Library Results | Royal Museums Greenwich

British piers and pier railways / Anthony Poulton-Smith. "The British have always had a special affinity for their coastal resorts and piers are the epitome of the British seaside. This book takes the reader on a clockwise tour of our islands, stopping at every pier and walking through their histories. Yet this is not just a tour of the pier, for it is not the pier that makes the history, but the people who work and walk along it. Within these pages the reader will meet a prizefighter who achieved fame in a very different sport; learn of several 'professors' whose talents were solely being able to leap from the pier; discover why man would ever want to fly from a pier; meet the former Beatle who worked for a pier company; read about the ferries and steamers that carried visitors; the fires which are an ever-present danger; the men who designed and built the piers along with the entertainers, characters, enthusiasts and entrepreneurs who made the piers. Fascinating information is included on how piers became longer or shorter, which piers served as part of the Royal Navy during two World Wars, and the tremendous amount of work and effort it takes to keep the piers open to the public today. Several piers have embedded rails, with some still being used by trains or trams. These pier railways are described in detail: the engineering, the designs and the changes over the years. While electricity is the sole motive power today, these had once been either steam-driven, pulled by horses, moved by hand or even, in one example, wind-powered by a sail! With over one hundred photographs, both old and new, this is a tour of the coast of the mainland and two islands. Piers which sadly have not survived are included as well as those which never got off the ground (or the shoreline). It reveals why they were built, how they were repurposed over the years, and their role in the future. Join the tour and recall the sea air, candy floss, the music, the sounds of a holiday, that day trip, an encounter, a rendezvous or special memory"--Provided by the publisher. 2021. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 627.31

Diary of a wartime naval constructor / edited by Ian Buxton. "One of the most significant warship designers of the twentieth century, Sir Stanley Goodall rose through the ranks of the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors to become its head in 1936. The Corps was responsible for every aspect of the design and construction of British warships, and its head, the Director of Naval Construction, was the principal technical advisor to the Board of Admiralty. Although Goodall was succeeded in this post in January 1944, he remained the Assistant Controller Warship Production until October 1945 so was probably the single most influential figure in British naval technical matters during the war years. His private diary was never intended for publication - indeed it seems to have been a vehicle for venting some of his professional frustrations - so his opinions are candid and unrestrained. His criticisms of many in the Admiralty and the shipyards are enlightening, and taken as a whole the diary provides new and unique insights into a wartime construction programme that built nearly a thousand major warships and a myriad of landing craft and coastal forces. Dr Ian Buxton, a well-known authority on British shipbuilding, has edited the entries covering Goodall's war years, identifying the various personalities and ships referred to (sometimes cryptically), while setting out the wider context in an introductory essay. As an insider's view of a complex process, this book offers every warship enthusiast much new material and a novel perspective on an apparently familiar subject."--Provided by the publisher. 2022. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 359.34

Edward William Cooke, 1811-1880 : a man of his time /John Munday. A biographical study of Edward William Cooke (1811-1880), a landscape and marine artist and botanical illustrator. Largely based on Cooke's diaries and notebooks, this study also highlights Cooke's other interests including antiquities and collecting, geology, gardening and garden design. The work is supported by over 500 plates illustrating Cooke's paintings, engravings and sketches with many in colour. Much of his work depicted English coastal shipping and scenes, including Greenwich, but his work also reflects his travels in France, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Morocco, Egypt and Italy when he visited Venice at the same time as John and Effie Ruskin. Appendices include extracts from his diaries covering the period 1828-1879, a catalogue of his paintings in oils, a record of his watercolours, his travel itinerary covering the years 1824-1879 and accounts for 1849. The work is supported by a detailed bibliography and index. 1996. • FOLIO • 4 copies available. 7Cooke

