Elements of Historical Realism in the Song ‘Barrett’s Privateers’ by Stan Rogers

A new history suggests he hit the mark

The best novelists of seafaring history can make us feel the groan of the ship in storm swells and the lashing of the wind while accurately describing the work of seafaring in a historical milieu. C.S. Forester, author of the famous novel series centered on the career of his original character Horatio Hornblower in the Napoleonic era Royal Navy, fills h…