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showing 632 library results for '2013'

Bismarck and Hood : the battle of the Denmark Strait :a technical analysis for a new perspective /Marco Santarini "The legendary Battle of the Denmark Strait, which saw the mighty German battleship Bismarck sink Britain's HMS Hood in an epic duel of the titans, has been dogged by controversy to this day. Was the doomed HMS Hood really sunk by a shell that penetrated her decks to explode in one of her magazine compartments? Others believe that Bismarck's fortunate shell detonated in Hood's cordite supply - the powder that propelled 1,920-lbs some staggering 30,180 yards - suggesting that damage examined on the wreck indicates a more distinct explosion. Or was the Hood's destructive and violent demise a new, and until now, unexplained act of war? The sinking of HMS Hood on Empire Day, 24 May 1941, resulted in the single largest loss of life for the Royal Navy during the Second World War: 1,415 lives were lost. There were absolutely no traces of any crewmen save three survivors. 'Bismarck and Hood: The Battle of the Denmark Strait - A Technical Analysis' is an innovative and potentially controversial study of this infamous battle. The author, a rear admiral in the Italian Navy, is an expert in gunnery and his book, a work of over two decades of study, further investigates this battle in an attempt to attain a more credible explanation. The events and tactics leading up to the battle are explained within their various contexts and a cinematic and ballistic model of the battle was developed, essential for a statistical analysis of Hood's sinking. Certainly, no one will ever be able to confirm what exactly happened in the Denmark Strait on that fateful day, but this rigorous book disposes of myths and falsehoods and paves the way for a more realistic interpretation of this iconic battle between HMS Hood and Bismarck."--Provided by the publisher. 2013 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.49"1941"(42:43)
HMS Terrible & her Naval Brigades : a cruiser & her campaigns during the Boer War and Boxer Rebellion :The commission of HMS Terrible, 1898-1902 :The White Era /George Crowe ; Fred T. Jane. "The battles of the Nile and Trafalgar in the opening years of the 19th century demonstrated that the Royal Navy was an unbeatable international force. The lessons of that period were so well understood by the world that the British Navy did not fight another major battle on the high seas until Jutland during the First World War. Britain ruled the waves for a century as the nation's imperial and colonial aspirations were fulfilled and the Royal Navy became a de facto international police force. The larger wars of the century were fought on land and demanded little of British naval resources. Naval guns and their expert gunners, however, were a valuable asset that could be deployed to significant effect almost anywhere the British Army was engaged. Naval Brigades were created and went on to see action in the Crimea, the Indian Mutiny, the Zulu War, the Boer War and towards the close of the 19th century as part of the force dispatched to China to suppress the Boxer uprising and relieve the beleaguered legations in Peking. This unique Leonaur two-in-one volume contains exciting narratives of the brigade of H.M.S. Terrible, a cruiser of the 'Powerful' class, during the Second Boer War, where it played a significant role in the relief of Ladysmith, and in China during the Boxer Rebellion. Also included is an interesting description of the initiatives which led to the building of the 'Powerful' class."--Provided by the publisher. [2013]. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 623.82TERRIBLE
Trade and shipping in the medieval West : Portugal, Castile and England :a series of lectures in memoriam for professor Armindo de Sousa, given in the University of Porto, November 2009 /by Wendy R. Childs. This book offers a survey of European travellers and includes a discussion of the economic developments that encouraged trade and travel, with focus on general Iberian connections to northern Europe. Europe contained a highly mobile society in the later Middle Ages, in which merchants and seamen, nobles, diplomats and soldiers, churchmen and pilgrims travelled frequently, often long distances, and returned home to disseminate information about places they had seen and peoples they had met. Villagers who might not travel far from home could nonetheless hear tales from well-travelled servants of local lords, pilgrims and soldiers, mendicants and other churchmen, merchants and seamen. Trade was a major driver of geographical mobility; of the travelling groups merchants and seamen were among the most frequent and regular travellers, and they brought with them not only goods, but people, news, and information. Iberia and England were integral parts of the European commercial network, and Portuguese, Castilian, Basque, and English merchants and seamen travelled widely and regularly. This book begins with a survey of European travellers (who travelled, why, where, and what sources they left behind), and includes a discussion of the economic developments that encouraged trade and travel. It then focusses on general Iberian connections to northern Europe, which pre-dated the early voyages of discovery and continued during them, before concentrating on Portuguese trade with the north, especially with England. 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 382"1350/1500"
