Library Results | Royal Museums Greenwich

Black flag of the north : Bartholomew Roberts, king of the Atlantic pirates /Victor Suthren. "He was tall, dark, and handsome, he wore fine velvets and lace, and in four tumultuous years he tore the guts out of the Atlantic. Bartholomew Roberts took over 400 ships and rarely lost a fight at sea in his short, spectacular reign. He set the Atlantic aflame from the Grand Banks to Brazil, and by blood and fire won his reputation as the fearless and feared King of the Pirates. Cast in a gripping narrative that combines historical accuracy with a novelist's flowing prose, Black Flag of the North tells the story of Roberts's dramatic life, from his boyhood in rural South Wales through his days at sea during the slave trade, culminating in the stunning events in Canada that opened his four-year piratical career, to his fiery end beneath British guns off the coast of West Africa."-- [2018] • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.4/5

Women, dissent and anti-slavery in Britain and America, 1790-1865 / edited by Elizabeth J. Clapp and Julie Roy Jeffrey. 2011. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 326.8(42:73)"17/18"-055.2

Gender, war and politics : transatlantic perspectives, 1775-1830 /edited by Karen Hagemann, Gisela Mettele, Jane Rendall. "This volume addresses war, developing political and national identities and the changing gender regimes of Europe and the Americas between 1775 and 1820. Military and civilian experiences of war and revolution, in free and slave societies, both reflected and shaped gender concepts and practices, in relation to class, ethnicity, race and religion"-- 2010. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.02(261)-055.2

The interest : how the British establishment resisted the abolition of slavery /Michael Taylor. "For two hundred years, the abolition of slavery in Britain has been a cause for self-congratulation - but no longer. In 1807, Parliament outlawed the slave trade in the British Empire, but for the next quarter of a century, despite heroic and bloody rebellions, more than 700,000 people in British colonies remained enslaved. And when a renewed abolitionist campaign was mounted, making slave ownership the defining political and moral issue of the day, emancipation was fiercely resisted by the powerful 'West India Interest'. Supported by nearly every leading figure of the British establishment - including Canning, Peel and Gladstone, The Times and Spectator - the Interest ensures that slavery survived until 1833 and that when abolition came at last, compensation worth ¹340 billion in today's money was given not to the enslaved but to the slaveholders, entrenchign the power of their families to shape modern Britian to this day. Drawing on major new research, this long-overdue and groundbreaking history provides a gripping narrative account of the tumultuous and often violent battle - between rebels and planters, between abolitionists and the pro-slavery establishment - that divided and scarred the nation during these years of upheaval. The Interest reveals the lengths to which British leaders went to defend the indefensible in the name of profit, showing that the ultimate triumph of abolition came at a bitter cost and was one of the darkest and most dramatic episodes in British history."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 306.3620941

Murder on the high seas / Martin Baggoley. "Great Britain has for many centuries been one of the world's great sea-faring nations. The Royal Navy has defended her territory and the merchant fleet has been instrumental in creating the nation's wealth. The courage, industry and exploits of many of her sailors and the names of the ships in which they served have become legends. However, the sea has also provided the backdrop to great crimes and for Murder on the High Seas, the author has selected murders that have been committed in many parts of the globe over a period of more than one hundred years. The motives behind these crimes have included revenge, lust, greed and survival. Nevertheless, they share one common feature as all of those accused of responsibility were brought back to Great Britain to stand trial. Among these fascinating accounts is a description of the trial of the survivors of a shipwreck who killed and fed on a shipmate. Also included is the murder by slavers of several Royal Navy seamen who were part of the West Africa Squadron, formed to put an end to the slave trade of the South Atlantic."--Provided by the publisher. 2014. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 629.12.07

Black salt : seafarers of African descent on British ships /by Ray Costello. "In this fascinating work, Ray Costello examines the work and experience of seamen of African descent in Britain's navy, from impressed slaves to free Africans, British West Indians, and British-born black sailors. Seamen from the Caribbean and directly from Africa have contributed to both the British Royal Navy and Merchant Marine from the Tudor period and by the end of the period of the British slave trade at least three percent of all crewmen were black mariners, and their experiences run the gamut of sorrow and tragedy, heroism, victory, and triumph. This is an important look at a neglected area of study, filled with many powerful, previously untold stories."--From Amazon. 2012. • BOOK • 2 copies available. 656.61.071.22(=96)(42)

