Library Results | Royal Museums Greenwich

Scurvy : The disease of discovery /Jonathan Lamb "Scurvy, a disease often associated with long stretches of maritime travel, generated sensations exceeding the standard of what was normal. Eyes dazzled, skin was morbidly sensitive, emotions veered between disgust and delight. In this book, Jonathan Lamb presents an intellectual history of scurvy unlike any other, probing the speechless encounter with powerful sensations to tell the story of the disease that its victims couldn't because they found their illness too terrible and, in some cases, too exciting. Drawing on historical accounts from scientists and voyagers as well as major literary works, Lamb traces the cultural impact of scurvy during the eighteenth-century age of geographical and scientific discovery. He explains the medical knowledge surrounding scurvy and the debates about its cause, prevention, and attempted cures. He vividly describes the phenomenon and experience of "scorbutic nostalgia," in which victims imagined mirages of food, water, or home, and then wept when such pleasures proved impossible to consume or reach. Lamb argues that a culture of scurvy arose in the colony of Australia, which was prey to the disease in its early years, and identifies a literature of scurvy in the works of such figures as Herman Melville, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Francis Bacon, and Jonathan Swift."--Provided by the publisher. 2017 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 616.392

Bering : the Russian discovery of America /Orcutt Frost. "Vitus Jonassen Bering (1681-1741) is a towering figure in the history of exploration. In the course of two expeditions that consumed most of his adult life - and eventually led to his death - he journeyed from St. Petersburg to Siberia and ultimately to the northwest coast of America. Along with the members of his expedition (thousands participated in the second expedition), Bering greatly expanded the Russian empire, pioneered the geography of the North Pacific Ocean, and laid the groundwork for Russian trade and settlement in the American West. In the first biography of Bering written in over a century, Orcutt Frost chronicles the life of this extraordinary explorer. Drawing on a wide range of new evidence - including personal letters and archaeological evidence derived from the recent discovery of Bering's grave site - the author reconstructs Bering's personality, his perilous voyages, and his uneasy relationship with the naturalist Georg Steller, who unobtrusively guided the stranded expedition as Bering lay dying. A riveting narrative of adventure and disaster on the high seas, this biography is also a major contribution to the history of maritime exploration."--Provided by the publisher. 2003. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92BERING, VITUS JONASSEN

Moon : art, science, culture /Robert Massey & Alexandra Loske. "A source of light in the dark of night and our ever-changing cosmic companion, the Moon has fasinated humankind since we first gazed into the sky. In this extensively illustrated and illuminating volume, astronomer Rober Massey and art historian Alexandra Loske present a rich and curious history. From its violent birth through to the thrilling story of the Space Race and current exploration efforts, discover the many faces of the Mon and how they have shaped humanity's existence."--Provided by the publisher. 2018. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 523.3

Wilberforce : family and friends /Anne Stott. A study of the abolitionist William Wilberforce concentrating on his private life, his family and the group of Evangelical philanthropists, retrospectively known as the Clapham Sect, who were his friends. Originally located around Clapham Common, the group of friends were associated most closely with the abolition of the slave trade but were also concerned with the moral reformation of society and the extension of Christianity in the British Empire. Largely drawing on family records and the perspective of women in the group, themes considered are those of family, gender, childhood, education, sexuality and intimacy. Focussing on the Wilberforce, Thornton and Macaulay families, family trees illustrate the relationships between the Wilberforce and Thornton families, the Wilberforce, Spooner and Calthorpe families, and the Wilberforce, Bird and Sargent families. A bibliography is provided. 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92WILBERFORCE

English paleography and manuscript culture, 1500-1800 / Kathryn James. "An engaging, accessible introduction to reading and understanding early modern English manuscripts. This engaging book provides an essential introduction to the manuscript in early modern England. From birth to death, parish record to probate inventory, writing framed the lives of the early modern English. The book offers a detailed technical introduction to the handwriting of the period, from 'secretary hand' through the 'copperplate' that defined the early British Empire. Case studies trace the significance of manuscript to British cultural identity, exploring the intersections of manuscript and print, the roles of manuscript in the bureaucracy of the early modern state, and the complex practices surrounding manuscript in the lives of early modern readers and writers. Exercises offer the opportunity to practise reading and transcription, pointing to examples ranging from John Lydgate through William Wordsworth. Richly illustrated and drawing extensively on Yale University collections, this book opens the study of early modern English manuscript to a new generation of students and scholars."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 411.7

