Library Results | Royal Museums Greenwich

Conquerors : how Portugal seized the Indian Ocean and forged the first global empire /Roger Crowley. "As remarkable as Columbus and the conquistador expeditions, the history of Portuguese exploration is now almost forgotten. But Portugal's navigators cracked the code of the Atlantic winds, launched the expedition of Vasco da Gama to India and beat the Spanish to the spice kingdoms of the East - then set about creating the first long-range maritime empire. In an astonishing blitz of thirty years, a handful of visionary and utterly ruthless empire builders, with few resources but breathtaking ambition, attempted to seize the Indian Ocean, destroy Islam and take control of world trade. Told with Roger Crowley's customary skill and verve, this is narrative history at its most vivid - an epic tale of navigation, trade and technology, money and religious zealotry, political diplomacy and espionage, sea battles and shipwrecks, endurance, courage and terrifying brutality. Drawing on extensive first-hand accounts, it brings to life the exploits of an extraordinary band of conquerors - men such as Afonso de Albuquerque, the first European since Alexander the Great to found an Asian empire - who set in motion five hundred years of European colonisation and unleashed the forces of globalisation."--Provided by the publisher. 2015. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 325.46(469)

Natural rebels : a social history of enslaved Black women in Barbados /Hilary McD. Beckles. "Although we are learning a lot from historians about the lives of slaves in the United States, we still know little about slavery in the Caribbean. Hilary Beckles's book on the social, economic, and labor history of slave women in Barbados, from the mid-seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth century, is a major addition to this literature. Drawing on contemporary documents and records, newspapers, and personal correspondence, Beckles reveals how slave women were central to the plantation economy of Barbados. They had two kinds of value for sugar planters: they could work just as hard as men, and they could literally reproduce the slave class. Beckles details the daily lives of slave women in conditions of extreme exploitation. They suffered from harsh conditions, cruel punishments, malnutrition, disease, high morality, and fear of abandonment when they were too old to work. He describes the various categories and responsibilities of slaves, and the roles of children in the slave economy. Beckles looks at family structures and the complexities of interracial unions. He also shows how female slaves regulary resisted slavery, using both violent and non-violent means."--Provided by the publisher. 2000. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 305.5/67/082

Aquatint : from its origins to Goya /Rena M. Hoisington. "Driven by a growing interest in collecting and multiplying drawings, artists and amateurs in the eighteenth century sought a new technique capable of replicating the subtlety of ink, wash, and watercolor. They devised an innovative and versatile new medium--aquatint--which would spread in use across Europe within a few decades, its distinctive dark tones making possible a remarkable variety of ingenious imagery. In this illuminating book, Rena M. Hoisington traces how the aquatint technique flourished as a cross-cultural and cosmopolitan phenomenon that contributed to the rise of art publishing, connoisseurship, leisure travel, drawing instruction, and the popularity of neoclassicism. She offers new insights into sophisticated experiments by artists such as Francisco Goya, Maria Catharina Prestel, Paul Sandby, and Jean-Baptiste Le Prince. Marvelously illustrated with rare works from the National Gallery of Art's collection of early aquatints, this engaging book provides a fresh look at how printmaking contributed to a vibrant exchange of information and ideas in Europe during the Enlightenment."--Provided by the publisher. [2021] • BOOK • 1 copy available. 760

The Development of Nuclear Propulsion in the Royal Navy, 1946-1975 / Gareth Michael Jones. "This book examines the development of nuclear propulsion in the Royal Navy from the first proposal in 1946 to the start-up of the last core improvement for the first submarine reactor power plant PWR 1 in December 1974. Drawing from unreleased records and archives, the book answers questions around three main themes. Political: what problems were encountered in transferring nuclear knowledge from the USA to the UK in the post-war period, and how much support was there for the development of nuclear propulsion? Military: why was there a requirement to develop nuclear propulsion, and in particular, why submarines? Technical: were the problems associated with nuclear energy fully appreciated, and did the UK have the technical and engineering capability to develop nuclear propulsion? Aside from the political considerations and military motives for developing nuclear propulsion in the Royal Navy, the author focuses on the technical problems that had to be overcome by all participants in the Royal Navy's development of nuclear propulsion, adding significantly to naval historiography. Providing a critical analysis of the political, technological, operational and industrial issues of introducing nuclear propulsion into the Royal Navy, the author situates his research in the context of the evolving Cold War, changing Anglo-American relations, the end of Empire and the relative decline of British power."--Provided by the publisher. [2022] • BOOK • 1 copy available. txt