Lords of the sea : a history of the Barbary corsairs /Alan G. Jamieson. "Escalating piracy in the seas off Somalia has led commentators to designate the region the 'new Barbary'. But the seizures and killings made to date by Somali pirates cannot compare with the three centuries of terror unleashed on Europeans by corsairs in the Mediterranean and beyond. From 1500 to 1800, murderous Muslim pirates from North Africa's Barbary coast seized and enslaved more than a million Christians. Lords of the Sea gives us the full history of these pirates, first examining their dramatic impact as the violent seaborne vanguard of an expanding Ottoman empire in the early 1500s through to their break from Ottoman authority a century later. Alan Jamieson explores how the corsairs of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli and other fortified coastal ports rose to the apogee of their powers, extending their activities from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic, raiding as far as the British Isles and Iceland. Rescuing captive Christians touched everyone in a Western state, from ambassadors obliged to negotiate to rural communities directed by Sunday sermons to contribute to the fund required to buy back their enslaved countrymen and women. While corsair activities declined in the 18th century, it was only a series of naval wars prosecuted into the early years of the 19th by various European states as well as a determined USA that finally ended the menace, culminating in the French conquest of Algiers in 1830. A welcome addition to nautical military history, Lords of the Sea is an engrossing tale of piracy, enslavement and the rise of the great powers."--Provided by the publisher 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 341.362.1"14/18"

Empire, technology and seapower : Royal Navy crisis in the age of Palmerston /Howard J. Fuller. "This book examines British naval diplomacy from the end of the Crimean War to the American Civil War, showing how the mid-Victorian Royal Navy suffered serious challenges during the period. Many recent works have attempted to depict the mid-Victorian Royal Navy as all-powerful, innovative, and even self-assured. In contrast, this work argues that it suffered serious challenges in the form of expanding imperial commitments, national security concerns, precarious diplomatic relations with European Powers and the United States, and technological advancements associated with the armoured warship at the height of the so-called "Pax Britannica". Utilising a wealth of international archival sources, this volume explores the introduction of the monitor form of ironclad during the American Civil War, which deliberately forfeited long-range power-projection for local, coastal command of the sea. It looks at the ways in which the Royal Navy responded to this new technology and uses a wealth of international primary and secondary sources to ascertain how decision-making at Whitehall affected that at Westminster. The result is a better-balanced understanding of Palmerstonian diplomacy from the end of the Crimean War to the American Civil War, the early evolution of the modern capital ship (including the catastrophic loss of the experimental sail-and-turret ironclad H.M.S. Captain), naval power-projection, and the nature of "empire", "technology", and "seapower".This book will be of great interest to all students of the Royal Navy, and of maritime and strategic studies in general. "-- 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.49"18"(42)

Captain James Carlin : Anglo-American blockade-runner /Colin Carlin. "Captain James Carlin is a biography of a shadowy nineteenth-century British Confederate, James Carlin (1833-1921), who was among the most successful captains running the U.S. Navy's blockade of Southern ports during the Civil War. Written by his descendent Colin Carlin, Captain James Carlin ventures behind the scenes of this perilous trade that transported vital supplies to the Confederate forces. An Englishman trained in the British merchant marine, Carlin was recruited into the U.S. Coastal and Geodetic Survey Department in 1856, spending four years charting the U.S. Atlantic seaboard. Married and settled in Charleston, South Carolina, he resigned from the survey in 1860 to resume his maritime career. His blockade-running started with early runs into Charleston under sail. These came to a lively conclusion under gunfire off the Stono River mouth. More blockade-running followed until his capture on the SS Memphis. Documents in London reveal the politics of securing Carlin's release from Fort Lafayette. On Carlin's return to Charleston, General P. G. T. Beauregard gave him command of the spar torpedo launch Torch for an attack on the USS New Ironsides. After more successful trips though the blockade, he was appointed superintending captain of the South Carolina Importing and Exporting Company and moved to Scotland to commission six new steam runners. After the war Carlin returned to the Southern states to secure his assets before embarking on a gun-running expedition to the northern coast of Cuba for the Cuban Liberation Junta fighting to free the island from Spanish control and plantation slavery."--Provided by the publisher. 2017 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92CARLIN