The fishing fleet : husband-hunting in the Raj /Anne de Courcy. "From the late 19th century, when the Raj was at its height, many of Britain's best and brightest young men went out to India to work as administrators, soldiers and businessmen. With the advent of steam travel and the opening of the Suez Canal, countless young women, suffering at the lack of eligible men in Britain, followed in their wake. This amorphous band was composed of daughters returning after their English education, girls invited to stay with married sisters or friends, and yet others whose declared or undeclared goal was simply to find a husband. They were known as the Fishing Fleet, and this book is their story, hitherto untold. For these young women, often away from home for the first time, one thing they could be sure of was a rollicking good time. By the early 20th century, a hectic social scene was in place, with dances, parties, amateur theatricals, picnics, tennis tournaments, cinemas and gymkhanas, with perhaps a tiger shoot and a glittering dinner at a raja's palace thrown in. And, with men outnumbering women by roughly four to one, romances were conducted at alarming speed and marriages were frequent. But after the honeymoon, life often changed dramatically: whisked off to a remote outpost with few other Europeans for company, and where constant vigilance was required to guard against disease, they found it a far cry from the social whirlwind of their first arrival. Anne de Courcy's sparkling narrative is enriched by a wealth of first-hand sources - unpublished memoirs, letters and diaries rescued from attics - which bring this forgotten era vividly to life."--Provided by the publisher. 2013 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 954.03
Ships of the Civil War 1861-1865 : an illustrated guide to the fighting vessels of the Union and the Confederacy /Kevin J. Dougherty. "The Civil war may be mainly remembered for its infamous land battles, such as Gettsyburg, Manassas, and Shiloh, but its naval engagements announced a new kind of naval warfare, with the first-time use of ironclads, submarines, and torpedoes, and the introduction of newer and more powerful naval artillery. The conflict saw the use of paddle-driven river boats, steam warships, ram ships, sloops, cruisers, and the development of new ironclad ships such as low-lying monitors. Arranged by type of ship, Ships of the Civil War provides concise coverage of some of the most famous warships of the era, including: the seminal duel between the ironclads CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor, the Confederate raider Alabama's demise off the USS Kearsage; and one of the first successful actions by a submarine, when CSS Hunley exploded a mine beneath the Federal gunboat USS Housatonic. The book also includes blockade runners, such as A.D. Vance and Hope; raiders, such as CSS Sumter and USS Quaker City; and cruisers, like the CSS Tallahassee, which spectacularly raided northern waters, destroying dozens of Federal merchantmen in the process. Filled with colorful artworks, expertly written background, and useful specifications of more than 120 fighting ships of the era, Ships of the Civil War is a handy guide to an often ignored aspect of the great struggle between North and South."--Provided by the publisher. 2013. • BOOK • 2 copies available. 623.82(73)"1861/1865"
Britain against Napoleon : the organisation of victory, 1793-1815 /by Roger Knight. "For more than twenty years after 1793, the French army was supreme in continental Europe. Only at sea was British power dominant, though even with this crucial advantage the British population lived under fear of a French invasion for much of those two decades. How was it that despite multiple changes of government and the assassination of a Prime Minister, Britain survived and eventually won a generation-long war against a regime which at its peak in 1807 commanded many times the resources and manpower? There have been innumerable books about the battles, armies and navies of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. This book looks beyond the familiar exploits (and bravery) of the army and navy to the politicians and civil servants, and examines how they made it possible to continue the war at all. It shows the degree to which, because of the magnitude and intensity of hostilities, the capacities of the whole British population were involved: industrialists, farmers, shipbuilders, cannon founders, gunsmiths and gunpowder manufacturers all had continually to increase quality and output as the demands of the war remorselessly grew. The intelligence war was also central: Knight shows that despite a poor beginning to both gathering and assessment, Whitehall's methods steadily improved.No participants were more important, he argues, than the bankers and international traders of the City of London, who played a critical role in financing the wars and without whom the armies of Britain's allies could not have taken the field. Knight demonstrates that despite these extraordinary efforts, between 1807 and 1812 Britain came very close to losing the war against Napoleon - not through invasion (though the danger until 1811 was very real) but through financial and political exhaustion. The Duke of Wellington famously said that the battle which finally defeated Napoleon was 'the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life': this book shows how true that was for the Napoleonic War as a whole."