Debt and slavery in the Mediterranean and Atlantic worlds / edited by Gwyn Campbell and Alessandro Stanziani. "Slavery casts a long shadow over human history. Though, historically, the chief mechanism of slavery was seen as violent abduction, this view is being adjusted to recognize the importance of financial indebtedness in creating and sustaining human bondage. Filling a significant gap in the historiography, the essays in this volume show that debt slavery has played a crucial role in the economic history of numerous societies which continues even today."--Provided by the publisher. 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 326.1(261:262)

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

Fishers and plunderers : theft, slavery and violence at sea /Alastair Couper, Hance D. Smith, and Bruno Ciceri. "In Fishers and Plunderers, Alastair Couper, Hance D. Smith and Bruno Ciceri focus on the exploitation of fish and fishers alike in a global industry driven by profits, with little consideration given to either resource conservation or human rights. With vast overprovision of vessels and shortages of fish, labour costs are targeted and young men are trafficked from poor areas onto vessels in virtual slavery. The resultant poverty and debt bonding pushes many towards trafficking drugs and piracy - although the criminality linked to the industry extends far beyond the level of the individual, vessel or fleet. The book provides evidence of these crimes and injustices, with the authors arguing for regulations which if implemented could protect the rights of fishers across the board. In doing so, the authors shed a much needed light on a largely hidden world. Those wishing to better the lives of fishers both at sea and ashore will find it to be a persuasive and essential guide." 2015. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 341.362.1

American yachts in naval service : a history from the Colonial Era to World War II /Kenneth Howard Goldman. "Before there was a U.S. Navy, several Colonial navies were all-volunteer -- both the crews and the vessels. From its beginnings through World War II, the Navy has relied on civilian sailors and their fast vessels to fill out its ranks of small combatants. Beginning with the birth of the yacht in 17th century Netherlands, this illustrated history traces the development of yacht racing, the advent of combustion-engine power and the contribution privately owned vessels have made to national defense. Vessels conscripted during the Civil War served both the Union and Confederacy -- sometimes changing sides after capture. The first USS Wanderer saw the slave trade from both sides of the law. Aboard the USS Sylph, Oscar-winning actor Ernest Borgnine fought the Third Reich's U-boats under sail. USS Sea Cloud made history as the first racially integrated ship in the Navy, three years before President Truman desegregated the military."--Provided by the publisher. 2021. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 359.8/3

African Europeans : an untold history /Olivette Otele. "As early as the third century, St Maurice--an Egyptian--became leader of the legendary Roman Theban Legion. Ever since, there have been richly varied encounters between those defined as 'Africans' and those called 'Europeans'. Yet Africans and African Europeans are still widely believe to be only a recent phenomenon in Europe. Olivette Otele traces a long African European heritage through the lives of individuals both ordinary and extraordinary. She uncovers a forgotten past, from Emperor Septimius Severus, to enslaved Africans living in Europe during the Renaissance, and all the way to present-day migrants moving to Europe's cities. By exploring a history that has been long overlooked, she sheds light on questions very much alive today--on racism, identity, citizenship, power and resilience. African Europeans is a landmark account of a crucial thread in Europe's complex history."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 305.89604

Master and madman : the surprising rise and disastrous fall of the Hon Anthony Lockwood RN /by Peter Thomas & Nicholas Tracy. "Anthony Lockwood s story is at the heart of the Georgian Navy though the man himself has never taken centre stage in its history. His naval career described by himself as twenty five years incessant peregrination followed a somewhat erratic course but almost exactly spanned the period of the French wars and the War of 1812. Lockwood was commended for bravery in action against the French; was present at the Spithead Mutiny; shipwrecked and imprisoned in France; appointed master attendant of the naval yard at Bridgetown, Barbados, during the year the slave trade was abolished; and served as an hydrographer before beginning his three-year marine survey of Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy. Against the odds he managed to finesse a treasury appointment as Surveyor General of New Brunswick and became the right hand man of the Governor, General Smyth. Deeply ingrained in his character, however, was a democratic determination that was out of step with the authoritarian character of the Navy and the aristocratic one of New Brunswick. His expectation of social justice verged on madness, and when he finally succumbed to lunacy it was in the defence of democracy. The turbulence of the times inspired Lockwood to stage a one-man coup d etat which ended with him being jailed and shipped back to London to live out his days as a pensioner and mental patient. Truly a dramatic rise and a tragic fall." 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92LOCKWOOD

