Library Results | Royal Museums Greenwich

Enslavement : past and present /Orlando Patterson. "Slavery is one of humanity's most ancient and persistent inequities. It predates the rise of civilization, played a key role in the growth of Western and Islamic cultures and was an integral part of the emergence and global spread of capitalism. Given its historical significance, it is not surprising that the problem of slavery is still passionately debated today and that modern-day trafficking and forced servitude remain key issues of public concern. In Enslavement, historical sociologist Orlando Patterson casts a wide net to examine the social, political, and economic complexities of slavery across different eras and societies. Patterson examines slavery at several levels of abstraction, from micro-level relations of domination to the macro-structures of entire societies. Building on the 'bundle of rights' perspective, he reevaluates the definition of slavery, exposing its variegated fabric of iniquities across tribal and advanced pre-modern societies as well as our modern globalized age. Patterson also examines the critical role of women in the history of slavery, the significance of manumission in the formation of Christian doctrine, and the devastating toll of genocide and undaunted revolt of slaves in Jamaican slave society. Concluding with an investigation of contemporary slavery and other forms of servitude, this book urges readers to reckon with the brutal legacies of the past and its alarming modern-day persistence. Enslavement deepens our understanding of the broad spectrum of evil and human bondage throughout history, an understanding that is essential for contemporary struggles to build a more inclusive society for all."--Provided by the publisher. 2025. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 306.36209

Empire of ice and stone : the disastrous and heroic voyage of the Karluk /Buddy Levy. "The true, harrowing story of the ill-fated 1913 Canadian Arctic Expedition and the two men who came to define it. In the summer of 1913, the wooden-hulled brigantine Karluk departed Canada for the Arctic Ocean. At the helm was Captain Bob Bartlett, considered the world's greatest living ice navigator. The expedition's visionary leader was a flamboyant impresario named Vilhjalmur Stefansson hungry for fame. Just six weeks after the Karluk departed, giant ice floes closed in around her. As the ship became icebound, Stefansson disembarked with five companions and struck out on what he claimed was a 10-day caribou hunting trip. Most on board would never see him again. Twenty-two men and an Inuit woman with two small daughters now stood on a mile-square ice floe, their ship and their original leader gone. Under Bartlett's leadership they built makeshift shelters, surviving the freezing darkness of Polar night. Captain Bartlett now made a difficult and courageous decision. He would take one of the young Inuit hunters and attempt a 1000-mile journey to save the shipwrecked survivors. It was their only hope. Set against the backdrop of the Titanic disaster and World War I, filled with heroism, tragedy, and scientific discovery, Buddy Levy's Empire of Ice and Stone tells the story of two men and two distinctively different brands of leadership: one selfless, one self-serving, and how they would forever be bound by one of the most audacious and disastrous expeditions in polar history, considered the last great voyage of The Heroic Age of Discovery."--Provided by publisher 2022. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 919.804

The Thames on fire : the battle of London River 1939-1945 /by L M Bates Bates, L. M. 1985 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 942.1.085

Battle in the Irish Sea : the life and death of HMS Manners The story of a sea battle in the Irish Sea on 26 January 1945 resulting in the loss of HMS Manners and the U-Boat which attacked her. HMS Manners was commissioned as a destroyer escort to protect North Atlantic convoys and was launched in Boston in 1943. Sailing from Falmouth to Liverpool in January 1945, the ship was subjected to torpedo attack by U-Boat 1051 under the command of Oberleutnant Heinrick von Holleben. Damaged beyond repair and having lost more than half of her crew, HMS Manners was de-commissioned and sold for scrapping while U-Boat 1051 herself was sunk the same day as a result of the hunt and attack by Aylmer, Calder, Bligh and Bentinck. Appendices list British and German casualties and those injured as a result of the battle, the voyages of HMS Manners, and provide a chronology of the principal events in the Irish Sea during November 1944 to May 1945. 1993 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.545

Beyond the horizon : memoirs /Jack Close. The memoirs of Jack Close, Beyond the Horizon is split into three parts: the first explores his life growing up in Kingston-Upon-Hull in the 1930s, the second his role in Operation Overlord in 1945, and the third - the eponymous Beyond The Horizon - follows his postwar travels at sea. Close qualified as a Wireless Operator and joined H M Rescue Tugs in 1943, taking part in D-Day by towing sections of the Mulberry Harbours to Normandy. In 1945, he was involved in Operation Deadlight, sinking surrendered German submarines. After the war, Close sailed on trawlers out of Hull and Grimsby. He then spent several years on tramp steamers and tankers all over the world, travelling to, among others, America, Morocco, Japan, and France. This book contains photographs of Close and his family, as well as the boats he worked on over the years. 2010. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 656.61.071.22:355.124"19"

