Library Results | Royal Museums Greenwich

The Kaiser's lost Kreuzer : a history of U-156 and Germany's long-range submarine campaign against North America, 1918 /Paul N. Hodos. "In 1917 and 1918 Germany made her first attempt to wage long range submarine warfare against the faraway shores of the US, Canada, and West Africa. In that deadly last chapter of the Great War the Germans sent giant submarines to prey upon Allied shipping far distant from the main naval war zones around Europe in a desperate gamble to save the faltering unrestricted U-boat war. This is the first time the whole story has been told from the perspective of Imperial Germany in the English language. The U-156's experiences in this barely known saga of World War I epitomize the whole campaign. The U-156 raided commerce, transported captured cargo, and terrorized coastal populations from Madeira to Cape Cod. On 19 July 1918, the USS San Diego was headed into New York harbor when an explosion occurred and the ship quickly sank close to the Long Island coast. The attack was the opening salvo in a series of record-breaking firsts undertaken by the U-156 against the US and Canada. Over a month later, after waging a humane but unrelenting war just off North America, the crew of the U-156 sailed toward home and into history."--Provided by publisher. 2018. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.451.6(43:73)"1918"

The making of a world power : war and the military revolution in seventeenth century England In 1605 England had neither a full-time navy nor a standing army. By 1705 this situation had changed dramatically and England's professional army and navy were playing crucial roles in Europe and North America. This book attempts to explain that dramatic turnaround and refutes existing scholarship that places Britain's military and financial revolutions after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The author concludes that these revolutions are located earlier and are related to mid-17th century conflicts, both domestic and foreign. Black and white images of battles and important characters of the time are included. 1999 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.48216"(410.1)

Churchill's thin grey line : British merchant ships at war 1939-1945 /Bernard Edwards "The first British casualties of the Second World War were not members of either the Royal Navy, the Army or the Royal Air Force but British merchant seamen on the liner Athenia, torpedoed by U-30 on 3 September 1939. For the duration of the War, Britain's merchant fleet performed a vital role, carrying the essential supplies that kept the country running during the darkest days and then made victory possible. Their achievements came at a terrible cost with 2,535 British oceangoing merchant ships being sunk and, of the 185,000 men and women serving in the British Merchant Navy at the time, 36,749 sacrificed their lives. A further 4,707 were wounded and 5,720 ended up in prisoner of war camps. Their casualty rate of 25 percent was second only to RAF Bomber Command's. Using casebook examples, this well researched book tells the inspiring story of those brave civilian volunteers who fought so gallantly to defend their ships and the cargoes."--Provided by the publisher. 2017. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.545:656.61(42)

The heyday of Thames pleasure steamers / Andrew Gladwell "For several generations of Londoners the highlight of each summer was a day trip to the coast aboard a well-loved pleasure steamer. The interwar years saw some of the finest pleasure steamers ever being built for Thames service and names such as Royal Eagle, Golden Eagleand Crested Eaglebecame bywords for luxury and speed as they took their happy throng of passengers to coastal resorts such as Margate, Southend, Ramsgate and Clacton. By the mid-1930s, sleek modern motor vessels were replacing the older paddle steamers. Wartime service took its toll on London's pleasure steamer fleet but, by the late 1940s, favourite old vessels had returned and were joined by wonderful replacement vessels for wartime losses. By the 1950s, the Thames fleet was truly magnificent and it seemed that the peacetime queues of passengers would last forever in those sun-drenched days of the 1950s. But, by the 1960s, it was all more or less over as the motor car became the preferred mode of getting to the seaside. For many, though, there would be nothing like a day trip aboard a pleasure steamer such as the Royal Daffodil, Queen of the Channel or the Royal Sovereign."--Provided by the publisher 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 629.123.3(282.242.1)

All at sea : naval support for the British army during the American Revolutionary War. ''The American Revolutionary War was a conflict that Britain did not want, and for which it was not prepared. The British Army in America at the end of 1774 was only 3,000 strong, with a further 6,000 to arrive by the time that the conflict started in the spring of 1775. The Royal Navy, on which the British depended for the defence of its shores, trade and far-flung colonies, had been much reduced as a result of the economies that followed the Seven Years War. In 1775 the problem facing government ministers, the War Office, and the Admiralty was how to reinforce, maintain and supply an army (that grew to over 90,000 men) while blockading the American coast and defending Britain?s many interests around the world; a problem that got bigger when France entered the war in 1778. With a 3,000 mile supply line, taking six to eight weeks for a passage, the scale of the undertaking was enormous. Too often in military histories the focus is on the clash of arms, with little acknowledgement of the vital role of that neglected stepchild - logistics. In All At Sea, John Dillon concentrates on the role of the Navy in supporting, supplying and transporting the British Army during the war in America. Because of individual egos, other strategic priorities, and the number of ships available, that support was not always at the level the British public expected. However, without the navy the war could not have been fought at all.''--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 973.35

A social and economic history of the 1797 fleet mutinies at Spithead and the Nore / Callum Easton Easton, Callum 2020 • FOLIO • 1 copy available.

