Primarily this is a series of British naval courts martial or equivalent proceedings. It begins with a brief summary of the development of naval law and the Articles of War (which I recall Hornblower ,meditated on in some of Forester's novels, preferring them to the Anglican service which preceded their reading each Sunday) . It begins with the dubious claim that King Alfred required foreign nations to dip their topsails to English ships (ships in his day did not in fact have topsails), but most if it from he Cromwell era onward is more credible. Then follows discussion of specific cases, from the dispute between Sir Francis Drake and William Borough over the raid on Cadiz, through a number of 18th century cases, of course Adm. Byng, Bligh of the Bounty, Cochrane, and Nelson, the Camperdown/Victoria collision of 1893, the escape f the German cruisers in 1914, and two later cases in 1928 and 1942. ( )