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"

China as a sea power, 1127-1368 : a preliminary survey of the maritime expansion and naval exploits of the Chinese people during the Southern Song and Yuan periods /Lo Jung-pang ; edited, and with commentary, by Bruce A. Elleman. "Lo Jung-pang argues that during each of the three periods when imperial China embarked on maritime enterprises (the Qin and Han dynasties, the Sui and early Tang dynasties, and Song, Yuan, and early Ming dynasties), coastal states took the initiative at a time when China was divided, maritime trade and exploration subsequently peaked when China was strong and unified, and declined as Chinese power weakened. At such times, China's people became absorbed by internal affairs, and state policy focused on threats from the north and the west. These cycles of maritime activity, each lasting roughly five hundred years, corresponded with cycles of cohesion and division, strength and weakness, prosperity and impoverishment, expansion and contraction. In the early 21st century, a strong and outward looking China is again building up its navy and seeking maritime dominance, with important implications for trade, diplomacy and naval affairs. Events will not necessarily follow the same course as in the past, but Lo Jung-pang's analysis suggests useful questions for the study of events as they unfold and decades to come."--Provided by the publisher. 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 359.00951

Early ships and seafaring. Sean McGrail. "In this volume Professor Sean McGrail introduces the reader to a relatively new branch of Archaeology - the study of water transport - how early rafts, boats and ships were built and used. Concepts, such as boatbuilding traditions, ship stability and navigation without instruments, are first described. Archaeological research is then discussed, including sea levels in earlier times, how to distinguish the vestigial remains of a cargo vessel from those of a fighting craft; and the difference between a boat and a ship. Chapters 2 and 3, the heart of the text, deal with the early water transport of the Mediterranean and Atlantic Europe, from the Stone Age to Medieval times. Each chapter includes a description of the region's maritime geography and an exposition of its boat-building traditions. The third element is a discussion of the propulsion, the steering and the navigation of these early vessels. The sparse, often jumbled, remains of excavated vessels have to be interpreted, a process that is assisted by consideration of early descriptions and illustrations. Studies of the way traditional builders of wooden boats ply their trade today are also a great help. Experimental boat archaeology is still at an early stage but, when undertaken rigorously, it can reveal aspects of the vessel's capabilities. Such information is used in this volume to further our understanding of data from boat and ship excavations, and to present as coherent, comprehensive and accurate a picture as is now possible, of early European boatbuilding and use."--Provided by the publisher. 2015. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 629.123.11

The British Civil Wars at sea, 1638-1653 / Richard J. Blakemore and Elaine Murphy. "The civil wars in England, Scotland and Ireland in the period 1638-1653 are usually viewed from the perspective of land warfare. This book, on the other hand, presents a comprehensive overview of the wars from a maritime perspective. It considers the structure, organisation and manning of the parliamentarian, royalist, and Irish confederate navies, discussing how these changed over the course of the wars. It also traces the development of the wars at sea, showing that the initial opting for parliament by seamen and officers in 1642 was a crucial development, as was the mutiny and defection of part of the parliamentarian navy in 1648. Moving beyond this it examines the nature of maritime warfare, including coastal sieges, the securing of major ports for parliament, the attempts by royalists to ship arms and other supplies from continental Europe, commerce raiding, and the transportation of armies and their supporters in the invasions of Scotland and Ireland. Overall the book demonstrates that the war at sea was an integral and important part of these dramatic conflicts."--Provided by the publisher. 2018. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.49"1638/1653"(42)