Naval seamen's women in nineteenth-century Britain / Melanie Holihead. "This book explores the lived experiences of the women - the mothers, sisters, foster-mothers of motherless children, but above all the wives - of lower deck seamen in the nineteenth century British navy. It makes extensive use of the 'allotment' scheme, a system which enabled men to convey portions of their pay to dependants at home. The scheme had been devised by a Royal Navy worried by the adverse effect on naval manpower caused by experienced and mature sailors quitting the service in order to support loved ones suffering poverty on shore. Drawing also on civil, parish and local data, the book reveals hitherto unknown differences between naval and civilian patterns of nuptiality, family life, occupation and household structure. It illustrates the impact of naval breadwinners' long-term absence in analyses of local migration, mutual support networks, and clusterings of 'same ship' families, and to bring the picture to life it includes microhistories and stories of individual women. The book concludes that while the sailor's woman's 'allotted place' in the popular imagination shifted with changing perceptions of sailors' reputation and standing, a constant 'otherness' attached to women who chose marriage to long-absent men, and a life of necessary self-reliance." 2024. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 359.120941

Sixty years of paddle steamer preservation : the paddle steamer preservation society. ''The Paddle Steamer Preservation Society was founded in 1959 at a time when this familiar and much-loved class of ship was in steep decline and faced possible extinction. Its aims were to encourage the retention and expansion of existing steamer services, to stimulate public awareness and, ultimately, to purchase and preserve at least one surviving example. Now, 60 years on, this fascinating book records the previously untold history of one of Britain?s oldest and most successful maritime preservation societies; one which has succeeded in saving not one but two jewels in the crown of the UK?s maritime heritage ? the iconic paddle steamers Waverley and Kingswear Castle. Drawing on the PSPS archives and the memories of those most closely involved, the book recalls the 1960s and 70s when members were able to sail on board or charter a wide variety of tugs, ferries and excursion ships; describes the purchase, restoration and subsequent careers of Waverley and Kingswear Castle; and examines the Society?s close links with other paddle steamers including Maid of the Loch and Medway Queen, and the motor vessel Balmoral. The extraordinary range of voluntary tasks carried out by members over the 60 years is celebrated, and there is a wealth of previously unpublished information to inform, surprise and amuse. Illustrated with over 200 rare, mostly colour, photographs, depicting a wonderful array of paddlers from the 1950s onwards, special moments in the careers of the Waverley and Kingswear Castle, plus significant events in the Society?s history, this book is essential reading for all paddle steamer enthusiasts. It will also appeal to all those with an interest in coastal passenger shipping, maritime preservation and Britain's nautical heritage. All proceeds from the book will go to PSPS funds and be used to help ensure that Waverley and Kingswear Castle continue to sail into the future.''--Povided by the publisher. 2019. • FOLIO • 1 copy available.

Islamic science and the making of the European Renaissance / George Saliba. "The Islamic scientific tradition has been described many times in accounts of Islamic civilization and in general histories of science, with most authors tracing its beginnings to the appropriation of ideas from other ancient civilizations - the Greeks in particular. In this thought-provoking and original book, George Saliba argues that, contrary to the generally accepted view, the foundations of Islamic scientific thought were laid well before Greek sources were formally translated into Arabic in the ninth century. Drawing on an account by the tenth-century intellectual historian Ibn al-Nadim that is ignored by most modern scholars, Saliba suggests that early translations from mainly Persian and Greek sources outlining elementary scientific ideas for the use of government departments were the impetus for the development of the Islamic scientific tradition. He argues further that there was an organic relationship between the Islamic scientific thought that developed in later centuries and the science that came into being in Europe during the Renaissance."--BOOK JACKET. 2007. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 5(5-15:4)

Unruly desires : American sailors and homosexualities in the age of sail /William Benemann. "In its voracious hunger to fill its decks and spars with the bodies of strong young sailors, the nineteenth century US Navy and the commercial maritime industry welcomed eccentrics, criminals, outcasts and misfits into a community of the marginalized, one that held very different values and expectations than the towns and villages from which the young men fled, a community that offered a tentative refuge to men who were sexually attracted to other men. Drawing from biographies and autobiographies, diaries, newspapers, government reports, Congressional hearings, religious tracts, pornography, ships' logs, medical treatises, maritime fiction, court-martial reports, personal letters and business correspondence, Benemann provides an in-depth examination of nineteenth century homosexual culture as it developed at sea and in America's port cities." [2019] • BOOK • 1 copy available. txt