The great reversal : Britain, China and the 400-year contest for power /Kerry Brown. "From the early days of the East India Company through the violence of the Opium Wars to present-day disputes over Hong Kong, Kerry Brown charts this turbulent and fascinating relationship. Brown shows how an understanding of Britain's long relationship with China - and more specifically, how the modern Eastern superpower views that shared history - is now more vital than ever."-- 2024 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 327.41051

The English Armada : the greatest naval disaster in English history /Luis Gorrochategui Santos ; translated by Peter J. Gold. "During the year between July 1588, when the Spanish Armada set sail from Spain and July 1589, when the survivors of the English counterpart of this fleet, the little-known English Armada, reached port in England, two of history's worst naval catastrophes took place. A great deal of attention has been dedicated to the former and precious little to the latter. This book presents a full-scale account of an event which has been neglected for more than four centuries. It reconstructs the military operations day by day for the first time, taking apart the established notion that, with the defeat of the Spanish Armada, England achieved maritime supremacy and the decay of Spain began. This book clearly and in a rigorously documented fashion shows how the defeat of the English Armada counterbalanced that of the Spanish, frustrating England's intention of seizing Philip II's American empire and changing the tide of the war."--Provided by the publisher 2018 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.49"1588/1589"(42:46)

The German fleet at war, 1939-1945 / Vincent P. O'Hara. "The German Fleet at War relates the little-known history of the Kriegsmarine's surface fleet with a focus on the sixty-nine surface naval battles fought by Germany's major warships against the large warships of the British, French, American, Polish, Soviet, Norwegian and Greek navies. It emphasizes operational details but also paints a broad overview of the naval war. The book addresses the lack of information about the specifics of naval engagements in World War II and provides a database of naval engagements for comparison and analysis, but unlike most reference works, it has a continuous narrative and a theme. The result is a unique overview of the German and Allied navies at war that provides new appreciation of their activities and accomplishments."--Publisher description. 2011. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.545.9(43)"1939/1945"

Blowing hot and cold : Thermotank and the story of air conditioning at sea "Air-conditioning is one of those universal modern conveniences whose origins are entirely unknown to the general public. Online sources credit the first commercial system to the American Willis Carrier in 1902 - but this is not true. The first workable machine was patented four years earlier by Alexander Stewart, a Scottish marine engineer, who called his invention the Thermotank. It offered a massive improvement in comfort for passengers and was rapidly adopted by the shipping industry, eventually equipping many of the greatest liners of their day like Lusitania and Mauretania. From these beginnings Alexander and his brothers William and Frederick Stewart built an immensely successful engineering firm with subsidiaries in America, Africa, Australia and Europe. Based on Clydeside, its fortunes were always closely linked to the shipbuilding industry, but with the slump at the end of the First World War the company was forced to look to other markets. At this point Alexander came up with a second world-beating invention, which he called the Punkah Louvre - the swivelling nozzle most familiar today as the source of ventilation in airliners. This made it easier to apply the Thermotank system to other forms of transport and even buildings, greatly expanding its sales potential. Still largely a family concern, the business remained innovative and competitive until the 1960s, when the decline in British shipbuilding and the beginnings of globalisation led to amalgamation, restructuring and eventually the demise of the Thermotank name. In the process, most of the company records were dispersed or lost so this book is a particularly valuable testimony to a great British - specifically, Scottish - success story. Although almost unknown today, Thermotank was a business that changed the world."--Provided by the publisher. 2024. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 623.853709411

The first wave : exploring early coastal contact history in Australia /edited by Gillian Dooley and Danielle Clode. "The European maritime explorers who first visited the bays and beaches of Australia brought with them diverse assumptions about the inhabitants of the country, most of them based on sketchy or non-existent knowledge, contemporary theories like the idea of the noble savage, and an automatic belief in the superiority of European civilisation. Mutual misunderstanding was almost universal, whether it resulted in violence or apparently friendly transactions. Written for a general audience, "The First Wave" brings together a variety of contributions from thought-provoking writers, including both original research and creative work. Our contributors explore the dynamics of these early encounters, from Indigenous cosmological perspectives and European history of ideas, from representations in art and literature to the role of animals, food and fire in mediating first contact encounters, and Indigenous agency in exploration and shipwrecks."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 994.01

Topsail & battleaxe : a voyage in the wake of the Vikings /Tom Cunliffe. Cunliffe, Tom, 1988. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.4(481:71)

The warship Mary Rose : the life and times of King Henry VIII's flagship /David Childs. "This book tells the full story of the construction and career of the ship, placing it firmly within the colourful context of Tudor politics, Court life and the developing administration of a permanent navy. However it also brings the story down to the present day, with chapters on the recovery and the new ideas and information thrown up by the massive programme of archaeological work since undertaken."--Dust jacket. 2007. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 623.82Mary Rose