The Royal Navy Wasp : an operational and retirement history /Larry Jeram-Croft and Terry Martin. "This book tells the story of the first helicopter in the world designed from the outset to be deployed at sea, in Destroyers and Frigates. It is primarily based on the words of those who operated it. Designed from the outset to cope with the restricted space of a warship both for stowage and flight operations it proved an immediate success. Its original role was to act as a weapon carrier to launch torpedoes and depth charges on submarine contacts out of range of the parent ship's weapons range. Soon, it also took on a second primary role of air to surface attack using wire guided missiles. The flexibility of the machine was such that it was able to conduct a plethora of secondary roles from visual search to collecting the all-important ship's mail. Wherever the Royal Navy was deployed on operations a Wasp was there. The book has accounts of operations around the world particularly during the Cold War of the Seventies and the Falklands War where amongst other things it had the honour of being the first RN platform ever, to fire a guided missile at a surface target. However the story doesn't end there. Although the aircraft went out of service in the Royal Navy in 1988, it continued to operate with other navies around the world. To this day there are still several airworthy examples flying. The second part of the book gives accounts of these machines and brings the story of the Wasp completely up to date"--Provided by the publisher. 2018. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 623.746.174(42)

Defending the Rock : Gibraltar and the Second World War /Nicholas Rankin. "Two months before he shot himself, Adolf Hitler saw where it had all gone wrong. By failing to seize Gibraltar in the summer of 1940, he lost the war. The Rock of Gibraltar, a pillar of British sea-power since 1704, looked formidable but was extraordinarily vulnerable. Though menaced on all sides by Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Vichy France and Francoist Spain, every day Gibraltar had to let thousands of people cross its frontier to work. Among them came spies and saboteurs, eager to blow up its 25 miles of secret tunnels. In 1942, Gibraltar became US General Eisenhower's HQ for the invasion of North Africa, the campaign that led to Allied victory in the Mediterranean. Nicholas Rankin's revelatory new book, whose cast of characters includes Haile Selassie, Anthony Burgess and General Sikorski, sets Gibraltar in the wider context of the struggle against fascism, from Abyssinia through the Spanish Civil War. It also chronicles the end of empire and the rise to independence of the Gibraltarian people." 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.545.9(42:468.2)

The Windrush betrayal : exposing the hostile environment /Amelia Gentleman. ''Paulette Wilson had always assumed she was British. She had spent most of her life in London working as a cook; she even worked in the House of Commons' canteen. How could someone who had lived in England since being a primary school pupil suddenly be classified as an illegal immigrant. It was only through Amelia Gentleman's tenacious investigative and campaigning journalism that it emerged that thousands were in Paulette's position. What united them was that they had all arrived in the UK from the Commonwealth as children in the 1950s and 1960s. In The Windrush Betrayal, Gentleman tells the story of the scandal and exposes deeply disturbing truths about modern Britain.''--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 325.41

Shackelton's captain : a biography of Frank Worsley /John Thompson. A biography of Frank Worsley who served on Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1916) as captain of the Endurance. Leaving the Endurance when she became trapped in ice, the expedition members set off across the ice to reach Elephant Island by eventually taking to the lifeboats, one of which, the Dudley Docker, was commanded by Worsley. Shortly after reaching the Island, Shackleton took the decision to take a small party, including Worsley, on the James Caird to South Georgia in order to seek assistance. Worsley's navigational skills contributed to the success of this venture. Returning to England, he served and was twice decorated in the First World War, and was a member of Shackleton's last expedition to the Antarctic as captain of the Quest. 1999. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92WORSLEY, FRANK

Scotland's North Sea gateway : Aberdeen harbour AD 1136-1986 Turner, John R 1986 • BOOK • 2 copies available. 627.2(412.5)

John Herschel's Cape voyage : private science, public imagination, and the ambitions of empire /Steven Ruskin. Ruskin, Steven, c2004. • BOOK • 4 copies available. 910.4(68)

