Customer Reviews

A near miss... - By: T. G. Lee, 22 Oct 2002
Family legend has it that Matthew Webb was a great, great uncle of mine (althoughin family research I have yet to definitely prove that). Hence I have read a few accounts of his life, bothin book form & on various Web sites (although one tends to take the latter as being likely to be less well researched). This particular account is one that I found myself blowing hot & cold over. Factually, it appears to be a well-researched account of his life & death but with little or no new information. There were a few niggles regarding factsin the book - with one or two items, especiallyin his pre-Channel swim days, there would appear to be a discrepancy between the factsin this book & thosein other works - that isn't to say that this book is incorrect, simply that there are lingering doubts (indeedin respect of his rescue of a brotherin the River Severn, I have seen reference to it being any one of three of his brothers). To help alleviate this uncertainty, I will level the same criticism against this biography that I have against many others - no list of reference material from which it was compiled. Those issues aside, I found the book a good read with an easy, informal style that presented the Captain's lifein a well-structured sequence. I particularly liked the verses at the start of each chapter, but on occasion felt that the chapters themselves lacked a little bit of depth. Strangely, I found myself drifting between a biographical mind-set & that of a novel whilst reading this book on occasion - I cannot, however, put my finger on the reason for that.

Overall, I have to say that I would recommend this book to others, but with the reservations mentioned above. A useful addition to my "Captain Webb" bookshelf.