--Provided by the publisher. 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.49"1793/1815"(42:44)
Hunting the Essex : a journal of the voyage of HMS Phoebe 1813-1814 by Midshipman Allen Gardiner /ed. by John S. Rieske ; introduction by Andrew Lambert. "In February 1813 the British frigate Phoebe set out on a secret mission that would involve sailing halfway around the world to attack American settlements in the Pacific Northwest. The United States, frustrated at the treatment of its shipping by the combatants in the Napoleonic Wars, had finally opened hostilities against the British in the previous June. From the American perspective the War of 1812 began with disasters in its invasion of Canada, but against all expectations the infant US Navy had scored significant victories at sea. The most strategically significant of these was the campaign by the frigate USS Essex, which had almost annihilated the lucrative British whaling trade in the south Pacific. Therefore, Phoebe was diverted to hunt down and destroy this highly successful commerce-raider. After an epic search, Phoebe tracked her prey to neutral Valparaiso where the American frigate was blockaded and,in a very bloody battle, eventually captured. The American captain, David Porter, published a self-serving account of his actions which ever since has mired the battle in controversy, so this British naval eyewitness account is an important counter-balance. It is one of the lesser-known campaigns of a war which is currently celebrating its bicentenary, but its inherent drama inspired the plot of Patrick O'Brian's novel The Far Side of the World, although in its movie adaptation Master & Commander the American frigate is transformed into a French privateer."--Provided by the publisher. 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92GARDINER
The Amistad rebellion : an Atlantic odyssey of slavery and freedom /Marcus Rediker. "The dramatic story of a courageous rebellion against slavery On 28 June 1839, the Spanish slave schooner La Amistad set sail from Havana to make a routine delivery of human cargo. After four days at sea, on a moonless night, the captive Africans that comprised that cargo escaped from the hold, killed the captain, and seized control of the ship. They attempted to sail to a safe port, but were captured by the US navy and thrown into a Connecticut jail. Their legal battle for freedom eventually made its way to the Supreme Court, where former president John Quincy Adams took up their cause. In a landmark ruling, they were freed and eventually returned to Africa. The rebellion became one of the best-known events in the history of American slavery, celebrated as a triumph of the US legal system in books and films, most famously Steven Spielberg?s Amistad. These narratives reflect the elite perspective of the judges, politicians, and abolitionists involved. In this powerful and highly original account, Marcus Rediker reclaims the rebellion for its instigators: the African rebels who risked death to stake a claim for freedom. Using newly discovered evidence, Rediker reaches back to Africa to find the rebels? roots, narrates their cataclysmic transatlantic journey, and unfolds a prison story of great drama and emotive power. Featuring vividly drawn portraits of the Africans, their captors, and their abolitionist allies, The Amistad Rebellion shows how the rebels captured the popular imagination and helped to inspire and build a movement that was part of a grand global struggle for emancipation. The actions of that distant July night and inthe days and months that followed were pivotal events in American and Atlantic history, but not for the reasons we have always thought. The successful Amistad rebellion changed the very nature of the struggle against slavery. As a handful of Africans steered a course to freedom, they opened a way for millions to follow. This stunning book honours their achievement."--Provided by the publisher. 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.133"1839"
