Admiral Sir John Norris is probably an unknown character for many who are otherwise well familiar with British naval activities in the eighteenth century. However, Norris did play an important, if minor, role in British naval history because of the Royal Navy expeditions to the Baltic Sea during the reign of George I. Norris commanded the majority of these expeditions and as a flag officer he managed a virtually unrivalled length of sea service. In this book David Denis Aldridge presents a seaman and a dutiful officer, and the lively conditions and politics of this dramatic period - it is a tale of the dilemmas of Norris serving George I's purposes in the Baltic. The British events in the Baltic has claimed little attention by naval historians previously, and detailed accords of the everyday business of convoy management or blockade, or moving ships to new stations through uncharted skerries come alive in Aldridge's book. The Royal fleet's presence in the Northern waters did not involve hostilities, though they might well have done if Charles XII and Czar Peter had not been careful to evade the Royal Navy. Charles XII certainly did not want to give George I any excuse to involve Britain in the war. Czar Peter for his part knew that they much desired a new commercial treaty. Obscurity surrounds Norris origins and early life as there is still no certain knowledge of his parentage or date and place of birth though Aldridge traced him to Irish origins, may be of Ulster plantation. He was probably born in 1670 or 1671 and lived until 1749. His last command, in a storm-wracked Channel in the early months of 1744, when he was at least 73, reveals a commander still of clear-headed judgement. Aldridge has built his study on research of the Admiral's papers in the British Library, naval logs in the Public Record Office (National Archives) or at Greenwich, as well as acts in the Swedish National - and War archives in Stockholm.