The Routledge history of slavery / edited by Gad Heuman and Trevor Burnard. 2011. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 326

Museums and public value : creating sustainable futures /[edited] by Carol Scott. 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 069.6

Afloat : a memoir /Danie Couchman "Surrounded by an eclectic and itinerant community in the uncharted territory of the capital's urban wilderness, Danie becomes fully immersed in this hidden world. Each day onboard her boat Genesis is an adventure full of disaster and magic. Over five years of living off-grid, nomadic Danie learns to survive the many highs and lows of boat life alone, keeping herself, and her steel home, afloat. A captivating debut, Afloat is the story of a young woman's desire to escape an ever more isolated city existence and reconnect with nature, discovering what is important in life."--Provided by publisher 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 643.2092

Uproar! : scandal, satire and printmakers in Georgian London /Alice Loxton. "London, 1772: a young artist called Thomas Rowlandson is making his way through the grimy backstreets of the capital, on his way to begin his studies at the Royal Academy Schools. Within a few years, James Gillray and Isaac Cruikshank would join him in Piccadilly, turning satire into an artform, taking on the British establishment, and forever changing the way we view power. Set against a backdrop of royal madness, political intrigue, the birth of modern celebrity, French revolution, American independence and the Napoleonic Wars, UPROAR! follows the satirists as they lampoon those in power, from the Prince Regent to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Their prints and illustrations deconstruct the political and social landscape with surreal and razor-sharp wit, as the three men vie with each other to create the most iconic images of the day. Alice Loxton's writing fizzes with energy on every page, and never fails to convince us that Gillray and his gang profoundly altered British humour, setting the stage for everything from Gilbert and Sullivan to Private Eye and Spitting Image today. This is a book that will cause readers to reappraise everything they think they know about genteel Georgian London, and see it for what it was - a time of UPROAR!"--Publisher's description. 2023. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 942.107

The Bounty : the true story of the mutiny on the Bounty /Caroline Alexander. More than two centuries have passed since Master's Mate Fletcher Christian mutinied against Lieutenant Bligh on a small, armed transport vessel called Bounty. Why the details of this obscure adventure at the end of the world remain vivid and enthralling is as intriguing as the truth behind the legend. In giving the Bounty mutiny its historical due, Caroline Alexander has chosen to frame her narrative by focusing on the court-martial of the ten mutineers who were captured in Tahiti and brought to justice in England. This fresh perspective revivifies the entire saga, and the salty, colorful language of the captured men themselves conjures the events of that April morning in 1789, when Christian's breakdown impelled every man on a fateful course: Bligh and his loyalists on the historic open boat voyage that revealed him to be one of history's great navigators; Christian on his restless exile; and the captured mutineers toward their day in court. As the book unfolds, each figure emerges as a full-blown character caught up in a drama that may well end on the gallows. And as Alexander shows, it was in a desperate fight to escape hanging that one of the accused defendants deliberately spun the mutiny into the myth we know today-of the tyrannical Lieutenant Bligh of the Bounty. Ultimately, Alexander concludes that the Bounty mutiny was sparked by that most unpredictable, combustible, and human of situations-the chemistry between strong personalities living in close quarters. Her account of the voyage, the trial, and the surprising fates of Bligh, Christian, and the mutineers is an epic of ambition, passion, pride, and duty at the dawn of the Romantic era. 2003. • BOOK • 3 copies available. 355.133"1789"

Red Funnel 150 : celebrating one hundred and fifty years of the Southampton Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company Limited : the original Isle of Wight Ferries /by Keith Adams. An overview of the Red Funnel company from their beginnings as a paddle steamer ferry service in 1861, through to becoming a major provider of passenger and freight transportation between the south coast of England and the Isle of Wight. For over 150 years Red Funnel and its predecessors developed their services in line with the changing demands of travellers and business. They embraced the technological advancements of the day which enabled the early introduction of vehicle-carrying ferries and high-speed services. They also expanded into other areas of shipping, by acquiring companies such as Cosens & Co of Weymouth for their pleasure excursions, or merging with hauliers Vectis Transport. The first part of the book covers the company's history, with following chapters looking at all aspects of Red Funnel's business operations. These include the high-speed ferries Shearwater and Red Jet, River Medina crossings, Towage, and Red Funnel Distribution. There is also a compilation of the Red Funnel Fleet (from 1861) with a profile of each vessel, including dates when built, acquired, withdrawn or scrapped, builder's details, and technical information. All are accompanied by numerous photographs and illustrations from the Red Funnel archives. 2010. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 347.792RED FUNNEL:656.66

