Partial extracts from a review of Champion of the Quarterdeck. Bates has based his book on a thorough and prodigious examination of the primary documents. His sources were nearly as global as Gower’s career.” As an introduction to the life of a long service officer in the Royal Navy this book has great merit. It is especially useful for those lacking background in naval history due to the appendix of naval terms, and the author’s attention to detail.” Those researching Pierre de Suffren and Sir Edward Hughes’s struggle for naval supremacy in the Indian Ocean, Macartney’s China embassy, t ..read more

My good friend Paul Michaels has just published this interview which he did with me recently regarding my biography of Admiral Sir Erasmus Gower – Champion of the Quarterdeck Thank you Paul. This is a very professional video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYtFHUKo00w Return to Home page ..read more

by world-renowned naval historian John B Hattendorf. Bates provides a highly detailed narrative description, with extensive quotations from original documents, describing Erasmus Gower’s naval career. The book offers much detail of great interest to specialists in naval history. Bates’s volume on Admiral Gower sheds light on the life and career of a very interesting and highly accomplished naval officer whose experiences scholars have overlooked for too long. The volume makes a valuable addition to the extensive literature on the age of Nelson and a useful reference volume for any library ..read more

I have to tell you how much I have enjoyed Champion of the Quarterdeck…the life and times, the dedication and commitment, the good and kind heart, the fierce enthusiasm for close combat, the understatement and the pure survival power of Sir Erasmus Gower was a surprise pleasure of high degree. The scholarly devotion and all inclusive detail illuminated the story into a very personal experience. Your attention to detail seemed uncannily appropriate to the long overdue recognition you gave to Gower for his valiant and unassuming, tenacious devotion to the Admiralty and to keeping the old, weathe ..read more

Sales of Champion of the Quarterdeck: Admiral Sir Erasmus Gower (1742-1814) are ticking along quietly. Next Wednesday I am booked to do a book signing at Berkelouw’s Books at Eumundi, Sunshine Coast, and I look forward to speaking with as many people as possible. It was recently brought home to me how difficult it can be to gain recognition as a writer with so many works being published every day, but I am heartened by the knowledge that – every famous best-selling author was once unknown.   Return to Home page ..read more

Former Lieutenant Commander (Royal Australian Navy Reserve) Dr Rob Labrom commented after reading a review copy of Champion of the Quarterdeck: Admiral Sir Erasmus Gower (1742-1814), I enjoyed it very much. What a great achievement”. Copies are selling well in Australia and the UK. You can still get yours in time for Christmas if you act now. https://www.sageoldbooks.com/champion_sale.shtml Return to Home page ..read more

Prolific historian and biographer Captain Peter Hore had this to say yesterday on Facebook about Champion of the Quarterdeck. Am reading a great book about Erasmus Gower, father of Nelson’s Navy – collector’s copies available at https://www.sageoldbooks.com/champion_sale.shtml well-researched, good footnotes, foreword by David Gower Several other academic reviews are currently underway and will be posted here as soon as they are received. I’m pleased to say the book has been well received so far. Return to Author Home Page ..read more

Stocks of my book Champion of the Quarterdeck: Admiral Sir Erasmus Gower (1742-1814) are now available for sale in Australia through the publisher’s website. We are now selling throughout the United Kingdom and Australia and will make a further announcement when stocks arrive in the USA. Former English test cricket captain David Gower OBE said in his Foreword to the book: This is no cursory enquiry into the life of Sir Erasmus Gower. Ian Bates has spent decades engaging in the painstaking research that makes this a most thorough historical study of the times and has enabled him to reveal ..read more

Copies of my long awaited book Champion of the Quarterdeck: Admiral Sir Erasmus Gower (1742-1814) have finally made their way through customs and are now available for sale in the United Kingdom. This is a hardback book of 384 pages with dust jacket, illustrations, appendices, bibliography and index. Foreword by David Gower OBE. For full details including synopsis visit my author page. UK buyers can also go straight to the publisher bookshop to buy the book. As soon as book stocks arrive in Australia and the USA I will make a further announcement. What an exciting day – to launch my book into ..read more