The French fleet : ships, strategy and operations, 1870-1918 /Ruggero Stanglini and Michele Cosentino. "At the end of the 1870-1 Franco-Prussian war, the French Navy began to reconstruct its fleet, but the process was slow and erratic principally because priority was initially given to the army. Nevertheless, French naval yards and private shipyards were tasked with building a fleet of ironclads, cruisers and minor vessels which led France to become the second European naval power, at least quantitatively. The rise of the 'Jeune áEcole' (Young School) strategic naval concept in the early 1880s then changed shipbuilding priorities, and emphasis was given to coastal torpedo boats and cruisers. As a consequence, the French Navy implemented the dreadnought concept later than Great Britain and Germany. The 1904 Entente Cordiale contributed to yet further radical changes to foreign, naval and shipbuilding policies, so that at the outbreak of World War One the French fleet comprised a limited number of dreadnoughts, many obsolete armoured cruisers, an impressive array of torpedo boats and a fleet of submarines whose efficiency was questionable. The book provides a complete overview of the French Navy during this long era, and the complex French foreign and naval policy, shipyards and industrial organisation, technology and operations are all described in the first part of the volume, while the second and larger part is focused on the different categories of warships, including their qualitative and quantitative evolution during the period of 1871?1918 and their employment during the Great War. A chapter is also dedicated to naval aviation. Superbly illustrated with rare and carefully selected photographs, this major new volume paints a clear and detailed overview of the French navy during this era and is destined to become a classic reference work for this period."--Provided by the publisher. 2022. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 359.00944

Royal Navy torpedo vessels, 1870-1914 / Les Brown. "The self-propelled or locomotive torpedo was probably the greatest game-changer in the history of naval warfare. For the first time the largest warship could be sunk by a weapon carried by the smallest, and most navies were quick to see the potential. Although the 19th-century Royal Navy had a reputation for technological conservatism, it was an 'early adopter' of the torpedo and was instrumental in the development of the small fast craft that became the delivery system of choice, the steam torpedo boat. Britain's most important contribution to torpedo warfare, however, was the invention of its antidote, the torpedo boat destroyer, or 'destroyer' as it came to be called. This often-told story has overshadowed the earlier but no less significant history of the torpedo boat itself in the Royal Navy, an injustice set to right by this new book. Torpedoes were derived from earlier underwater explosive devices - mines, spar and towed torpedoes, and the like - so the first chapter briefly reviews their history before moving on to Robert Whitehead's revolutionary invention that made the self-propelled torpedo a practical weapon. The Admiralty was so impressed it purchased the rights to Whitehead's device, and thereafter the Royal Navy made much of the early running in torpedo boat design. In this they were greatly assisted by existing boatbuilders like Thornycroft and Yarrow who already specialised in small fast craft. The core of this book is a detailed developmental history of British torpedo craft, from the early experiments like Vesuvius and Polyphemus, through the 1st Class TBs to the so-called Coastal Destroyers of the early 20th century. There are also separate chapters on 2nd Class boats, on Torpedo Gunboats and on the 'Torpedo Depot Ships' Hecla and Vulcan. The book concludes with a number of appendices devoted to background issues like quick-firing guns and reports on performance of the boats in various circumstances."--Provided by the publisher. 2023. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 623.82580941

The naval war in the Baltic 1939-1945 / Poul Grooss. "From the shelling of the fort at Westerplatte, on the Polish coast, on 1 September 1939, to the loss of thousands of German refugees at sea in May 1945, the Baltic witnessed continuous and ferocious fighting throughout the Second World War. In this new book, the author chronicles the naval warfare and merges such major events as the Siege of Leningrad, the Soviet campaign against Sweden in 1942, the three wars in Finland 1939-44, the Soviet liberation of the Baltic states, the German evacuation of two million people from the East, and the Soviet race westwards in 1945. There are also included fascinating insights into, until now, poorly understood topics such as Swedish co-operation with Germany, the use of the Baltic by the Germans to train U-boats crews for the Battle of the Atlantic, the secret weapons trials in the remote area of Peenemunde, and the RAF mining campaign that did much to reduce the threat of new and revolutionary German submarine technology. Furthermore, the author explains how messages from Bletchley Park were the basis for the RAF attacks on German coastal regions. The political and military backgrounds of the war in this theatre are explained while the details of ships, radar, artillery, mines and aircraft are all covered. This is a superbly researched work which shows how the naval war in the Baltic shaped the Second World War in ways that have not been fully understood. It is a major contribution to the naval history of this era."--Provided by the publisher. 2017 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.545(261.3)