Adventurers : the improbable rise of the East India Company, 1550-1650 /David Howarth. "The East India Company was the largest commercial enterprise in British history, yet its roots in Tudor England are often overlooked. The Tudor revolution in commerce led ambitious merchants to search for new forms of investment, not least in risky overseas enterprises - and for these 'adventurers' the most profitable bet of all would be on the company. Through a host of stories and fascinating details, David Howarth brings to life the company's way of doing business - from the leaky ships and petty seafarers of its embattled early days to later sweeping commercial success. While the company's efforts met with disappointment in Japan, they sowed the seeds of success in India, setting the outline for what would later become the Raj. Drawing on an abundance of sources, Howarth shows how competition from European powers was vital to success - and considers whether the company was truly 'English' at all, or rather part of a Europe-wide movement."--Provided by the publisher. 2022. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 382.094105

The first British empire : global expansion in the early modern age /John Oliphant "The First British Empire is an authoritative, highly readable and substantial account of the origins, growth and transformation of the British Empire from its European beginnings until the aftermath of the American Revolution. Taking a regional and chronological approach, and highlighting the dual drivers of profit and power, it shows that the early empire was a mechanism not for dominance but for survival. From the naval war against Spain to the 'Glorious Revolution' and the wars against Napoleon, with a population perhaps one third that of France, England needed an oceanic empire to offset its European weakness. Expansion from mainland North America to the Caribbean and West Africa to the Indian sub-continent is seen in terms of the needs of the metropole, the narrower perspectives of settler societies, and the experiences of the colonised, the collaborators and the enslaved. Drawing on recent research, it demonstrates the fragility of British power in India, that the loss of North America was neither inevitable nor complete, and that the first Australian colony was a strategic investment rather than a dumping ground for convicts. Above all, it shows that the long, painful and often haphazard rise of this 'first' empire history is an essential key to modern British and world history."--Provided by the publisher. 2023. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 909.0971241

Shipping and development in Dubai : infrastructure, innovation and institutions in the Gulf /Keith Nuttall. "A small town on a sandy creek half a century ago, Dubai is now the largest trading, commercial, leisure and transport entrepot in the Gulf and wider region. This book explains the reasons for the emergence of Dubai and its distinctive development trajectory, arguing that the decision, in the 1970s, to invest in infrastructure made possible by shipping containerization laid the foundations for its future expansion. The book shows that in contrast to its competitors' hydrocarbon rentier economic model, Dubai's creation and expansion of ports and airports, together with 'value-added' logistics and business-friendly enhancements, were used to out-compete regional rivals. Drawing on a range of primary and secondary sources, including interviews with logistics business-people, government records and memoirs, it fills a significant lacuna in the history of Dubai's development and emergence as a global trade hub."--Provided by the publisher. 2022. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 338.95357

Legacies of British slave-ownership : colonial slavery and the formation of Victorian Britain /Catherine Hall, Nicholas Draper, Keith McClelland, Katie Donington and Rachel Lang. "This book re-examines the relationship between Britain and colonial slavery in a crucial period in the birth of modern Britain. Drawing on a comprehensive analysis of British slave-owners and mortgagees who received compensation from the state for the end of slavery, and tracing their trajectories in British life, the volume explores the commercial, political, cultural, social, intellectual, physical and imperial legacies of slave-ownership. It transcends conventional divisions in history-writing to provide an integrated account of one powerful way in which Empire came home to Victorian Britain, and to reassess narratives of West Indian 'decline'. It will be of value to scholars not only of British economic and social history, but also of the histories of the Atlantic world, of the Caribbean and of slavery, as well as to those concerned with the evolution of ideas of race and difference and with the relationship between past and present."--Provided by the publisher. 2014. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 326(41-44)"18"

The Battle of Jutland / by Jonathan Sutherland and Diane Canwell. "The Battle of Jutland was the greatest naval engagement of the First World War, if not any war. The events leading up to the battle gave the indication that it would be a major British naval victory. But as it would transpire the results were a lot less clearcut. It had been the German vessels that had soured relations between Britain and Germany, but in the end the fleet had proved inadequate. Whilst the Germans claimed a victory, in Britain, Jutland was celebrated as another Trafalgar. Detailing the account of this colossal sea battle, the authors draw on official reports and despatches, as well as notable accounts by those such as Rudyard Kipling. The battle is placed in its context in the war and the opposing fleets and commanders are examined. The initial German plan and the British response provided the catalyst for the engagement and the battle cruiser and fleet action is examined in detail, drawing on eyewitness accounts. The five distinct phases of the battle began with the first encounter between the opposing battle cruisers. The second phase saw the Germans pursuing what they believed to be the British fleet. Then suddenly they came under heavy bombardment from the British main fleet under Jellicoe. After Admiral Scheer failed to escape into the Baltic, the final phase was fought with the Germans in full retreat. The book analyses the damage assessment on both sides and their true losses. A full order of battle is provided, with many illustrations of the key commanders. An extensive bibliography and reference section supports the work. " -- Provided by the publisher. 2014. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.456(489)