Filipino crosscurrents : oceanographies of seafaring, masculinities, and globalization /Kale Bantigue Fajardo "Filipino seamen currently compose approximately twenty percent of the 1.2 million international maritime transportation workers. Ninety percent of the world's goods and commodities are transported by ship. Taken together, these statistics attest to the critical role Filipino seamen play in worldwide maritime trade. In Filipino Crosscurrents, an interdisciplinary ethnography, Kale Bantigue Fajardo examines the cultural politics of seafaring, Filipino maritime masculinities, and globalization in the Philippines and the Filipino diaspora. Drawing on fieldwork conducted on ships and in the ports of Manila and Oakland, as well as on an industrial container ship that traveled across the Pacific, Fajardo argues that Filipino seamen have become key figures through which the Philippine state and economic elites promote Filipino masculinity and neoliberal globalization. From government officials to working-class seamen and seafarers' advocates, Fajardo's wide-ranging analysis exposes the gaps in dominant narratives of Filipino seamen in national, regional, and global contexts. Writing in a hybrid style that weaves together ethnographic description, cultural critique, travelogue, and autobiography, Fajardo invites readers to reconsider the meanings of masculinity and manhood. "--Provided by the publisher. [2011]. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 656.61.071.22(599)

The wreck of the Titan, or, Futility. / Robertson, Morgan ; foreword by William H. Tantum, IV. Robertson, Morgan, 1974. • BOOK • 3 copies available. 656.61.085.3TITANIC

U-47 in Scapa Flow : the sinking of HMS Royal Oak, 1939 /Angus Konstam. "At the outset of World War II, Scapa Flow was supposed to be the safe home base of the British Navy - nothing could penetrate the defences of this bastion. So how, in the dead of night, was Gunther Prien's U-47 able to slip through the line of protective warships to sink the mighty Royal Oak? This book provides the answer with an account of one of the most daring naval raids in history. Drawing on the latest underwater archaeological research, this study explains how Prien and his crew navigated the North Sea and Kirk Sound to land a devastating blow to the British. It reveals the level of disrepair that Scapa Flow had fallen into, and delves into the conspiracy theories surrounding the event, including an alleged cover-up by the then First Sea Lord, Winston Churchill."--Provided by the publisher. 2015. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 656.61.085.3ROYAL OAK

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

Observing by hand / Omar W. Nasim. "Today we are all familiar with the iconic pictures of the nebulae produced by the Hubble Space Telescope's digital cameras. But there was a time, before the successful application of photography to the heavens, in which scientists had to rely on handmade drawings of these mysterious phenomena. Observing by Hand sheds entirely new light on the ways in which the production and reception of handdrawn images of the nebulae in the nineteenth century contributed to astronomical observation. Omar W. Nasim investigates hundreds of unpublished observing books and paper records from six nineteenth-century observers of the nebulae: Sir John Herschel; William Parsons, the third Earl of Rosse; William Lassell; Ebenezer Porter Mason; Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel; and George Phillips Bond. Nasim focuses on the ways in which these observers created and employed their drawings in data-driven procedures, from their choices of artistic materials and techniques to their practices and scientific observation. He examines the ways in which the act of drawing complemented the acts of seeing and knowing, as well as the ways that making pictures was connected to the production of scientific knowledge. An impeccably researched, carefully crafted, and beautifully illustrated piece of historical work, Observing by Hand will delight historians of science, art, and the book, as well as astronomers and philosophers."--Provided by the publisher. 2013 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 524.5/.7

Nelson's officers and midshipmen / by Gregory Fremont-Barnes ; illustrated by Steve Noon. "Filled with the promise of adventure and glory, the Royal Navy of the Napoleonic era enticed hundreds of young men to enlist as officers in its bitter struggle against the French fleet. With some as young as nine, these boys were confronted with the harsh realities of warfare at sea: cramped conditions, ruthless storms and fierce combat. In spite of their youth, these sailors showed enormous courage and valour in the face of battle, their bravery immortalised in the literary works of Patrick O'Brian, C. S. Forester and Alexander Kent. Drawing from letters, poems and personal accounts, this book uncovers the remarkable story of those boys who fought aboard His Majesty's mighty ships-of-the-line to defend their kingdom against the French."--Provided by the publisher. 2009. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.124(42)"1793/1815"