Hitler's attack U-boats : the Kriegsmarine's submarine strike force /Jak P. Mallmann Showell. "The success of German submarines during the First World War in almost cutting off Britain's vital imports had not been forgotten by Adolf Hitler and when, in March 1935, he repudiated the Treaty of Versailles, Britain, magnanimously, signed up to an Anglo-German Naval Agreement. This allowed the Germans to build their submarine strength up to one third of the British Royal Navy's tonnage. When war broke out in 1939, German U-boats went quickly into action, but with only four years of production and development, the main armament of these submarines was considerably weaker than equivalent boats in other navies and many of the other main features, such as living and the fighting conditions, were also significantly inferior. Nevertheless, the German U-boat onslaught against British merchant ships during the autumn of 1940 was highly successful because the attacks were made on the surface at night and from such close range that a single torpedo would sink a ship. Soon, though, Allied technology was able to detect U-boats at night, and new convoy techniques, combined with powerfully-armed, fast modern aircraft searching the seas, meant that by 1941 it was clear that Germany was losing the war at sea. Something had to be done. The new generation of attack U-boats that had been introduced since Hitler came to power needed urgent improvement. This is the story of the Types II, VII and IX that had already become the workhorse' of the Kriegsmarine's submarine fleet and continued to put out to sea to attack Allied shipping right up to the end of the war. The Type II was a small coastal boat that struggled to reach the Atlantic; the Type VII was perfectly at home there, but lacked the technology to tackle well protected convoys; whilst the Type IX was a long-range variety that was modified so that it could operate in the Indian Ocean. In this latest book by the renowned Kriegsmarine historian Jak Mallmann Showell, these attack U-boats are explored at length. This includes details of their armament, capabilities, crew facilities, and just what is was like to operate such a vessel, and of course the story of their development and operational history."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.5451

British naval weapons of World War Two : the John Lambert collection /edited and introduced by Norman Friedman. "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 have now been acquired by Seaforth and this is the first of a planned series of albums on selected themes, reproducing complete sheets at a large page size, with an expert commentary and captioning. The initial volumes will concentrate on British naval weaponry used in the Second World War, thus completing the project John Lambert was working on when he died. His interest was always focused on smaller warships and his weapons drawings tend to be of open mountings - the kind that present a real challenge to modelmakers - rather than enclosed turret guns, but he also produced drawings of torpedo tubes, underwater weapons, fire-control directors and even some specific armament-related deck fittings. This volume covers all such weapons carried by British destroyers of this era, with additional appendices devoted to earlier guns still in service, and destroyer-calibre weapons only mounted in larger ships. The drawings are backed by introductory essays by Norman Friedman, an acknowledged authority on naval ordnance, while a selection of photographs add to the value of the book as visual reference. Over time, the series will be expanded to make this unique technical archive available in published form, a move certain to be welcomed by warship modellers, enthusiasts and the many fans of John Lambert's work."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • FOLIO • 3 copies available. 623.4(42)"1939/1945"