Clyde coast piers / Alistair Deayton. ''Often a lifeline for remote waterside communities, the Scottish pier has been a functional rather than a pleasure pier. Served by paddle steamers, puffers and small coasters, the piers served a vital function for their communities. Often with stunning mountain backdrops, many settlements clustered around the piers, which provided a means of communication with the world at large. Some piers, like Rothesay's, could accommodate a number of pleasure steamers at once, while others, such as at Tighnabruaich, were built with functionality in mind, providing for the needs of the inhabitants. Alistair Deayton brings together a superb selection of images of the Clyde Coast piers from the late nineteenth-century to the present day, telling their history and showing just some of the variety of vessels that called there. From Macbrayne's steamers to the working vessels of McCallum, Orme and the puffers of Glenlight, a vast array of ships are shown.''--Provided by the publisher. 2010. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 387.15

Time tamed : the remarkable story of humanity's quest to measure time /Nicholas Foulkes. ''For more than 25,000 years, mankind has sought to understand and measure the passing of time, in the process creating some of the most remarkable and beautiful timepieces. Now, in Nicholas Foulkes's lavishly illustrated book, the battle to tame time is brought vividly to life. From the baboon bone dating back to the palaeolithic era that marked the lunar cycle and on to the 3500-year-old water clock at Karnak, from our earliest days mankind has sought to track the passing of time. More recently, the struggles to measure longitude and to create a workable train timetable across the vast, open expanse of the United States have inspired new developments. In Time Tamed, Nicholas Foulkes reveals how we have done this by focusing on some of the most significant developments in timekeeping across the ages. He also highlights the most stunning and lavish clocks and watches in history - from Big Ben to Rolex - for telling the time has never been purely about function, but also about design. The book is filled with remarkable tales, from the 14th century monk in St Albans who created one of the first mechanical clocks to the Holy Roman Emperor who built a clock into an automated ship that fired a cannon to summon guests to dinner. More recently, there was the Surrey woman who used a Napoleonic era watch to 'deliver' the accurate time to London shopkeepers in the wartime era of Churchill, or the Swiss denture maker who solved a tricky problem for the Indian Raj's polo players. Time Tamed is a book you'll want to spend many hours enjoying.''--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 681.11309

The world's war : forgotten soldiers of empire /David Olusoga. "The story of how Europe's Great War became the World's War - a multi-racial, multi-national struggle fought in Africa and Asia as well as in Europe, which pulled men and resources from across the globe. As vivid and moving as it is revelatory and authoritative, The World's War explores the experiences and sacrifices of 4 million non-European, non-white people whose stories have remained too long in the shadows."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.412

The making of King James II: the formative years of a fallen king James II reigned from 1685, following the death of his brother Charles II, until 1688, when he was deposed in the Glorious Revolution. He was the last Roman Catholic monarch of England. He was a loyal and valuable lieutenant to Charles II. Before becoming king he held many important positions and exercised a great deal of power and patronage. However, on ascending to the throne he failed to harness political support and did not present an acceptable public image to his subjects. James II's obstinate and authoritarian behaviour lead to him being regarded as 'an impolitick prince'. Previously it has been suggested that his personality when king was the result of physical or mental degeneration. This book is the result of detailed research into James II's life before he became king and concludes that the flaws in his personality and behaviour were present from the start. The book has a small selection of black and white illustrations, mainly portraits of James II. There are extensive notes, a bibliography and an index. 2000 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92JamesII

Last voyage to Wewak : a tale of the sea, West Africa to the South Pacific /Simon J. Hall. "This is a thought-provoking work, capturing the march of time which overtook the maritime world in the last quarter of the 20th century. The final crumbling of the British register caused officers like Hall to find themselves in a strange new world, sailing under flags of convenience with all the old certainties of life at sea having vanished. There is both sadness and a rage at seeing a way of life disappear forever under the wheels of commerce, made more poignant by the author himself swallowing the anchor and moving on. Expelled from Indonesia as an undesirable, medically discharged in Honolulu, confined in Nigeria, Hall's turbulent life takes him from West Africa to Japan, from Europe to the Persian Gulf to the South Pacific. At last a Master Mariner, he serves on one last break-bulk general cargo ship, before transferring to the new maritime world. The prose is as elegantly expressed as in his earlier works. Wistful, unvarnished, droll, in powerless rage against the changes, this is an important companion to Hall's previous acclaimed books, a fine work that captures, in arresting style, the life of men who go down to the sea in ships."-- [2017] • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.4/5092

