Library Results | Royal Museums Greenwich

Toussaint Louverture : a revolutionary life /Philippe Girard. "In Toussaint Louverture, Philippe Girard reveals the dramatic story of how Louverture transformed himself from lowly freedman to revolutionary hero. In 1791, the unassuming Louverture masterminded the only successful slave revolt in history. By 1801, he was general and governor of Saint-Domingue, and an international statesman who forged treaties with Britain, France, Spain, and the United States-empires that feared the effect his example would have on their slave regimes. Louveture's ascendency was short-lived, however. In 1802, he was exiled to France, dying soon after as one of the most famous men in the world, variously feared and celebrated as the "Black Napoleon." As Girard shows, in life Louverture was not an idealist, but an ambitious pragmatist. He strove not only for abolition and independence, but to build Saint-Domingue's economic might and elevate his own social standing. He helped free Saint-Domingue's slaves yet immediately restricted their rights in the interests of protecting the island's sugar production. He warded off French invasions but embraced the cultural model of the French gentility. In death, Louverture quickly passed into legend, his memory inspiring abolitionist, black nationalist, and anti-colonialist movements well into the 20th century. Deeply researched and bracingly original, Toussaint Louverture is the definitive biography of one of the most influential people of his era, or any other."--Provided by the publisher. 2016 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92LOUVERTURE

India conquered : Britain's Raj and the chaos of empire /Jon Wilson. "For the century and a half before the Second World War, Britain dominated the Indian subcontinent. Britain's East India Company ruled enclaves of land in South Asia for a century and a half before that. For these 300 years, conquerors and governors projected themselves as heroes and improvers. The British public were sold an image of British authority and virtue. But beneath the veneer of pomp and splendour, British rule in India was anxious, fragile and fostered chaos. Britain's Indian empire was built by people who wanted to make enough money to live well back in Britain, to avoid humiliation and danger, to put their narrow professional expertise into practice. The institutions they created, from law courts to railway lines, were designed to protect British power without connecting with the people they ruled. The result was a precarious regime that provided Indian society with no leadership, and which oscillated between paranoid paralysis and occasional moments of extreme violence. The lack of affection between rulers and ruled finally caused the system's collapse. But even after its demise, the Raj lives on in the false idea of the efficacy of centralized, authoritarian power. Indians responded to the peculiar nature of British power by doing things for themselves, creating organisations and movements that created an order and prosperity of its own. India Conquered revises the way we think about nation-building as much as empire, showing how many of the institutions that shaped twentieth century India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were built in response to British power. The result is an engaging story vital for anyone who wants to understand the history of empires and the origins of contemporary South Asian society."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 954.03

Sea and air fighting : Those who were there /David Bilton. "This is a compelling book for lovers of sea and air stories from the Great War era. In the twelve stories told by the participants, many of whom were decorated for bravery, they describe their experiences of events: stories of luck, tenacity, courage, extreme danger, excitement and bravery. Also included are photographs to help set the scene for the vignettes and details of the authors' lives where possible. Seven stories detail the war at sea, while the other six reflect the war in the air from a civilian and combatant point of view. The exciting thing about the stories, apart from their freshness, is that they have remained unpublished for nearly eighty years and they are written by participants who describe exactly what they experienced and felt. Mrs Peel describes what an air raid was like from a civilian?s point of view, and pilots describe both the humdrumness of some of their work and how it could suddenly change in to a fight for their life, in which luck often played a part in their survival. At sea, the authors describe the struggle to overcome the U-boat menace using Q ships and reveal the boredom, suspense and danger involved in laying a trap. The Battle of Jutland is described from an officer?s active view of events, and the sinking of the Audacious is described by someone who was aboard and sworn to silence about the events. There is also the exciting story of the chase and fight between the Carmania and the Cap Trafalgar."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.3/.4

