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Historical person

Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth

1757–1833

Edward Pellew, later Viscount Exmouth, was a Royal Navy officer celebrated for daring actions during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. He became famous after the wreck of the Dutton and as captain of the frigate Indefatigable, later commanding in India and the Mediterranean.

In 1816 he led the bombardment of Algiers, compelling the release of Christian captives and a temporary agreement against enslavement. His career combined seamanship, personal courage and influential patronage. Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth was born in Dover and died in Teignmouth.

Richard Woodman’s The Sea Warriors uses Edward Pellew’s career to illuminate the independence, aggression and seamanship expected of the Royal Navy’s great frigate captains during the wars with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. Julian Stockwin’s To the Eastern Seas puts Kydd directly under Pellew during operations against Dutch and French possessions in the East Indies, where strategy turns on control of Java and the spice routes. Alexander Kent’s Relentless Pursuit shifts to the post-war navy and the suppression of the Atlantic slave trade, a campaign associated with Pellew’s later generation of naval command and the difficult transition from wartime combat to imperial policing.

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth (2 series)

Richard Bolitho in Order

by Alexander Kent 28 books 4.5(44,733)

The Richard Bolitho novels follow a Cornish Royal Navy officer from his years as a midshipman in 1772 through the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and the War of 1812. Richard rises from junior officer to admiral while the series examines command, discipline, loyalty…

All books in this series

Thomas Kydd in Order

by Julian Stockwin 27 books 4.2(24,001)

The Thomas Kydd series follows a Guildford wig-maker pressed into the Royal Navy in 1793 and traces his rise from inexperienced landsman to admiral. Across twenty-seven novels, Kydd learns the work of the lower deck, crosses to the quarterdeck and commands increasingly important ships during the French Revolutionary…

All books in this series

Non Fiction

Non Fiction featuring Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth (1 book)

Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.