Total undersea war : the evolutionary role of the Snorkel in Dèonitz's U-boat fleet, 1944-1945 /Aaron S. Hamilton. "During the last year of World War II the once surface-bound diesel-electric U-boat ushered in the age of 'total undersea war' with the introduction of an air mast, or 'snorkel' as it became known among the men who served in Dèonitz's submarine fleet. U-boats no longer needed to surface to charge batteries or refresh air; they rarely communicated with their command, operating silently and alone among the shallow coastal waters of the United Kingdom and across to North America. At first, U-boats could remain submerged continuously for a few days, then a few weeks, and finally for months at a time, and they set underwater endurance records not broken for nearly a quarter of a century. The introduction of the snorkel was of paramount concern to the Allies, who strived to frustrate the impact of the device before war's end. Every subsequent wartime U-boat innovation was subordinated to the snorkel, including the new Type XXI Electro-boat 'wonder weapon'. The snorkel's introduction foreshadowed the nearly un-trackable weapon and instrument of intelligence that the submarine became in the postwar world. This exhaustive study, the first of its kind, draws upon wartime documents from archives around the world to re-evaluate the last year of the U-boat's deployment, all its key technological innovations, the evolving operations and tactics, and Allied countermeasures. It provides answers to many long-standing questions about the last year of the war: How and why did U-boats patrol so close inshore? How effective was acoustic and anti-radar camouflage? Why was U-boat wireless communication so problematic? How did U-boats navigate so effectively submerged? What were the health implications of staying submerged for a month or more? What does an accurate snorkel-configuration look like? This new study is destined to become the authoritative reference for all these issues and many more."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.5451

A world at sea : maritime practices and global history /edited by Lauren Benton and Nathan Perl-Rosenthal. "The past twenty-five years have brought a dramatic expansion of scholarship in maritime history, including new research on piracy, long-distance trade, and seafaring cultures. Yet maritime history still inhabits an isolated corner of world history, according to editors Lauren Benton and Nathan Perl-Rosenthal. Benton and Perl-Rosenthal urge historians to place the relationship between maritime and terrestrial processes at the center of the field and to analyze the links between global maritime practices and major transformations in world history. A World at Sea consists of nine original essays that sharpen and expand our understanding of practices and processes across the land-sea divide and the way they influenced global change. The first section highlights the regulatory order of the seas as shaped by strategies of land-based polities and their agents and by conflicts at sea. The second section studies documentary practices that aggregated and conveyed information about sea voyages and ecnounters, and it traces the wide-ranging impact of the explosion of new inforamtion about the maitime world. Probing the political symbolism of the land-sea divide as a threshold of power, the last section features essays that examine the relationship between littoral geographies and socieolegal practices spanning land and sea. Maritime history, the contributors show, matters because the oceans were key sites of experimentation, innovation, and disruption that reflected and sparked wide-ranging global change."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 551.46

Torpedoes, tea, and medals : the gallant life of Commander D.G.H. 'Jake' Wright DSC** Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve /by Captain Chris O'Flaherty, Royal Navy ; foreword by Vice Admiral Jerry Kyd CBE. "Derek Wright learnt about small boats from his father, who tragically died when Derek was just 14 years old. Sent away from his family to finish his education, he left school at 16 to join the global tea trade. Soon after he finished his training with Brooke Bond, famous for their 'Dividend' tea, Hitler invaded Poland and Britain was at war. By then known to his friends as 'Jake', he was one of the first Volunteer Reserves to be called up to fight for his country. Plucked from his naval training in HMS King Alfred, his warfighting initiation was on the beach at Dunkirk, helping evacuate stragglers after Operation DYNAMO. He then volunteered for Motor Torpedo Boats, where he served with valour and distinction. Whilst Hitler's U-Boats were torpedoing shipments of tea bound for Great Britain, Jake Wright reciprocated by torpedoing Axis coastal shipping off Europe. His first Command was MTB 331, trained for a daredevil mission to puncture German boom defences protecting their battleships. In his next Command, MTB 32, he was wounded in action whilst torpedoing a German convoy, but kept his small ship fighting against the odds to win the action and sink his enemy; for his bravery he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Further acts of gallantry in action, combined with tactical innovation, saw him earn two bars to his DSC as well as a Mention in Despatches; he became one of only 44 officers in the Second World War to receive a DSC with two Bars. After demobilisation he returned to the tea trade, rising to become one of Brooke Bond's senior directors supplying Britain's beloved beverage. He even helped refine how to make the perfect cup of tea. This is the life story of a determined, brave, innovative and decorated officer who has earned a place in the hearts of our nation. It is the story of Derek 'Jake' Wright, DSC**"--Provided by the publisher. 2022. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 359.0092

