The second book in a wide-ranging and comprehensive five-volume series carries the reader through the difficulties of the American Rebellion, a war in which the maritime states of Europe combined against Britain, the long conflict with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, and a 10-year war to maintain trade. Throughout, Britain's Merchant Navy was of supreme importance and had to fight for its very existence. The first complete study of Great Britain's Merchant Navy restores it to its rightful place in the nation's history, alongside--but hithero eclipsed by--the Royal Navy.