British and German battlecruisers : their development and operations /Michele Cosentino & Ruggero Stanglini. "The fast and formidably-armed battlecruisers of Great Britain and Germany that were developed before and during the First World War are, in this new book, compared and contrasted in a way, and at a level of detail, that has never been attempted before. The authors begin by looking at the relationship and rivalry between Great Britain and Germany and at how foreign policy, strategic and tactical considerations, economic, industrial and technological developments, and naval policies led to the instigation of the battlecruiser programmes in both countries. Chapters are then devoted to the development of the type in each country, to their design and construction, protection, propulsion plants, weapons, fire control, and communication systems, focussing particularly on the innovative aspects of the designs and on their strengths and weaknesses. These ships eventually clashed in the North Sea at Dogger Bank, in January 1915, and while neither side suffered losses, the differences in their design and handling were apparent, differences that would be more starkly highlighted a year later at Jutland when three British ships were destroyed. These actions, and others they took part in, are described and assessed by the authors who then conclude by analysing their strengths and limitations. This is a major new work for naval enthusiasts everywhere."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • FOLIO • 2 copies available. 623.821.3(42:43)"1914/1918"

Spreading canvas : eighteenth-century British marine painting /edited by Eleanor Hughes. "Spreading Canvas takes a close look at the tradition of marine painting that flourished in 18th-century Britain. Drawing primarily on the extensive collections of the Yale Center for British Art and the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, this publication shows how the genre corresponded with Britain's growing imperial power and celebrated its increasing military presence on the seas, representing the subject matter in a way that was both documentary and sublime. Works by leading purveyors of the style, including Peter Monamy, Samuel Scott, Dominic Serres, and Nicholas Pocock, are featured alongside sketches, letters, and other ephemera that help frame the political and geographic significance of these inspiring views, while also establishing the painters' relationships to concurrent metropolitan art cultures. This survey, featuring a wealth of beautifully reproduced images, demonstrates marine painting's overarching relevance to British culture of the era."--Provided by publisher. 2016 • FOLIO • 2 copies available. 75.047(26:42)

The temptations of trade : Britain, Spain, and the struggle for empire /Adrian Finucane. "The British and the Spanish had long been in conflict, often clashing over politics, trade, and religion. But in the early decades of the eighteenth century, these empires signed an asiento agreement granting the British South Sea Company a monopoly on the slave trade in the Spanish Atlantic, opening up a world of uneasy collaboration. British agents of the Company moved to cities in the Caribbean and West Indies, where they braved the unforgiving tropical climate and hostile religious environment in order to trade slaves, manufactured goods, and contraband with Spanish colonists. In the process, British merchants developed relationships with the Spanish--both professional and, at times, personal. The Temptations of Trade traces the development of these complicated relationships in the context of the centuries-long imperial rivalry between Spain and Britain. Many British Merchants, in developing personal ties to the Spanish, were able to collect potentially damaging information about Spanish imperial trade, military defenses, and internal conflict. British agents juggled personal friendships with national affiliation--and, at the same time, developed a network of illicit trade, contraband, and piracy extending beyond the legal reach of the British South Sea Company and often at the Company's direct expense. Ultimately, the very smuggling through which these empires unwittingly supported each other led to the resumption of Anglo-Spanish conflict, as both empires cracked down on the actions of traders within the colonies. The Temptations of Trade reveals the difficulties of colonizing regions far from strict imperial control, where the actions of individuals could both connect empires and drive them to war."--Provided by the publisher. 2016 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 382.0941