Paths of glory : the life and death of General James Wolfe /Stephen Brumwell. "Ugly, gangling, and tormented by agonising illness, Major General James Wolfe was an unlikely hero. Yet in 1759, on the Plains of Abraham before Quebec, he won a battle with momentous consequences. Wolfe's victory, bought at the cost of his life, ensured that English, not French, would become the dominant language in North America. Ironically, by crippling French ambitions on this continent Wolfe paved the way for American independence from Britain. Already renowned for bold leadership, Wolfe's death at the very moment of victory at Quebec cemented his heroic status on both sides of the Atlantic. He became an icon of patriotic self-sacrifice, immortalised in epic paintings and verse. During the past half century, however, Wolfe's reputation has undergone sustained assault by revisionist historians who see him as a bloodthirsty and self-righteous mediocrity, famous for one singularly lucky - though crucial - victory. Was there more to James Wolfe than a celebrated death? Stephen Brumwell's internationally praised biography seeks to answer that question, drawing on extensive research to offer a boldly argued reassessment of a soldier whose short but dramatic life changed the course of world history." --Provided by the publisher. Ã2006. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92WOLFE

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

Erich Raeder : Admiral of the Third Reich /Keith W. Bird "Erich Raeder led the German navy from 1928 to 1943, a period that included the last turbulent years of the Weimar Republic, the rise of Hitler, and World War II. Yet until now, no full-length biography has been written about this extraordinary naval figure. While most historians have viewed Raeder as a product of the Wilhelmian era and heir to Admiral von Tirpitz's sea power ideology, this work clearly demonstrates Raeder's affinity with Hitler's fascism. Keith Bird refutes Admiral Raeder's own argument that his navy was nonpolitical and independent; Bird shows him to be a political activist and the architect of German naval policy. Drawing on archival resources and the rich scholarship of German naval history over the past five decades, Bird examines the evolution of Raeder's concept of naval strategy and his attempts to achieve the political and military means necessary to attain the navy's global naval ambitions. He describes the admiral as ultimately being defeated by the contradictions in his own policies as well as Hitler's and by the realities of Germany's resources and military necessities. Here for the first time, Raeder's strict leadership of the navy after 1928 and his relationship to Hitler and the National Socialist state are placed in the context of Raeder's formative years as an Imperial naval officer, his World War I combat experience, and his critical role in the survival and development of the postwar Reichsmarine. The impact of Hitler's influence on both the pace and the nature of naval rearmament and the conduct of the Kriegsmarine in war are also examined here, as are Raeder's furtive attempts to influence Germany's strategic thinking in favor of a maritime strategy."--Provided by the publisher. 2018. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92RAEDER

Britain's railway steamers : Scottish and Irish companies and Stena and MacBrayne Part three of the Britain's Railway Steamers series covers a further 399 railway-owned ships, and charts how the separate companies were eventually amalgamated into the state-owned Caledonian MacBrayne fleet. Beginning with a brief overview of Scottish and Irish Railway history in the period 1914 -1994, the book shows how the railway fleet owners passed through several stages of reorganisation including combinations of co-ownership, splitting into four large groups, nationalisation, and part-privatisation. This is followed by individual entries of the 32 ship-owning railway companies, each featuring a timeline of the company's early maritime history, livery and route information, plus a fleet list with each vessel's career history and technical data. With a few exceptions, all vessels are illustrated by a profile drawing. 1994 • BOOK • 5 copies available. 347.792(411)

