‘The Trident of Neptune is the Sceptre of the World.’ Antoine-Marin Lemierre

By the 19th century, Great Britain truly ruled the waves.

But where did the journey to dominance began?

This is the first part of that story.

Starting in 1500, the narrative begins with emergence of the Tudor navy during the Elizabethan period when England defied the might of the Spanish Empire on the world stage.

It continues through to the Act of Union in 1707 when Great Britain was created and the point when the naval and mercantile sea-services parted company.

Providing an overview of the 18th century merchant navy and it analyses the conflicts during the Seven Years War and ends with an account of the slave trade until its abolition in 1807.

Prize-winning maritime author Richard Woodman restores Great Britain's mercantile marine to its rightful place in the nation's history - alongside that of the Royal Navy, to whose glories it contributed - but not buried beneath it. Truly this is a surprising history.

‘If Neptune s Trident sets the standard for what is to follow - we can at least rest assured that there is a series that truly does justice to our proud merchant maritime past.’ Nautilus UK Telegraph

‘Richard Woodman tells many a good tale in this first volume and it is fascinating to read. I highly recommend this first volume in the Neptune s Trident for anyone with an interest in the early modern period. If the rest of the series is as good as this one, they should all be on the bookshelves of those studying the history of Britain, from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries.’ Open History

Captain Richard Martin Woodman LVO is an English novelist and naval historian who retired in 1997 from a 37 year nautical career, mainly working for Trinity House, to write full-time. His main work is 14 volumes about the career of Nathaniel Drinkwater, and shorter series about James Dunbar and William Kite, but he also written a range of factual books about 18th century and WW2 history.