A Voyage up the Mediterranean in His Majesty’s Ship the Swiftsure: With a Description of the Battle of the Nile on the First of August 1798

This book is an eye-witness account of the Battle of the Nile in 1798, Nelson’s greatest triumph, written and illustrated by the Royal Navy chaplain Rev. Cooper Willyams. Educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Willyams took holy orders in 1784. The son of a navy commander and formerly chaplain to Admiral St. Vincent, Willyams was a veteran of several campaigns, having accompanied the expedition to the West Indies which ended in a British defeat of the French in 1794. The Battle of the Nile is considered by historians to have been Nelson’s most complete victory and Willyams’ account to be the most authentic. Willyams was a self-taught artist, and the work contains 43 plate-engravings of sketches he produced of the battle. It was published in London in 1802, soon after the battle. A German edition was published the following year.