General at Sea: The Life of Admiral Robert Blake

by Frank Knight

152 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1971

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Francis Edgar Knight (1905-1998) Also writes as Cedric Slater.

Reviews

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books on General-at-Sea Blake are hard to come by, much of the focus around the Civil Wars and the Commonwealth is on land and the regicides. This book provides an excellent overview of Blake's life. It details how a merchant became a soldier, then from a soldier to a naval genius. A pioneer in naval administration, combat and tactics. Were he not a man who simply wanted to do his role to the best of his ability for the good of his Country, he would've been a Great Man on par with Cromwell.


If not for the petty nature of post-Tudor monarchs, would still be celebrated to this day with more than a window and a statue. Without Blake, England and then Britain would have been overpowered by the Dutch and faded into irrelevance, rather than stand astride the World.