yet chivalrous a master of the quarterdeck & an athlete of the tops he was as quick to welcome a gallant foe into his cabin as to dive to the rescue of a man overboard. He is the likely model for the heroic but all-too-human Jack Aubrey in Patrick OBrians novels. Pellew was orphaned at eight but fought his way from the very bottom of the Navy to fleet command & a viscountcy. Victories & eye-catching feats won him a public following. Yet as an outsider with a gift for antagonizing his better-born peers he made powerful enemies. Redemption came with his last command when he set off to do battle with the Barbary States & free thousands of European slaves. Contemporary opinion held this to be an impossible mission & Pellew himself in leading from the front in the style of his direct contemporary Nelson did not expect to survive. Pellews humanity as much as his gallantry fondness for subordinates & blind love for his family & the warmth & intimacy of his letters make him a hugely engaging & sympathetic figure. In Stephen Taylors magnificent new life he at last has the biography he deserves.