The creation of the British Atlantic world / edited by Elizabeth Mancke and Carole Shammas. "While scholars of traditional imperial history see the formation of the larger British Atlantic world as a consequence of competing European powers' efforts at nation building, Atlantic historians see the transatlantic empire shaped more by the motives of a wide variety of subnational groups. Elizabeth Mancke and Carole Shammas have compiled a volume that reflects these different viewpoints concerning the transatlantic experience during Britain's rise to world dominance between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries."--Jacket. 2005. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 973"16/17"

Secret cures of slaves : people, plants, and medicine in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world /Londa Schiebinger. "In the natural course of events, humans fall sick and die. The history of medicine bristles with attempts to find new and miraculous remedies, to work with and against nature to restore humans to health and well-being. In this book, Londa Schiebinger examines medicine and human experimentation in the Atlantic World, exploring the circulation of people, disease, plants, and knowledge between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. She traces the development of a colonial medical complex from the 1760s, when a robust experimental culture emerged in the British and French West Indies, to the early 1800s, when debates raged about banning the slave trade and, eventually, slavery itself. Massive mortality among enslaved Africans and European planters, soldiers, and sailors fueled the search for new healing techniques. Amerindian, African, and European knowledges competed to cure diseases emerging from the collision of peoples on newly established, often poorly supplied, plantations. But not all knowledge was equal. Highlighting the violence and fear endemic to colonial struggles, Schiebinger explores aspects of African medicine that were not put to the test, such as Obeah and vodou. This book analyzes how and why specific knowledges were blocked, discredited, or held secret."--Provided by the publisher. 2017. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 610.72/408996073

Assembly codes : the logistics of media /edited by Matthew Hockenberry, Nicole Starosielski, and Susan Zieger ; foreword by John Durham Peters. "The contributors to Assembly Codes examine how media and logistics set the conditions for the circulation of information and culture. They document how logistics-the techniques of organizing and coordinating the movement of materials, bodies, and information-has substantially impacted the production, distribution, and consumption of media. At the same time, physical media, such as paperwork, along with media technologies ranging from phone systems to software are central to the operations of logistics. The contributors interrogate topics ranging from the logistics of film production and the construction of internet infrastructure to the environmental impact of the creation, distribution, and sale of vinyl records. They also reveal how logistical technologies have generated new aesthetic and performative practices. In charting the specific points of contact, dependence, and friction between media and logistics, Assembly Codes demonstrates that media and logistics are co-constitutive and that one cannot be understood apart from the other."--Provided by the publisher. 2021. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 302.23

The Kongolese Saint Anthony : Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian movement, 1684-1706 /John K. Thornton. "This book tells the story of the Christian religious movement led by Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita in the Kingdom of Kongo from 1704 until her death, by burning at the stake, in 1706. Beatriz, a young woman, claimed to be possessed by St Anthony, argued that Jesus was a Kongolese, and criticized Italian Capuchin missionaries in her country for not supporting black saints. The movement was largely a peace movement, with a following among the common people, attempting to stop the devastating cycle of civil wars between contenders for the Kongolese throne. Thornton supplies background information on the Kingdom, the development of Catholicism in Kongo since 1491, the nature and role of local warfare in the Atlantic slave trade, and contemporary everyday life, as well as sketching the lives of some local personalities."--Provided by the publisher. 2009. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 967.51/01/092

