The Life and Times of Captain John Low: An Englishman in the Confederate States Navy

Thorp has crafted an illuminating and long-overdue biography about the adventurous life of Captain John Low. He skilfully blends newly discovered primary resources and compelling storytelling to provide a refreshing contribution to American Civil War and British maritime history.

Walter E. Wilson
CAPT (USN), ret.
Author of “William Watson and the Rob Roy, Adventures of a Civil War Blockade Runner” , “Civil War Scoundrels and the Texas Cotton Trade; The Bulloch Belles”, “James D. Bulloch, Secret Agent and Mastermind of the Confederate Navy”


This work shines a bright new light on the life and times of Captain John Low, a British mariner and key player in the American Civil War. As a chronicle of the Captain's historically important life it dispels many misconceptions and adds significantly to our understanding of the roles played by both him and the United Kingdom in that formative conflict.

Keith Webster
Retired journalist and corporate communications manager, consultant and tutor


This authoritative and well referenced biography by Thorp provides new insight into both the life and times of Captain John Low.

W Cairns Smith OBE
Emeritus Professor
University of Aberdeenis aut


Never before has the story of Captain John Low been told in such detail and with such remarkable clarity. In penning his excellent narrative in this fascinating new book, Thorp has corrected some anomalies in John Low’s hitherto accepted biography. Furthermore, the pages are packed from start to finish with new facts and unique insights which, when taken together, provide a body of work which offers a significant contribution to Anglo-American history.

Robert W. Joseph CBE, MUniv, BSc (Hons)
Air Commodore, Royal Air Force (Retired)


Robert Thorp’s "The Life and Times of Captain John Low" is a fine example of Emerson’s quote, “There is properly no history, only biography.” Its fast-paced account of Englishman John Low’s exploits as a Confederate States Navy officer is skillfully woven into the trans-Atlantic saga of a family rooted in Britain but whose generations branched into America’s South and beyond. Add a dash of Civil War, a pinch of blockade running and a generous serving of Florida and Alabama’s commerce raiding, and you have the ingredients for an inspiring historical adventure.

Stephen Chapin Kinnaman
Author of "A Crisis of Loyalties and Captain Bulloch"