Book excerpt: This book describes how the island of Malta became a protectorate of the British Crown during the wars against Napoleon after the failures of the Knights of Saint John, republican France, the Two Sicilies, and finally imperial Russia to fill the role of its best defender. Author Desmond Gregory also explains why most, though not all, Maltese people welcomed the protection of Britain, the supreme naval power in the Mediterranean after the battle of Aboukir Bay.