A life of John Julius Angerstein, 1735-1823 : widening circles in finance, philanthropy and the arts in eighteenth century London /Anthony Twist. A biography of John Julius Angerstein (1735-1823). Born in Russia, Angerstein moved to England under the patronage of merchant Andrew Thomson, said to be his father. Introduced to Lloyd's, Angerstein primarily worked in the marine insurance industry both as a broker and underwriter. He was member of the Committees of both Lloyd's and the Lloyd's Register of Shipping, serving as Chairman of Lloyd's between 1790-1796. Angerstein's family and business relationships connected him with several London merchant communities and as a Lloyd's broker and underwriter his growing wealth enabled him to amass a fine collection of paintings. On his death, many of these would be purchased to form the nucleus of the National Gallery's collection. The author notes that while there is no surviving comment by Angerstein on the question of slavery, Angerstein is likely to have insured ships in the West Indian slave trade and was a trustee for the creditors of two sugar estates in Grenada. Angerstein supported a number of charitable endeavours including The Patriotic Fund and with William Wilberforce was a member of the General Committe of the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor. He was an early supporter of Jenner's vaccination against smallpox. Angerstein lived in Greenwich, leasing an estate from Sir Gregory Page on which he built Woodlands, his home. The book has a number of photographic plates of art works in his collection, of Angerstein and his family and his homes. There are detailed notes and a bibliography. 2006. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92ANGERSTEIN

Curious encounters : voyaging, collecting, and making knowledge in the long eighteenth century /edited by Adriana Craciun and Mary Terrall. "With contributions from historians, literary critics, and geographers, Curious Encounters uncovers a rich history of global voyaging, collecting, and scientific exploration in the long eighteenth century. Leaving behind grand narratives of discovery, these essays collectively restore a degree of symmetry and contingency to our understanding of encounters between European and Indigenous people. To do this the essays consider diverse agents of historical change, both human and inanimate: commodities, curiosities, texts, animals, and specimens moved through their own global circuits of knowledge and power. The voyages and collections rediscovered here do not move from a European center to a distant periphery, nor do they position European authorities as the central agents of this early era of globalization. Long distance voyagers from Greenland to the Ottoman Empire crossed paths with French, British, Polynesian, and Spanish travelers across the world, trading objects and knowledge for diverse ends. The dynamic contact zones of these curious encounters include the ice floes of the Arctic, the sociable spaces of the tea table, the hybrid material texts and objects in imperial archives, and the collections belonging to key figures of the Enlightenment, including Sir Hans Sloane and James Petiver."-- 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.4(100)"17"

The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1838-1956 : a history /James Heartfield. "After West Indian slavery was abolished in 1833, the campaign turned to the wider world and the goal of Universal Emancipation. Veteran agitators Joseph Sturge, Lord Brougham and John Scoble launched the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society at a world convention in 1840. Throughout its long history the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society was instrumental in framing Britain's diplomatic policy of promoting anti-slavery - a policy that projected moral authority over allies and rivals, through naval power and international tribunals. The BFASS pushed for, and prepared the 1890 Brussels conference that divided Africa between the European powers, on the grounds of fighting Arab slavers. The Society was torn between its belief in the civilizing mission of Europeans, and its brief to protect Africans. Rubber slavery in the Belgian Congo, indentured 'coolies' in the Empire, and forced labor in British Africa tested the Society's goals of civilizing the world. This first comprehensive history of the Society draws on 120 years of anti-slavery publications, like the Anti-Slavery Reporter, to explain its unique status as the first international human rights organization; and explains the Society's surprising attitudes to the Confederate secession, the 'Coolies", and the colonization of Africa."--Provided by the publisher. 2016 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 326.8

The decline and fall of the British Empire, 1781-1997 / Piers Brendon. Chronicles Britain's rise to imperial might in the wake of the American Revolution, recording life in its diverse colonies and reflecting on the inherent weaknesses of the empire, its inevitable decline, and its legacy for the present. 2010. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 941-44"17/19"

Sicily and the Sea. Inspired by Sicily's archaeological and cultural treasures, this book offers an overview - or perhaps rather an anthology, since a complete survey, if at all possible, would soon become stifling - of the island's history and culture, paying attention not only to ancient and medieval shipwrecks, battles, economy and art, but also to typically Sicilian traditions (from folk-tales and tuna fishing to mafia fighters), modern politics, and the poets, novelists and filmmakers who lived on Sicily or were inspired by its unique character. 2015 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 945.81

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