England's shipwreck heritage : from logboats to U-boats /by Serena Cant. What do characters as diverse as Alfred the Great, the architect Sir Christopher Wren, diarist Samuel Pepys and the Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins have in common? All had some involvement in shipwrecks: in causing, recording or salvaging them. This book examines a variety of wrecks from logboats, Roman galleys and medieval cogs to East Indiamen, grand ocean liners, fishing boats and warships - all are woven into the history of shipwrecks along the coastline of England and in her territorial waters. Wrecks are not just physically embedded in this marine landscape - they are also an intrinsic part of a domestic cultural landscape with links that go beyond the navy, mercantile marine and fishing trade. Evidence of shipwrecks is widespread: in literature, in domestic architecture and as a major component of industrial archaeology. Shipwrecks also transcend national boundaries, forming tangible monuments to the movement of goods and people between nations in war and peace. In peacetime they link the architecture and monuments of different countries, from shipyards to factories, warehouses to processing plants; in time of war wrecks have formed a landscape scattered across the oceans, linking friend and foe in common heritage. England's Shipwreck Heritage explores the type of evidence we have for shipwrecks and their causes, including the often devastating effects fo the natural environment and human-led disaster. Ships at war, global trade and the movement of people - such as passengers, convict transports and the slave trade - are also investigated. Along the way we meet the white elephant who perished in 1730, the medieval merchant who pursued a claim for compensation for nearly 20 years, the most famous privateer for the American revolutionary wars and the men who held their nerve in the minesweeper trawls of the First World War. 2013. • FOLIO • 2 copies available. 656.61.085.3(42)"05/19"
William Cuffay : the life & times of a Chartist leader /Martin Hoyles. "William Cuffay (1788-1870) was one of the leaders of Chartism, which was the largest political movement ever seen in Britain. His grandfather was an African slave and his father was a West Indian slave, from St Kitts, who managed to gain his freedom and settle in Chatham, Kent. Cuffay trained as a tailor and moved to London where, in 1834, he was involved in the tailors' strike for shorter hours. In 1839 he joined the Chartist movement and soon became well known for his oratory and sense of humour. At the final mass demonstration for the Charter on Kennington Common on 10 April 1848, he protested strongly at the decision to call off the march to the House of Commons to present the petition. He called the national leadership a set of cowardly humbugs. In August 1848 Cuffay became involved in a secret revolutionary committee which was planning an uprising in London. He was arrested, tried and convicted, on the evidence of two police spies, of levying war against the Queen. He was sentenced to transportation for life in Tasmania. In Hobart he carried on working as a tailor and remained actively involved in Tasmanian politics for twenty years. His wife was able to join him in 1853 and he was granted a free pardon in 1856. In 1870 he died a pauper in the workhouse. William Cuffay's reputation during the Chartist years was immense, yet he was subsequently forgotten for over 130 years. This book aims to set him in his historical context and restore him to his rightful place as one of the key figures in British history."--Provided by the publisher. 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 322.44094109034
British naval power in the East, 1794-1805 : the command of Admiral Peter Rainier /Peter A. Ward. "When war broke out with France in 1793, there immediately arose the threat of a renewed French challenge to British supremacy in India. This security problem was compounded in 1795 when the French overran the Netherlands and the extremely valuable Dutch trade routes and Dutch colonies, including the Cape of Good Hope and what is now Indonesia, fell under French control. The task of securing British interests in the East was a formidable one: the distances were huge, communication with London could take years, there were problems marshalling resources, and fine diplomatic skills were needed to keep independent rulers on the British side and to ensure full co-operation from the East India Company. The person charged with overseeing this formidable task was Admiral Peter Rainier (1741-1808), commander of the Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean and the East from 1794 to 1805. This book discusses the enormous difficulties Rainier faced. It outlines his career, explaining how he carried out his role with exceptional skill; how he succeeded in securing British interests in the East - whilst avoiding the need to fight a major battle; how he enhanced Britain's commanding position at sea; and how, additionally, in co-operation with the Governor-General, Richard Wellesley, he further advanced Britain's position in India itself."--Provided by the publisher. 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92RAINIER