The Mediterranean Fleet, 1930-1939 / edited by Paul G. Halpern, Professor Emeritus, Florida State University. "The Mediterranean Fleet entered the 1930s looking back to the lessons of Jutland and the First World War but also seeking to incorporate new technologies, notably air power. Unfortunately in the depression years of the early 1930s there was a lack of funds to remedy deficiencies. The problem became critical during the Abyssinian crisis of 1935. The crisis wound down by mid-1936 but the respite did not last long. In June 1936 the Spanish Civil War broke out and the Mediterranean Fleet was soon involved in evacuations of British and other endangered foreigners from Spanish ports as well as the protection of British flagged merchant ships in the war zone. In addition to the Spanish Civil War there was an increase of tension with Germany in 1938 that culminated with the Czechoslovak crisis in September. The situation of the Mediterranean Fleet and its possible actions had the Munich agreement not been reached are described. The Spanish Civil War ended in 1939 with the victory of the Nationalists and the Mediterranean Fleet was again involved in evacuations. By now the prospect of war with Germany and possibly Italy was quite clear and serious preparations for war continued. The plans for war in the Mediterranean are reproduced in detail." --Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 2 copies available. 061.22NRS

False flags : disguised German raiders of World War II /Stephen Robinson. "False Flags tells the epic untold story of German raider voyages to the South Seas during the early years of World War II. In 1940 the raiders Orion, Komet, Pinguin and Kormoran left Germany and waged a ?pirate war? in the South Seas ? part of Germany?s strategy to attack the British Empire?s maritime trade on a global scale. Their extraordinary voyages spanned the globe and are maritime sagas in the finest tradition of seafaring. The four raiders voyaged across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans as well as the Arctic and Antarctic. They sank or captured 62 ships in a forgotten naval war that is now being told in its entirety for the first time. The Orion and Komet terrorised the South Pacific and New Zealand waters before Pearl Harbor when the war was supposed to be far away. The Pinguin sank numerous Allied merchant ships in the Indian Ocean before mining the approaches to Australian ports and capturing the Norwegian whaling fleet in Antarctica. The Kormoran raided the Atlantic but will always be remembered for sinking the Australian cruiser Sydney off Western Australia, killing all 645 sailors on board in tragic circumstances. False Flags is also the story of the Allied sailors who encountered these raiders and fought suicidal battles against a superior foe as well as the men, women and children who endured captivity on board the raiders as prisoners of the Third Reich."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.545.9(43)"1939/1945"

A stain in the blood : the remarkable voyage of Sir Kenelm Digby :pirate and poet, courtier and cook, king's servant and traitor's son /Joe Moshenska. "On the 16th of August 1628, five battle-scarred English ships sailed into the harbour of the Greek island of Milos. Dropping anchor, the 25-year-old captain banqueted with the local lord before sitting down to write an account of his journey - an account that would transform him entirely. Sir Kenelm Digby was one of the most remarkable Englishmen who ever lived: a trusted advisor to the King, but the sworn enemy of the all-powerful Duke of Buckingham; a pioneering philosopher and scientist, but committed to the occult arts of alchemy and astrology; a friend not only of Ben Jonson, Thomas Hobbes and van Dyck, but even Oliver Cromwell. He was also widely known as the 'son of a traytor and husband of a whore': a man who witnessed his father's gruesome execution for high treason as a Gunpowder Plotter, and the lover of the most celebrated beauty of the age, Venetia Stanley. In an attempt to clear his name, and on a quest for personal glory, Digby assembled a fleet and set sail for the Mediterranean: a world of pirate cities and ancient ruins where people, ideas and exotic goods moved freely between languages and nations. His journey - encompassing fevers, mutiny, piracy, daring rescues and heroic sea battles - is a great and terribly overlooked adventure, and a prism through which to view England, and all of Europe, during one of the most pivotal periods in its history. A Stain in the Blood is the story of an extraordinary life, and of a journey that helped to shape a nation. It is a revelatory first work of non-fiction by one of the brightest young writers and thinkers of today."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92DIGBY

