OVERLOOKED HERO

In 1793, at Toulon, Sir Sidney personally destroyed 10 French ships of the line, and Nelson criticized him for not having destroyed more. In 1798, Nelson defeated 13 French ships at the Battle of the Nile. What would have happened if Nelson had faced 23 French? Would there have even been a battle, or would the hunter have become the hunted? In 1799, Napoleon marched out of Egypt to take Constantinople. To do that, he had to take the city of Acre first. In a two-month battle, a British naval officer-Sir Sidney Smith-defeated Napoleon, head-to-head, on land. His immediate superior, Admiral Nelson, never lifted a finger to help him out, yet, if Smith had not defeated Napoleon at Acre, there would have never been a Battle of Trafalgar. In 1807, Spain and France had divided Portugal, and Napoleon very much wanted to take Lisbon. At stake was a royal treasury estimated at 500,000,000 francs-money Napoleon desperately needed. Smith forced an indecisive royal family (and their treasury) to flee out of one end of town, literally as the French were entering the other. If Napoleon had gotten that money, would there even have been a Battle of Waterloo in 1815, or would it have been all over by then? If you only ever read one book about Sir Sidney Smith, this is the one to choose!