Commencing with Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, this book consists of single pages of biography of 398 figures, all of whom, have at some point played a role in Britain's naval history. This study highlights the means by which they are remembered. Great Britain's landscape offers all manner of memorials and the forms touched on include: literal statuary in marble and bronze, portrait busts, church bells, locomotives, stained glass windows, obelisks, plaques, an enormous number of geographical features, schools, wildlife, public houses and even a number of craters on the moon. The explorers James Cook, Sir Edward Parry, George Vancouver, Matthew Flinders and George Henry Richards named most of the features they charted after naval figures, friends, family, colleagues, patrons and leading figures at the Admiralty. The use of the majority of these names endures to the present day. Whilst this book is populated overwhelmingly by admirals and great captains, the story also includes a number of civilians, a woman, an African slave and two Merchant Navy captains.
