Napoleon Bonaparte’s defeat in 1815 came at an inconvenient time for John Monk, an ambitious young naval officer. Forced to rethink his plans, John turned to the merchant service, where he encountered storms, shipwreck and even piracy as he traded between Liverpool and the Mediterranean through the 1830s and 1840s. ‘Bonaparte and Brimstone’ is the fascinating and engaging biography of a little-known Georgian naval lieutenant and mariner from Parkgate on the Wirral and brings him unforgettably to life. Vibrantly written, it is the beguiling story of one man’s hopes and fortunes, and is ultimately an emotional tale of family and belonging, enriched with abundant personal documents, among them the remarkable diary of a stormy voyage to Italy in 1824. John Monk saw ten years’ service across the seas of Europe and survived the horrific bloodshed on HMS Impregnable during the Bombardment of Algiers in 1816, but he grew dismayed at his lack of progress and battled the Admiralty just as he had once battled the French. ‘Bonaparte and Brimstone’ paints a portrait in miniature of British society in the nineteenth century and of the country’s seafarers who attempted to navigate a path through it.
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