num_pages: 152
description: Imagine a young Laurence Olivier cast as a scholarly Oxford professoran academic snatched out of his bookish world and pressed into service aboard Lord Nelsons legendary British fleetin the position of schoolmaster. Such is the life of the land-loving seafaring Mister Tidwell Gunner.Thrust into service at the height of the Napoleonic Wars Tidwell soon finds himself directly in the line of fire and way out of his depth. Fate has cast him into a terrible and terrifying spotalone on deck to face the fearsome approach of a French man-o-war.The professor is about to get an object lesson in war self-reliance . . . and survival. Overwhelmed by the smell of gunpowder the sound of cannons and the sight of death he will either experience the sweet taste of victory . . . or the bitter taste of his own blood.In an essay called Search for Research Hubbard wrote about how he came up with story ideas: I want one slim forgotten fact. From there a man can go anywhere. . . . In one old volume for instance I discovered that there was such a thing as a schoolmaster aboard Nelsons ships. . . . When did this occur? . . . The Napoleonic Wars. Drawing on this single obscure discovery Hubbard delved deeper into the history and let his remarkable imagination do the rest. Complete after a few days of search I had my Mister Tidwell Gunner.Also includes the sea adventures The Drowned City the story of two deep-sea divers who set out in search of a long-lost treasure only to find that the waters are full of treacherous currents and even more treacherous men; and Submarine in which a young sailor on leave enjoys a quiet interlude with his girlfriendonly to have it interrupted by a call to duty and danger.
language: None
title: Mister Tidwell Gunner: A 19th Century Seafaring Saga of War, Self-reliance, and Survival
publisher: Galaxy Press