Nation on board : becoming Nigerian at sea /Lynn Schler. ''In the 1940s, British shipping companies began the large-scale recruitment of African seamen in Lagos. On colonial ships, Nigerian sailors performed menial tasks for low wages and endured discrimination as cheap labor, while countering hardships by nurturing social connections across the black diaspora. Poor employment conditions stirred these seamen to identify with the nationalist sentiment burgeoning in postwar Nigeria, while their travels broadened and invigorated their cultural identities. Working for the Nigerian National Shipping Line, they encountered new forms of injustice and exploitation. When mismanagement, a lack of technical expertise, and pillaging by elites led to the NNSL?s collapse in the early 1990s, seamen found themselves without prospects. Their disillusionment became a broader critique of corruption in postcolonial Nigeria. In Nation on Board: Becoming Nigerian at Sea, Lynn Schler traces the fate of these seamen in the transition from colonialism to independence. In so doing, she renews the case for labor history as a lens for understanding decolonization, and brings a vital transnational perspective to her subject. By placing the working-class experience at the fore, she complicates the dominant view of the decolonization process in Nigeria and elsewhere.''--Provided by the publisher. [2016] • BOOK • 1 copy available. 387.509669

Samuel Pepys : plague, fire, revolution /edited by Margarette Lincoln. "Samuel Pepys (1633?1703) lived through one of the most exciting and troubled times in British history. He saw the people rise up in the name of liberty and execute their king. During the plague of 1665 he endured months of terror when friends and neighbours fell prey to an epidemic disease for which there was no cure, and the following year he witnessed the Great Fire of London. Towards the end of his life Pepys - and the country - suffered further upheaval when his patron, the Catholic James II, was ousted by the Protestant William III and Queen Mary in the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688. This book, published to coincide with a major exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, explores the public and personal worlds of Pepys, not only a famous diarist whose description of the Fire of London is unequalled, but also an energetic and talented man who rose from modest beginnings to become the greatest naval administrator of the age. With an introduction by Claire Tomalin, Pepys's award-winning biographer, engaging essays on a range of key topics, and illustrated throughout with a rich variety of paintings, engravings and objects, Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire, Revolution provides a fascinating portrait of the later Stuart Age through the life of someone uniquely placed to experience its triumphs and disasters."--Provided by the publisher. 2015. • FOLIO • 2 copies available.

The rise and demise of slavery and the slave trade in the Atlantic world / edited by Philip Misevich and Kristin Mann. "Drawing on new quantitative and qualitative evidence, this study reexamines the rise, transformation, and slow demise of slavery and the slave trade in the Atlantic world. The twelve essays here reveal the legacies and consequences of abolition and chronicle the first formative global human rights movement. They also cast new light on the origins and development of the African diaspora created by the transatlantic slave trade. Engagingly written and attuned to twenty-first century as well as historical problems and debates, this book will appeal to specialists interested in cultural, economic, and political analysis of the slave trade as well as to nonspecialists seeking to understand anew how transatlantic slavery forever changed Europe, the Americas, and Africa." --Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 326.1

Court, country, city : British art and architecture, 1660-1735 /Mark Hallett "The late 17th and early 18th centuries saw profound changes in Britain and in its visual arts. This volume provides fresh perspectives on the art of the late Stuart and early Georgian periods, focusing on the concepts, spaces, and audiences of court, country, and city as reflected in an array of objects, materials, and places. The essays discuss the revolutionary political and economic circumstances of the period, which not only forged a new nation-state but also provided a structural setting for artistic production and reception. Essays cover such diverse topics as tapestry in the age of Charles II and painting in the court of Queen Anne; male friendship portraits; mezzotint and the exchange between painting and print; the interpretation of genres such as still life and marine painting; the concept of remembered places; courtly fashion and furnishing; the codification of rules for painting; and the development of aesthetic theory"-- 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 7(42)"1660/1735"

