Quicksilver Captain : The Improbable Life of Sir Home Riggs Popham

by Jacqueline Reiter

$42 · Offered by eBay

Quicksilver Captain : The Improbable Life of Sir Home Riggs Popham, Paperback by Reiter, Jacqueline, ISBN 1804514411, ISBN-13 9781804514412, Like New Used, Free shipping in the US An influential yet controversial naval officer who played key roles in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars through unconventional methods and secretive Captain is the story of Sir Home Popham (1762–1820), an extraordinary and under-appreciated personality of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Popham was a bundle of highly unusual contradictions. He achieved the rank of post-captain without a ship; he was more often employed by the War Department than by the Admiralty; and, as an expert in combined operations, he spent almost as much time serving on shore as at sea. In just over 25 years as a naval officer, Popham acted as an agent for transports, an unofficial diplomat, an intelligence officer, a Member of Parliament, an acclaimed hydrographer, a scientist and inventor, a publicist, and a government adviser, among many other ’s career was literally as well as figuratively amphibious. So was his personality. Popham’s well-known past as an illicit private trader, as well as his notorious lack of scruples, marred his reputation. People meeting him for the first time did not know what to make of him: 'He seems a pleasant man, but a dasher.’ He fully understood the importance of communication and is best known for inventing a signal code that the Royal Navy used for decades. When he d

  • Publisher: Helion & Company, The Limited
  • Year: 2024
  • ISBN: 9781804514412
  • Condition: Fine

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