Liberty's provenance : the evolution of the Liberty ship from its Sunderland origins /John Henshaw. "The battle of the Atlantic, fought by the Allies to maintain lines of communication and vital trade routes for armaments, men and basic sustenance, could not have been won without the 2,710 Liberty ships that were designed and built for those critical one-way voyages to Europe - more than one voyage was considered a bonus. The kudos for the Liberty's construction is, rightfully, American for that is where they were built. Less well understood is that the groundwork for the shape of the hull and its basic hydrodynamics took place in the North Sands shipyard of Joseph Thompson & Sons Ltd on the banks on the River Wear in Sunderland. This new book follows the path of the critical designs that flowed from Thompson's shipyard commencing with SS Embassage in 1935, SS Dorington Court in 1939, through the SS Empire Wind/Wave series for the Ministry of War Transport in 1940 to SS Empire Liberty in 1941. These led to the sixty Ocean Class vessels built by Henry J Kaiser and, from these, the Liberty ship was adapted by American naval architects Gibbs & Cox who, to this very day, still claim they designed the Liberty ship. With the use of beautifully drawn ship profiles, starting with World War I designs, then the critical designs from Thompson's shipyard, and particularly a drawing comparing the Liberty ship with its British progenitor, the author demonstrates just how much of the former was borrowed from the latter. While some credit has been given to Thompson's designs this new book offers the first real proof as to the direct link between his work, the Empire Liberty/Ocean Class and the Liberty ship which followed. In addition, the book demonstrates the versatility of the Liberty ship and explores those that were developed for specialist use, from hospital ships and mule transports to nuclear-age missile range ships. A fascinating and beautifully presented book for all those with an interest in the battle of the Atlantic and, more specifically, in one of the most important ship designs of the War."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 629.123.4:940.545

Slavery and the making of early American libraries : British literature, political thought, and the transatlantic book trade, 1731-1814 /Sean D. Moore. "Early American libraries stood at the nexus of two transatlantic branches of commerce-the book trade and the slave trade. Slavery and the Making of Early American Libraries bridges the study of these trades by demonstrating how Americans' profits from slavery were reinvested in imported British books and providing evidence that the colonial book market was shaped, in part, by the demand of slave owners for metropolitan cultural capital. Drawing on recent scholarship that shows how participation in London cultural life was very expensive in the eighteenth century, as well as evidence that enslavers were therefore some of the few early Americans who could afford to import British cultural products, the volume merges the fields of the history of the book, Atlantic studies, and the study of race, arguing that the empire-wide circulation of British books was underwritten by the labour of the African diaspora. The volume is the first in early American and eighteenth-century British studies to fuse our growing understanding of the material culture of the transatlantic text with our awareness of slavery as an economic and philanthropic basis for the production and consumption of knowledge. In studying the American dissemination of works of British literature and political thought, it claims that Americans were seeking out the forms of citizenship, constitutional traditions, and rights that were the signature of that British identity. Even though they were purchasing the sovereignty of Anglo-Americans at the expense of African-Americans through these books, however, some colonials were also making the case for the abolition of slavery."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 070.5

Coming out under fire : the history of gay men and women in World War II /Allan Bâerubâe ; with a new foreword by John D'Emilio & Estelle B. Freedman. "During World War II, as the United States called on its citizens to serve in unprecedented numbers, the presence of gay Americans in the armed forces increasingly conflicted with the expanding antihomosexual policies and procedures of the military. In Coming Out Under Fire, Allan Berube examines in depth and detail these social and political confrontation - not as a story of how the military victimized homosexuals, but as a story of how a dynamic power relationship developed between gay citizens and their government, transforming them both. Drawing on GIs' wartime letters, extensive interviews with gay veterans, and declassified military documents, Berube thoughtfully constructs a startling history of the two wars gay military men and women fough - one for America and another as homosexuals within the military. Bâerubâe's book, the inspiration for the 1995 Peabody Award-winning documentary film of the same name, has become a classic since it was published in 1990, just three years prior to the controversial 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, which has continued to serve as an uneasy compromise between gays and the military. With a new foreword by historians John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman, this book remains a valuable contribution to the history of World War II, as well as to the ongoing debate regarding the role of gays in the U.S. military."--Provided by the publisher. 2010. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.008664