Fighters over the Fleet : naval air defence from biplanes to the Cold War /Norman Friedman. Fighters Over the Fleet is an account of the parallel evolution of naval fighters for fleet air defense and the ships they sought to defend. This volume concentrates on the three main advocates of carrier warfare: the Royal Navy, the U.S. Navy, and the Imperial Japanese Navy. Fighters Over the Fleet is an account of the parallel evolution of naval fighters for fleet air defense and the ships they sought to defend. This volume concentrates on the three main advocates of carrier warfare: the Royal Navy, the U.S. Navy, and the Imperial Japanese Navy. Fighters Over the Fleet is an account of the parallel evolution of naval fighters for fleet air defense and the ships they sought to defend. This volume concentrates on the three main advocates of carrier warfare: the Royal Navy, the U.S. Navy, and the Imperial Japanese Navy. Because radar was not invented until the mid-1930s, fleet air defense was a primitive effort for flyers during the 1920s. Once the innovative system was developed and utilized, organized air defense became viable. Thus major naval-air battles of the Second World War, like Midway, the 'Pedestal' convoy, the Philippine Sea and Okinawa are portrayed as tests of the new technology. However, even radar was ultimately found wanting by the Kamikaze campaigns, which led to postwar moves toward computer control and new kinds of fighters. After 1945, the novel threats of nuclear weapons and stand-off missiles compounded the difficulties of naval air defense. The second half of the book covers the U.S. and Royal Navies? attempts to resolve these problems by examining the U.S. experience in Vietnam and British operations during the Falklands War. The book then turns to the ultimate U.S. development of techniques and technology to fight the Outer Air Battle in the 1980s before concluding with the current state of technology supported carrier fighters.--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 623.7

Finding Franklin : the untold story of a 165-year search /Russell A. Potter. "In 2014 media around the world buzzed with news that an archaeological team from Parks Canada had located and identified the wreck of the HMS Erebus, the flagship of Sir John Franklin's lost expedition to find the Northwest Passage. Finding Franklin outlines the larger story and the cast of detectives from every walk of life that led to the discovery, solving of one of the Arctic's greatest mysteries. In compelling and accessible prose, Russell Potter details his decades of work alongside key figures in the era of modern searches for the expedition and elucidates how shared research and ideas have led to a fuller understanding of the Franklin crew's final months. Illustrated with numerous images and maps from the last two centuries, Finding Franklin recounts the more than fifty modern searches for traces of his ships and crew, and the dedicated, often obsessive, men and women who embarked on them. Potter discusses the crucial role that Inuit oral accounts, often cited but rarely understood, played in all of these searches, and continues to play to this day, and offers historical and cultural context to the contemporary debates over the significance of Franklin's achievement. While examination of the HMS Erebus will undoubtedly reveal further details of this mystery, Finding Franklin assembles the stories behind the myth and illuminates what is ultimately a remarkable decades-long discovery."-- 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.4(987)"1845/2014"

Navies in the 21st century / Conrad Waters "What is the purpose of navies in the modern world, and what types of warship does this require? This book tackles these questions by looking at naval developments, both technological and operational, in the quarter century since the end of the Cold War. It provides the overall political and economic context, assesses significant naval operations from the first Gulf War to Russia's annexation of Crimea, reviews changes in the objectives and composition of the principal fleets, describes major design developments amongst the main warship types, and examines wider technological and operational developments, including naval aviation, shipbuilding and manning. It follows the successful approach and format of Seaforth's annual World Naval Review, with individual sections by internationally acknowledged experts, and is heavily illustrated in a similar style. As a succinct, single-volume overview of how contemporary navies have evolved to meet today's challenges it is unrivalled, and will prove invaluable to defence professionals and interested enthusiasts alike."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.353(100)