Materializing the middle passage : a historical archaeology of British slave shipping, 1680-1807 /Jane Webster. "An estimated 2.7 million Africans made an enforced crossing of the Atlantic on British slave ships between c.1680 and 1807 - a journey that has become known as the 'Middle Passage'. This book focuses on the slave ship itself. The slave ship is the largest artefact of the Transatlantic slave trade, but because so few examples of wrecked slaving vessels have been located at sea, it is rarely studied by archaeologists. Materializing the Middle Passage: A Historical Archaeology of British Slave Shipping,1680-1807 argues that there are other ways for archaeologists to materialize the slave ship. It employs a pioneering interdisciplinary methodology combining primary documentary sources, maritime and terrestrial archaeology, paintings, maritime and ethnographic museum collections, and many other sources to 'rebuild' British slaving vessels and to identify changes to them over time. The book then goes on to consider the reception of the slave ship and its trade goods in coastal West Africa, and details the range, and uses, of the many African resources (including ivory, gold, and live animals) entering Britain on returning slave ships. The third section of the book focuses on the Middle Passage experiences of both captives and crews and argues that greater attention needs to be paid to the coping mechanisms through which Africans survived, yet also challenged, their captive passage. Finally, Jane Webster asks why the African Middle Passage experience remains so elusive, even after decades of scholarship dedicated to uncovering it. She considers when, how, and why the crossing was remembered by 'saltwater' captives in the Caribbean and North America. The marriage of words and things attempted in this richly illustrated book is underpinned throughout by a theoretical perspective combining creolization and postcolonial theory, and by a central focus on the materiality of the slave ship and its regimes."--Provided by publisher. [2023] • BOOK • 1 copy available. 306.3/620941

The power of the sea : making waves in British art 1790-2014 /edited by Janette Kerr and Christiana Payne "Artists in Britain have long been fascinated by the sea, the spectacle of waves crashing on the shore, and the destructive power of the ocean. Since the early nineteenth century, the sea has been an important focus for painters relishing the challenge of working directly from nature, often in inhospitable conditions. Such work has gained a new urgency with current concerns about climate change and rising sea levels. Danger is a recurrent theme; Morland, Danby, Brett and Langley emphasized the human costs of shipwrecks, Turner concentrated on elemental fury, and Constable on the sea's breezy freshness. Late nineteenth century depictions seem more benign, a source of leisure and health. Moore, James, and Laurence sought ways to capture the movement of waves. Twentieth century artists Nash, Wadsworth and Feiler found reassurance in the simple geometry of sea walls and boats, while Lanyon, Piper and Eardley portrayed the coast as a place of swirling winds and shifting moods, emblematic of the artist's own subjective experience. Arguably artists working today and engaging with the sea have (inevitably) the contemporary concerns associated with environmental changes and challenges as either the focus or the backdrop to their practice. This universal and global experience resulting from climatic change manifests itself in the destructive force of the sea and the inundation of the land. Kurt Jackson takes this environmental agenda as the springboard for many of his works. Simon Read, Michael Porter, and Jethro Brice portray coastal erosion and rising sea levels, while Peter Matthews and Andrew Friend immerse work in the sea or create devices to disappear below its surface. History, myth and maritime tradition inhabit the works of Hugh O'Donoghue and Will Maclean. Monochromatic photographs and etchings by James Beale, Norman Ackroyd and Thomas Joshua Cooper capture its moods, beauty and movement. Maggi Hambling, recognised for her celebrated series of North Sea Paintings, has depicted the power and energy of the sea in both paint and bronze. Gail Harvey creates colourful waves, while Len Tabner, and Janette Kerr depict seas that foam and froth furiously."--Provided by the publisher. 2014. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 75.047(26:42)"1790/2014"