A walk across Africa : J.A. Grant's account of the Nile expedition of 1860-1863 /edited and annotated with an introduction by Roy Bridges. "The Nile Expedition of 1860-1863 was one of the most important exploratory expeditions made in the nineteenth century. The long-debated question of the location of the source of the Nile was answered (despite continuing arguments) and the venture had important historical consequences. Earlier accounts of the expedition have assumed James Augustus Grant to have been no more than the loyal second-in-command to John Hanning Speke, the leader. This new edition of Grant's 1864 book, A Walk across Africa, provides the opportunity to re-examine his role. The original text has been fully annotated with explanatory notes and also supplemented by extracts from the very remarkable detailed day-to-day journal which Grant kept. Even more unusually, this edition includes reproductions of the whole visual record which he made consisting of 147 watercolours and sketches. This was the first ever visual record of large parts of East Africa and the Upper Nile Valley region. These documentary and illustrative materials have been drawn from the extensive collection of Grant's papers now in the care of the National Library of Scotland. The Library has co-operated in the preparation of this volume to make possible its special features.Grant emerges as a much more impressive and important figure than has previously been recognised. He was a trained scientist and his narrative is a well-organised perspective on the expedition and its activities. His own growing understanding of Africa and of Africans becomes apparent and helps to explain his later activities."--Provided by the publisher. 2018. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 061.22HAKLUYT

Bitter Peleliu : the forgotten struggle on the Pacific War's worst battlefield /Joseph Wheelan. "In late 1944, as a precursor to the invasion of the Philippines, U.S. military analysts decided to seize the small island of Peleliu to ensure that the Japanese airfield there could not threaten the invading forces. This important new book explores the dramatic story of the resulting campaign and its strategic failings. Joseph Wheelan expertly details how U.S. intelligence officers failed to detect the complex network of caves, tunnels, and pillboxes hidden inside the island's coral ridges. More importantly, they did not discern - nor could they before it happened - that the defense of Peleliu would represent a tectonic shift in Japanese strategy. No more contested enemy landings at the water's edge, no more wild banzai attacks. Now, invaders would be raked on the beaches by mortar and artillery fire. Then, as the enemy penetrated deeper into the Japanese defensive systems, they would find themselves on ground carefully prepared for the purpose of killing as many Americans as possible. For the battle-hardened 1st Marine Division, Peleliu was a hornets' nest like no other. Yet thanks to pre-invasion over-confidence on the part of commanders, 30 of the 36 news correspondents accredited for the campaign had left prior to D-Day. Bitter Peleliu reveals the full horror of this 74-day battle, a battle that due to the reduced media presence has never garnered the type of attention it deserves."--Provided by the publisher. 2022. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.542666

Building Trust : The history of DNV 1864-2014 "From its foundation in 1864 as a society to inspect and classify Norwegian merchant ships, DNV has grown into one of the world's largest organisations for inspection, certification and verification services. This book recounts its history from the earliest years to the present day, with particular emphasis on the past four decades. Building Trust analyses how DNV maritime activities were internationalised as part of the globalisation of world trade, and how diversification accelerated rapidly after Norway's offshore industry took off in the 1970s. A detailed account is given of how DNV developed its services in a complex interaction with markets, governments and international organisations regulating technological risk. The book concludes with an account of the merger of DNV and Germanischer Lloyd in 2013 to create the present DNV GL Group, which has about 17,000 employees and is active in more than 100 countries worldwide."--Provided by the publisher. 2014 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 061.238:629.123.001.3

Shipowners of Cardiff : a class by themselves :a history of Cardiff and Bristol Channel Incorporated Shipowners' Association /David Jenkins A history of the Cardiff and Bristol Channel Incorporated Shipowners' Association, founded in 1875 as the Cardiff Shipowners' Association but changing its name following a short breakaway from the Association by Bristol Channel Shipowners. Appendices provide a full list of chairmen, a list of the Association's Secretaries, a list of companies represented on the Association from 1895 onwards, individual membership figures, gross tonnage and numbers of Cardiff owned ships, committees on which Association members served and ships built for Cardiff shipowners under the British Shipping (Assistance) Act 1935 and British Shipping (Assistance) Bill 1939. Illustrations include photographs of the Association's chairmen. This is a revised edition bringing up to date an earlier text. 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 347.792(429.7)

Distances of the Moon's center from the four planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn for 1831 / H. C. Schumacher Schumacher, Heinrich Christian, 1829 • RARE-BOOK • 1 copy available. 527(083.5)"1831":094

Distances of the Moon's center from the four planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn for 1831 / H. C. Schumacher Schumacher, Heinrich Christian, 1827 • RARE-BOOK • 1 copy available. 527(083.5)"1829":094

Explore our Collection