Exploration of the South Seas in the eighteenth century : rediscovered accounts /Sandhya Patel. "The first volume makes available Samuel Wallis' logs of the Dolphin's voyage 1766-68 in their original form for the first time. Captain Samuel Wallis was the first Englishman to come across the Tuamotus and the Society Isles in the South Pacific, specifically Tahiti. His writings predate the available textual sources by Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, the log of the Spanish voyages and James Cook - whose text Wallis' prefigures. The three logs attest to the very first encounter between Europeans and Tahitians, but until now comparatively little research has been conducted on the more elaborate second volume and none on the first. The Polynesian archipelagos grew into objects of discourse over the years and Wallis' logs may very well be located at the heart of these evocative constructs. The translated accounts of voyages undertaken by foreign vessels abounded in an era when they encouraged not only competitive geopolitical initiatives but also commercial enterprises throughout Europe, resulting in a voluminous textual corpus. However, French merchant-seaman Etienne Marchand's journal of his voyage round the world in 1790-1792, encompassing an important visit to the Marquesas Archipelago during his first crossing of the Pacific, remained unpublished until 2005 and has only now been made available in English. The second volume of this series comprises an annotated translation in English of this document."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 2 copies available. 910.4(100)

Illustrated history of the port of Goole and its railways / Mike G. Fell OBE. "This work follows a similar style to that adopted for the authors previous book An Illustrated History of THE PORT OF KING?S LYNN AND ITS RAILWAYS published by Irwell Press in 2012. As such it is not intended to be a definitive history of the Port of Goole but, like its predecessor, an informative and graphic portrayal of the port from its inception to the present day including its railway connections, past and present. The author enjoyed the privilege of being responsible for both ports. Insofar as Goole is concerned, he was Assistant Docks Manager there from March 1983 until June 1984 and had overall responsibility for the port, along with the much larger Port of Hull, from 1998 until his retirement on 31 March 2003. The following year, he was appointed as non-executive chairman of RMS Europe Group Limited, a stevedoring company operating the Boothferry Terminal in Goole and the owner of two wharves on the River Trent at Flixborough and Gunness. he held that position until July 2007 when, following a successful management buyout, he finally said goodbye to the port transport industry as a means of employment after a career spanning 37 years. However, its fascination remains undiminished especially as its importance, rather amazingly, remains largely unrecognized notwithstanding the fact that some 95% of UK trade is handled through seaports. This amounts to an astonishing total of 560 million tonnes of cargo annually all of which arrives and departs from the ports around our coastline. The ports on the Rivers Humber, Ouse and Trent play an increasingly major part in the UK economy, greater than any other group of ports around a single estuary. The Port of Goole, some 50 miles from the open sea, continues to have an important role to play."--Provided by the publisher 2016 • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 627.2(427.4)

Britannia's Navy : on the West Coast of North America, 1812-1914 /Barry Gough ; foreword by Admiral (ret'd) John Anderson. "The influence of the Royal Navy on the development of British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest was both effective and extensive. Yet all too frequently, its impact has been ignored by historians, who instead focus on the influence of explorers, fur traders, settlers, and railway builders. In this thoroughly revised and expanded edition of his classic 1972 work, naval historian Barry Gough examines the contest for the Columbia country during the War of 1812, the 1844 British response to President Polk's manifest destiny and cries of "Fifty-four forty or fight," the gold-rush invasion of 30,000 outsiders, and the jurisdictional dispute in the San Juan Islands that spawned the Pig War. The author looks at the Esquimalt-based fleet in the decade before British Columbia joined Canada and the Navy's relationship with coastal First Nations over the five decades that preceded the Great War."-- [2016] • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.353(42+7)"1812/1914"

Seaforth world naval review 2017 / editor, Conrad Waters. "This annual has an established reputation as an authoritative but affordable summary of all that has happened in the naval world in the previous twelve months. It combines regional surveys with one-off major articles on noteworthy new ships and other important developments. Besides the latest warship projects, it also looks at wider issues of importance to navies, such as aviation and electronics, and calls on expertise from around the globe to give a balanced picture of what is going on and to interpret its significance. Features of this edition include an in-depth analysis of the Royal Netherlands Navy, while Significant Ships will cover the USN's radical new Zumwalt class destroyers, the Republic of Korea's amphibious assault ship Dokdo, and the JMSDF's Akizuki class destroyers, among others. There are also technological reviews dealing with naval aviation by David Hobbs (with a focus on the present state of the RN's Fleet Air Arm), while Norman Friedman surveys naval surface-to-surface missiles. The World Naval Review is intended to make interesting reading as well as providing authoritative reference, so there is a strong visual emphasis, including specially commissioned drawings and the most up-to-date photographs and artists' impressions. For anyone with an interest in contemporary naval affairs, whether an enthusiast or a defence professional, this annual has become required reading."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.353