Neptune : from grand discovery to a world revealed : essays on the 200th anniversary of the birth of John Couch Adams /editor-in-chief, William Sheehan ; Trudy E. Bell, Carolyn Kennett, Robert W. Smith, editors. "The 1846 discovery of Neptune is one of the most remarkable stories in the history of astronomy. However, the events surrouding this discovery have long been mired in controversy engaging European and American astronomers alike. Who first predicted the new planet? Was the discovery a triumph of Isaac Newton's theory of universal gravitation, or was it just a lucky fluke? Written by an international group of experts, this path-breaking volume explores in unprecedented depth the contentious history of Neptune's discovery. Drawing on newly discovered documents and re-examining the historical record, the authors reveal new insights into kew individuals and the pressures acting on them. Moreover, using modern tools in celestial mechanics developed in the last twenty years, the book discusses Newton's ideas about gravity and re-examines the calculations that prompted the discovery of Neptune. This process also reveals why the approach that proved so potent for Neptune's discovery could not produce similar discoveries, despite several valiant attempts. The final cahpters recount how the discovery of Neptune marked the end of one quest - to explain the wayward motions of Uranus - and the beginning of another: to understand the outer Solar System, whose icy precincts Neptune, the outermost of the giant planets, bounds."--Provided by the publisher. 2021. • BOOK • 1 copy available. txt

Survivors : the lost stories of the last captives of the Atlantic slave trade /Hannah Durkin. "This is an immersive and revelatory history of the survivors of the Clotilda, the last ship of the Atlantic slave trade, whose lives diverged and intersected in profound ways. The Clotilda docked in Mobile Bay, Alabama, in July 1860 - more than half a century after the passage of a federal law banning the importation of captive Africans, and nine months before the beginning of the Civil War. The last of its survivors lived well into the twentieth century. They were the last witnesses to the final act of a terrible and significant period in world history. In this epic work, Dr. Hannah Durkin tells the stories of the Clotilda's 110 captives, drawing on her intensive archival, historical, and sociological research. Survivors follows their lives from their kidnappings in what is modern-day Nigeria through a terrifying 45-day journey across the Middle Passage; from the subsequent sale of the ship's 103 surviving children and young people into slavery across Alabama to the dawn of the Civil Rights movement in Selma; from the foundation of an all-Black African Town (later Africatown) in Northern Mobile - an inspiration for writers of the Harlem Renaissance, including Zora Neale Hurston - to the foundation of the quilting community of Gee's Bend, a Black artistic circle whose cultural influence remains enormous. An astonishing, deeply compelling tapestry of history, biography and social commentary, Survivors is a tour de force that deepens our knowledge and understanding of the Atlantic slave trade and its far-reaching influence on life today."--Provided by the publisher. 2024. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 306.3/62/0976109034

Englishmen at sea : labor and the nation at the dawn of empire, 1570-1630 /Eleanor Hubbard. "Drawing on a wealth of understudied sources, historian Eleanor Hubbard explores the labor conflicts behind the rise of the English maritime empire. Freewheeling Elizabethan privateering attracted thousands of young men to the sea, where they acquired valuable skills and a reputation for ruthlessness. Peace in 1603 forced these predatory seamen to adapt to a radically changed world, one in which they were expected to risk their lives for merchants' gain, not plunder. Merchant trading companies expected sailors to relinquish their unruly ways and to help convince overseas rulers and trading partners that the English were a courteous and trustworthy 'nation'. Some sailors rebelled, becoming pirates and renegades; others demanded and often received concessions and shares in new trading opportunities. Treated gently by a state that was anxious to promote seafaring in order to man the navy, these determined sailors helped to keep the sea a viable and attractive trade for Englishmen." --Provided by publisher. 2021 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 382.0942009031

Land based air power or aircraft carriers? : a case study of the British debate about maritime air power in the 1960s /Gjert Lage Dyndal. "During the 1960s - in the midst of its retreat from empire - the British government had to grapple with complex political and military problems in order to find a strategic defence policy that was both credible and affordable. Addressing what was perhaps the most contentious issue within those debates, this book charts the arguments that raged between supporters of a land based air power strategy, and those who favoured aircraft carriers. Drawing upon a wealth of previously classified documents, the book reveals how the Admiralty and Air Ministry became interlocked in a bitter political struggle over which of their military strategies could best meet Britain's future foreign policy challenges. Whilst the broad story of this inter-service rivalry is well known - the Air Force's proposal for a series of island based airfields, and the Navy championing of a small number of expensive but mobile aircraft carriers - the complexity and previous lack of archival sources means that it has, until now, only ever been partially researched and understood. Former studies have largely focused on the cancellation of the CVA-01 carrier programme, and offered little depth as regards the Royal Air Force perspectives. Given that this was a two-Service rivalry, which greatly influenced many aspects of British foreign and defence policy decisions of the period, this book presents an important and balanced overview of the complex issues involved. Through this historical study of the British debate about maritime air power and strategic alternatives in the 1960s, the detailed arguments used for and against both alternatives demonstrate clear relevance to both historical and contemporary conceptual debates on carrier forces and land-based air power. Both from military strategy and inter-service relationship perspectives, contemporary Britain and many other nations with maritime forces may learn much from this historical case."--Back cover. 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.469(42)"196"