The principles of Arab navigation / edited by Anthony R. Constable and William Facey. "Throughout History, the Indian Ocean has been a zone of interaction between far-flung civilizations served by ports, and connected with the Mediterranean by the Gulf and Red Sea. The shows that were the vehicles of commercial and cultural exchange over this vast expanse of ocean ranged from small craft rarely venturing out of sight of land, to cargo vessels carrying navigators skilled in the art of deep sea sailing. These Arab, Persian and Indian seamen used the seasonal monsoon winds, and applied navigational techniques that relied on their ability to read the stars in the night sky - skills that had developed down the generations from time immemorial. This stellar navigation, based on measuring the altitude of the Pole Star to establish latitude and on the risings and settings of certain stars to find direction, grew into a complex art, belying the simplicity of the instruments used. Bringing together six scholars specializing in the maritime history and culture of the Arabs (Anthony R. Constable, William Facey, Yacoub Al-Hijji, Paul Lunde, Hassan Salih Shihab and Eric Staples), this book makes a new and vital contribution to the study of a nautical culture that has hitherto not received its due share of attention, and which is vital to an understanding of Indian Ocean history. Drawing on source material such as the guides by the renowned southern Arabian navigators Ahmad ibn Majid and Sulayman al-Mahri in the 15th and 16th centuries AD, as well as surviving logbooks of how captains in the early 20th, the volume covers the principal ideas, techniques, instruments and calculations used, deploying astronomy, geometry and mathematics to explain their methods. It includes an account of a practical attempt to apply these methods in 2010, on an adventurous voyage from Muscat to Singapore in a reconstructed early medieval dhow, and concludes with an analysis of sailing conditions in the Red Sea."--Provided by the publisher. 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 527(267)"14/20"

Stitching the world : embroidered maps and women's geographical education /Judith A. Tyner. From the late eighteenth century until about 1840, schoolgirls in the British Isles and the United States created embroidered map samplers and even silk globes. Hundreds of British maps were made and although American examples are more rare, they form a significant collection of artefacts. Descriptions of these samplers stated that they were designed to teach needlework and geography. The focus of this book is not on stitches and techniques used in 'drafting' the maps, but rather why they were developed, how they diffused from the British Isles to the United States, and why they were made for such a brief time. There has been little serious study of these maps by cartographers and, moreover, historians of cartography have largely neglected the role of women in mapping. Children's maps have not been studied, although they might have much to offer about geographical teaching and perceptions of a period, and map samplers have been dismissed because they are the work of schoolgirls. Needlework historians, likewise, have not done in depth studies of map samplers until recently. Stitching the World is an interdisciplinary work drawing on cartography, needlework, and material culture. This book for the first time provides a critical analysis of these artefacts, showing that they offer significant insights into both eighteenth- and nineteenth-century geographic thought and cartography in the USA and the UK and into the development of female education. [2015] • BOOK • 1 copy available. 746.44/0433

Black May "This book is the story of the month in the spring of 1943, 'Black May' as the Germans called it, when the Allies finally and decisively gained the upper hand in the Battle of the Atlantic and it became clear that the submarine threat would be defeated. In the course of that month the Allies, confronted with the largest submarine force yet sent out into the Atlantic, sunk 41 U-boats and damaged another 37 and Admiral Doenitz was forced to withdraw the surviving boats from the fray. Most significant of all, one major convoy, ONS.5, which was targeted by several wolfpacks in rapid succession and should, in the light of past experience, have suffered severe losses, survived largely unscathed while the attacking wolfpacks were relentlessly hunted down by the escorting ships and aircraft. Michael Gannon describes the hundreds of separate engagements that took place in the course of the month in vivid detail, drawing upon archive records on both sides of the Atlantic as well as the personal recollections of those involved on both sides. [...] He also reproduces the transcripts of secretly recorded conversations between captured U-boat crewmen, which provide a fascinating insight into their attitudes and morale.[...]The courage and determination of the men who fought was crucial but the Allied victory was also the result of improvements in stategy, tactics and technology, including the introduction of centimetric radar and radio-direction finding gear, and all of these factors are examined and analysed here."--Provided by the publisher. 1998 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 623.827(43)"1943"

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