British naval trawlers and drifters in two world wars : from the John Lambert collection /edited and introduced by Steve R. Dunn. "John Lambert was a renowned naval draughtsman, whose plans were highly valued for their accuracy and detail by modelmakers and enthusiasts. By the time of his death in 2016 he had produced over 850 sheets of drawings, many of which have never been published. These were acquired by Seaforth and this title is the fourth of a planned series of albums on selected themes, reproducing complete sheets at a large page size, with expert commentary and captioning. Trawlers and drifters served in both world wars in their thousands; and, in their tens of thousands, so did their fishermen crews. Indeed, these humble craft were the most numerous vessel type used by the Royal Navy in both wars, and were the answer to the strategic or tactical conundrums posed by new technology of mines and submarines. In his accompanying text, Steve Dunn examines the ships themselves, their design, construction, arming, operations and development; and he also relates how the trawlermen and skippers, from the age-old fishing ports of Grimsby, Hull, Lowestoft ad Great Yarmouth, Aberdeen and Fleetwood, came to be part of the Royal Navy, and describes the roles they played, the conditions they served under and the bravery they showed. The book takes some 30 large sheets of drawings which John Lambert completed of these vessels and divides into two sections. The first part tells how the fishing fleet came to be an integral part of the Royal Navy's pre-1914 plans and details some of the activities and actions of trawlers and drifters at war in 1914-18. And the second investigates the armed fishing fleet in the struggle of 1939-45. These wonderfully detailed drawings, which are backed by a selection of photographs and a detailed complementary text, offer a superb technical archive for enthusiasts and ship modellers, but the book also tells a fascinating story of the extraordinary contribution the vessels and their crews made to the defeat of Germany in two world wars."--Provided by the publisher. 2021. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 359.83

Enigma : the untold story of the secret capture /David Balme. "David Balme will be forever known as the 20-year-old hero who, on 9 May 1941, boarded a German U-boat in mid-Atlantic, and captured one of the greatest secrets of the Second World War. This capture - or 'pinch' as it was known within secret, inner circles - changed the course of the Battle of the Atlantic and shortened the war itself. Balme was part of a team comprising officers and men of the Third Escort Group ably led by Commander Joe Baker Cresswell, also commander of HMS Bulldog, who shared the danger with other unsung heroes such as Lieutenant Commander George Dodds. Balme was tasked with taking the Bulldog's whaler and a small party to board the U-boat U-110 which had been disabled. However he was alone when initially boarding, entering and searching the U-boat. This put him in a vulnerable position while descending into the vessel - he risked being shot by any German submariner that may have remained or blown-up by a booby-trap device. Furthermore he could have drowned when Bulldog disappeared into the mists of the Atlantic to hunt another U-boat, as U-110 could have plummeted into the depths at any time. However, where others tried and failed or tragically lost their lives, Balme and his boarding party succeeded magnificently in capturing an entire Enigma machine, the essential rotors and months worth of associated cipher material. This was an absolute gift to the code breakers at Bletchley Park who were able to read all the secret German naval signal traffic for some months and it enabled them to read virtually the whole of the traffic for the rest of the war and with little delay. The capture was kept so secret that few even on the British side knew about it - not even the Americans were told what had been achieved after they entered the war. Balme returned from the war and never spoke about the secret capture which he believed would be hidden forever. The story of the capture and ransack of U-110 is told for the first time in the words and letters of David Balme, his captain Joe Baker Cresswell, George Dodds and others who took part in the most important submarine capture of the whole war. Besides the capture of U-110, Balme enjoyed an astonishing variety of wartime experience including the Spanish Civil War, the Palestine Patrol, the sinking of HMS Courageous, the Battle of Convoy KJF3, the fight with the heavy cruiser Hipper, the Battle of Cape Spartivento, the Battle of Convoy OB318, being sunk during Operation Harpoon, the air war in the Western Desert, the high level diplomacy of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and pioneering work as a Fighter Direction Officer in the war against Japan."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.548.6(42)