Outlaw Ocean : crime and survival in the last untamed frontier /Ian Urbina "The Outlaw Ocean is a riveting, adrenalin-fuelled tour of a vast, lawless and rampantly criminal world that few have ever seen: the high seas. There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. But perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the world's oceans: too big to police, and under no clear international authority, these immense regions of treacherous water play host to the unbridled extremes of human behaviour and activity. Traffickers and smugglers, pirates and mercenaries, wreck thieves and repo men, vigilante conservationists and elusive poachers, seabound abortion-providers, clandestine oil-dumpers, shackled slaves and cast-adrift stowaways: drawing on five years of perilous and intrepid reporting, often hundreds of miles from shore, Urbina introduces us to the inhabitants of this hidden world and their risk-fraught lives. Through their stories of astonishing courage and brutality, survival and tragedy, he uncovers a globe-spanning network of crime and exploitation that emanates from the fishing, oil and shipping industries, and on which the world's economies rely. Both a gripping adventure story and a stunning exposâe, this unique work of reportage brings fully into view for the first time the disturbing reality of a floating world that connects us all, a place where anyone can do anything because no one is watching."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 343.3/.7

Merchant adventurers : the voyage of discovery that transformed Tudor England /by James Evans. "In the spring of 1553 three ships sailed north-east from London into uncharted waters. The scale of their ambition was breathtaking. Drawing on the latest navigational science and the new spirit of enterprise and discovery sweeping the Tudor capital, they sought a northern passage to Asia and its riches. The success of the expedition depended on its two leaders: Sir Hugh Willoughby, a brave gentleman soldier, and Richard Chancellor, a brilliant young scientist and practical man of the sea. When their ships became separated in a storm, each had to fend for himself. Their fates were sharply divided. One returned to England, to recount extraordinary tales of the imperial court of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The tragic, mysterious story of the other two ships has to be pieced together through the surviving captain's log book, after he and his crew became lost and trapped by the advancing Arctic winter. This long neglected endeavour was one of the boldest in British history, and its impact was profound. Although the 'merchant adventurers' failed to reach China as they had hoped, their achievements would lay the foundations for England's expansion on a global stage. As James Evans' vivid account shows, their voyage also makes for a gripping story of daring, discovery, tragedy and adventure."--Provided by the publisher. 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.4(987)"1553"

The empire of necessity : slavery, freedom, and deception in the New World /Greg Grandin. One morning in 1805, off a remote island in the South Pacific, Captain Amasa Delano, a New England seal hunter, climbed aboard a distressed Spanish ship carrying scores of West Africans who appeared to be slaves. They weren't. Having earlier seized control of the vessel and slaughtered most of the crew, they were staging an elaborate ruse. When Delano, an idealistic, anti-slavery republican, finally realized the deception--that the men and women he thought were slaves were actually running the ship--he responded with explosive violence. Drawing on research on four continents, historian Greg Grandin explores the multiple forces that culminated in this extraordinary event--an event that inspired Herman Melville's masterpiece "Benito Cereno". Now historian Greg Grandin, with the gripping storytelling that was praised in Fordlandia, uses the dramatic happenings of that day to map a new transnational history of slavery in the Americas, capturing the clash of peoples, economies, and faiths that was the New World in the early 1800s.--Provided by the publisher. 2014. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 326.1

Liverpool and the slave trade / Anthony Tibbles. "During the course of more than four centuries, merchants in Liverpool were responsible for forcibly transporting over a million and a half Africans across the Atlantic to work as enslaved labourers on the plantations of the Caribbean as their ships carried a larger number of Africans than those of any other European port. White colonial owners used the enslaved Africans to produce sugar and other valuable tropical goods which were consumed at home in Britain. Liverpool and the slave trade is the first comprehensive account of the city's participation in the trade. It tells the story of the merchants and ships' captains who organised the trade and shows how they bought and sold Africans, how they treated the enslaved during the Atlantic voyage and how they and the wider community benefitted from the slave trade. It concludes with the efforts to end the trade and the legacy it has left in Liverpool and beyond. Drawing on the most recent research as well as extensive use of contemporary documents and personal testimonies and experiences to explore this history, Liverpool and the slave trade highlights an important part of the city's history which has for too long been rejected, forgotten or ignored."--Provided by publisher. 2018. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 326.1(427.2)

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