We remember Samuel Pepys for his Diary and its vivid portrait of Restoration England; Pepys's greater legacy, however, was arguably his stewardship of the Royal Navy, during which he was pivotal in transforming the ad hoc Fleet Royal into a permanent, professional naval service. David Davies—author of the Matthew Quinton seafaring novels and a leading authority on the English Navy in the 17th century—won the Samuel Pepys Prize and the Latham Medal for this superb illustrated history. Davies profiles the whole of the Navy in this crucial period, including administration, shipbuilding, recruitment and crews, seamanship and gunnery, shipboard life, dockyards, and the major sea battles with the Dutch in the Channel and the North Sea.