Endeavouring Banks : exploring the collections from the Endeavour Voyage 1768-1771 /edited by Neil Chambers ; contributions by John Gascoigne, Philip J. Hatfield, Andrew Cook and Anna Agnarsdâottir ; with a foreword by Sir David Attenborough. When English naturalist Joseph Banks (1743-1820) accompanied Captain James Cook (1728-1779) on his historic mission into the Pacific, the Endeavour voyage of 1768-1771, he took with him a team of collectors and illustrators. They returned with unprecedented collections of artefacts and specimens of stunning birds, fish and other animals as well as thousands of plants, most seen for the first time in Europe. They produced, too, remarkable landscape and figure drawings of the peoples encountered on the voyage along with detailed journals and descriptions of the places visited, which, with the first detailed maps of these lands (Tahiti, New Zealand and the East Coast of Australia), were afterwards used to create lavishly illustrated accounts of the mission. These caused a storm of interest in Europe, where plays, poems and satirical caricatures were also produced to celebrate and examine the voyage, its personnel and many 'new' discoveries. Along with specimens and artefacts, contemporary portraits of key personalities aboard the ship, scale models and plans of Endeavour itself, scientific instruments taken on the voyage, commemorative medals and sketches, the objects (over 140) featured in this new book tell the story of the Endeavour voyage and its impact ahead of the 250th anniversary in 2018 of the launch of this seminal mission. Items separated in some cases for more than two centuries are brought together to reveal their fascinating history not only during but since that mission. Original voyage specimens will feature together with illustrations and descriptions of them, showing a rich diversity of newly discovered species and how Banks organized this material, planning but ultimately failing to publish it. Drawings of people and places visited during the mission are reproduced. And by comparing these voyage originals with the often stylized engravings later produced in London for the official account, this book investigates how knowledge gained on the mission was gathered, later revised and then printed in Europe. The book focuses on the contribution of Banks's often neglected artists - Sydney Parkinson, Herman Diedrich Spèoring, Alexander Buchan as well as the priest Tupaia, who joined Endeavour in the Society Islands - none of whom survived the mission. These men illustrated island scenes of bays, dwellings, canoes as well as the dress, faces, possessions and ceremonies of Pacific peoples. Of particular interest, and only recently recognised as by him, are the original artworks of Tupaia, who produced as part of this mission the first charts and illustrations on paper by any Polynesian. The surviving Endeavour voyage illustrations and maps were the most important body of images produced since Europeans entered this region, matching the truly historic value of the plant specimens and artefacts seen alongside them in this handsome book. 2016. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 069.5:910.4(93/96)"1768/1771"

The struggle for the South Atlantic : the Armada of the Strait, 1581-84 /edited by Carla Rahn Philips. "This book contains the annotated translation of an account of Spain's Armada of the Strait, which traveled to Brazil and the Strait of Magellan under Don Diego Flores de Valdâes in 1581-84. Pedro de Rada, the official scribe of the armada, kept a detailed, neutral chronicle of the venture which remained in private hands until 1999 but is now held in the Henry E. Huntington Library in San Marino, California. It is published here for the first time. The voyage came at a crucial juncture in global politics, when Philip II of Spain had claimed the throne of Portugal and its empire, and Francis Drake's daring peacetime raids had challenged the dominance of Spain and Portugal in the Americas."--Provided by publisher. [2016] • BOOK • 1 copy available. 061.22HAKLUYT

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