The British in India : a social history of the Raj /David Gilmour. Who of the British went to India, and why? We know about Kipling and Forster, Orwell and Scott, but what of the youthful forestry official, the enterprising boxwallah, the fervid missionary? What motivated them to travel halfway around the globe, what lives did they lead when they got there, and what did they think about it all? Full of spirited, illuminating anecdotes drawn from long-forgotten memoirs, correspondence, and government documents, The British in India weaves a rich tapestry of the everyday experiences of the Britons who found themselves in "the jewel in the crown" of the British Empire. David Gilmour captures the substance and texture of their work, home, and social lives, and illustrates how these transformed across the several centuries of British presence and rule in the subcontinent, from the East India Company's first trading station in 1615 to the twilight of the Raj and Partition and Independence in 1947. He takes us through remote hill stations, bustling coastal ports, opulent palaces, regimented cantonments, and dense jungles, revealing the country as seen through British eyes, and wittily reveling in all the particular concerns and contradictions that were a consequence of that limited perspective. The British in India is a breathtaking accomplishment, a vivid and balanced history written with brio, elegance, and erudition. 2018. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 954.03/5

Atlantic linchpin : the Azores in two world wars /Guy Warner. "On a map the Azores appear as nine tiny specks in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, but their location was to prove strategically vital in two world wars. The Atlantic became a crucial battleground twice within the space of 25 years, as the US 'arsenal of democracy' sent firstly stores, arms and equipment, followed by many thousands of troops to fight in Europe. In both desperate and closely fought struggles at sea, Germany sought to stem the flow and thereby win the war, by cutting this vital lifeline, using a new weapon - the ocean-going submarine. In the First World War the Azores became a mid-Atlantic refuelling location, a base for US and Portuguese naval vessels and - in a hugely innovative contribution to the anti-submarine war - for the patrol seaplanes and flying boats of the US Marine Corps. Portugal was neutral during the Second World War but when Winston Churchill invoked a treaty dating from 1373, permission was given in 1943 for an RAF Coastal Command base to be very rapidly established at Lagens. From there convoys could be protected and U-boats could be harried and sunk, so closing the notorious mid-Atlantic gap. Later, it also became an important staging post for US aircraft, as it had been in the previous conflict. The significance of the Azores has been overlooked in most military histories, but this extensively researched and copiously illustrated book from historian Guy Warner provides a detailed but balanced appraisal. The author has had access to archives and photographic collections in the UK, USA, Portugal and the Azores, consulting with local historians to produce a book that sheds much new light on a hitherto under-appreciated facet of twentieth-century history."--Provided by the publisher. 2021. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 946.9/9004

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

Enemy Waters : Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Norwegian Navy, U.S. Navy, and other Allied mine forces battling the Germans and Italians in World War II /Cdr. David D. Bruhn, USN (retired) and Lt. Cdr. Rob Hoole, RN (retired). "When Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, the Royal Navy was deficient in minelayers needed to try to hold enemy forces at bay and out of its home waters. Turning first to the Merchant Navy, it requisitioned a liner and two ferries for this use, and a dozen destroyers and submarines were also converted to carry mines. Later, six fast minelaying cruisers joined the force. When Italy entered the war on the Axis side in June 1940, the situation became dire. As U-boats continued to sink shipping in the North Sea and around the British Isles, the Italian Fleet and German and Italian Air Forces controlled the central Mediterranean. Royal Air Force Bomber and Coastal Command planes took up mining, as did old Swordfish biplanes of the Fleet Air Arm. Joining in the fight were units of exiled navies, including the Dutch minelayer Willem van der Zaan, Free French submarine Rubis, and the Norwegian 52nd Motor Launch Flotilla. U.S. Navy mine forces supported the invasion of French North Africa in late 1942, subsequent landings in Italy, and the invasions of Normandy and southern France. The Canadian 31st Minesweeping Flotilla was at Normandy, and joined in later operations. Enemy Waters puts readers in the heart of the action. One hundred and forty-five photographs, maps, and diagrams; appendices; and an index to full-names, places and subjects add value to this work."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 2 copies available. 940.5421 BRU

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