Commercial agriculture, the Slave Trade and Slavery in Atlantic Africa / edited by Robin Law, Suzanne Schwarz and Silke Strickrodt. "Re-envisages what we know about African political economies through its examination of one of the key questions in colonial and African history, that of commercial agriculture and its relationship to slavery. This book considers commercial agriculture in Africa in relation to the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the institution of slavery within Africa itself, from the beginnings of European maritime trade in the fifteenth century to the early stages of colonial rule in the twentieth century. From the outset, the export of agricultural produce from Africa represented a potential alternative to the slave trade: although the predominant trend was to transport enslaved Africans to the Americas to cultivate crops, there was recurrent interest in the possibility of establishing plantations in Africa to produce such crops, or to purchase them from independent African producers. This idea gained greater currency in the context of the movement for the abolition of the slave trade from the late eighteenth century onwards, when the promotion of commercial agriculture in Africa was seen as a means of suppressing the slave trade. At the same time, the slave trade itself stimulated commercial agriculture in Africa, to supply provisions for slave-ships in the Middle Passage. Commercial agriculture was also linked to slavery within Africa, since slaves were widely employed there in agricultural production. Although Abolitionists hoped that production of export crops in Africa would be based on free labour, in practice it often employed enslaved labour, so that slavery in Africa persisted into the colonial period."--Provided by the publisher. 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 338.43:326.1(66)
People and the sea : a maritime archaeological research agenda for England /edited by Jesse Ransley and Fraser Sturt ; with Justin Dix, Jon Adams and Lucy Blue. "The volume presents the conclusions of a research assessment funded by English Heritage which drew together the broad community of scholars interested in marine and maritime affairs (be they working in academia, industry or a-vocationally), with a remit of both quantifying the known record and establishing a clear research agenda for the future. The result is an unrivalled exploration of our maritime heritage and a challenging agenda for the future. Britain is a maritime nation. Thus understanding the changing record of people's relationships with, and use of the sea is key to interpreting the archaeological record. People and the Sea considers all aspects of our maritime heritage; from the submerged landscapes created by changes in sea-level over the last million years, to the physical development of the modern coastline, through to ports, their hinterlands and associated maritime communities. It investigates the nature of seafaring, its associated material culture as well as people changing perceptions and interactions with the sea. Chronological chapters, from the Palaeolithic to the 20th century, all consider a number of key themes, exploring both the current state of knowledge and priorities for future research. While the focus is on England, the themes explored are applicable to any coastal community, both in the UK and the near Continent. Written by leading academics, in consultation with numerous specialists, People and the Sea provides an unrivalled exploration of our maritime heritage and sets a challenging agenda for future research."--Provided by the publisher. 2013. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 930.102804
North by degree : new perspectives on Arctic exploration /Susan A. Kaplan and Robert McCracken Peck, editors. "North by Degree: New Perspectives on Arctic Exploration is a volume of papers on the history of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Arctic exploration. The authors have contextualised expeditions, examining the social, cultural, technological, and environmental settings in which exploration endeavours were conceived, carried out, described, and understood by the public. Honoring the hundreth anniversary of Robert E. Peary's historic 1908-09 North Pole Expedition and recognising the third International Polar Year (2007-09) served as starting point for a conference designed to bring together researchers from a variety of disciplines whose work touches on different facets of Arctic exploration. Susan A. Kaplan (The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum at Bowdoin College) and Robert McCracken Peck (Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia) joined forces, and invited the Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science (PACHS) and the American Philosophical Society to partner with them. North by Degree: An International Conference on Arctic Exploration took place in Philadelphia in May 2008. The papers in this volume are a subset of those presented at that gathering and are authored by scholars from variosu disciplines, including English, art history, anthropology, archaeology, history, ethnohistory, and Native American studies. The papers cast light on aspects of exploration initiatives not examined in most biographies of explorers, official expedition narratives, or overviews of the history of Arctic exploration."--Provided by the publisher. 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.911/3