Shadow over the Atlantic : the Luftwaffe and the U-boats: 1943-45 /Robert Forsyth. German U-boats were the scourge of Allied merchant and military shipping in the Atlantic during World War II, threatening to isolate and then starve the UK out of the War. As Germany's war against the Allied convoys intensified in late 1943, German Admiral Karl Dèonitz called upon the Luftwaffe to provide a long-range spotting and shadowing unit to act as 'eyes' for his U-boats. Equipped with big, four-engined Junkers Ju 290s fitted out with advanced search radar and other maritime 'ELINT' (electronic intelligence) devices, Fernaufklèarungsgruppe (FAGr) 5 'Atlantik' undertook a distant, isolated campaign far out into the Atlantic and thousands of miles away from its home base in western France. The information generated and reported back to Dèonitz's headquarters was vital to the efforts of the U-boats, and FAGr 5's 'shadowing' missions were assigned priority in terms of skilled crews, supplies and equipment.This book tells for the first time the fascinating story of the formation and operations of FAGr 5 'Atlantik', drawing on never-before-published historical records of the unit that accounted for the reporting and destruction of thousands of tons of Allied shipping. 2017. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.544(26:43)

Walter Ralegh : architect of empire /Alan Gallay. "Sir Walter Ralegh was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth. She showered him with estates and political appointments. He envisioned her becoming empress of a universal empire. She gave him the opportunity to lead the way. In Walter Ralegh, Alan Gallay shows that, while Ralegh may be best known for founding the failed Roanoke colony, his historical importance vastly exceeds that enterprise. Inspired by the mystical religious philosophy of hermeticism, Ralegh led English attempts to colonize in North America, South America, and Ireland. He believed that the answer to English fears of national decline resided overseas -- and that colonialism could be achieved without conquest. Gallay reveals how Ralegh launched the English Empire and an era of colonization that shaped Western history for centuries after his death".--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92RALEGH

Ulster's ships & quaysides : a photographic record /Robert Anderson, Ian Wilson. ''This collection of images record a connection with ships and the sea and a lifestyle which has largely disappeared This book catalogues the ever changing maritime heritage from the late 40's to date. Gone are the days when boys could walk down a quay side and banter with the Dockers, the World has become a very different place in a very short time.''--Provided by the publisher. 2011. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 387.509416

Battle in the Baltic ; Steve Dunn. ''Though for most participants World War I ended on 11 November 1918, the Royal Navy found itself, despite four years of slaughter and war weariness, fighting a fierce and brutal battle in the Baltic Sea against Bolshevik Russia in an attempt to protect the fragile independence of the newly liberated states of Estonia and Latvia. This new book by Steve R. Dunn describes the events of those two years when Royal Navy ships and men, under the command of Rear Admiral Alexander-Sinclair, found themselves in a maelstrom of chaos and conflicting loyalties, and facing multiple opponents. Today few people are aware of this exhausting campaign and the sacrifices made by Royal Navy sailors, but the pages of this book retell their exciting but forgotten stories.''--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 947.0841

A scientific, historical, and commercial survey of the harbour and Port of London : containing accounts of its history, priveleges, functions and government ; its extent, divisions and jurisdictions ; tidal and other observations ; accompanied by plans and details of the port, its docks, gates and machinery /by James Elmes. Elmes, James 1838. • RARE-OVER • 2 copies available. 094:627.2(421)

The fatal shore : a history of the transportation of convicts to Australia, 1787-1868 /Robert Hughes A history of the transportation of convicts from Britain to Australia, including Tasmania (Van Dieman's Land) and Norfolk Island. The author covers the background and context for the introduction of the system following Captain Cook's visits. Beginning with the arrival of the first fleet on 26 January 1788 and closing with the arrival of the last convict ship in January 1868, the author examines the voyages and background of the convicts on board as well as the impact of their arrival on the aborigine populations of the time and the growth and development of white settlement. Life in the settlements, the work of the convicts for the Government and free settlers under the assignment system, and their impact on the economy are also detailed. Further chapters cover the role of women in the new settlements, absconding convicts and the growth of campaigning movements such as the Anti-Transportation League advocating the termination of the system. The text is supported by maps, illustrations and a full bibliography. 1987 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 994.02

The grey wolves of Eriboll / David M. Hird. An overview of the role which Loch Eriboll played in the German U-Boat surrender at the end of the Second World War. The author combines a narrative of events alongside extensive use of primary sources written by Allied and German soliders during the surrender and the escorting of U-boats to Loch Eriboll. Also provided is a detailed list of the U-boats sent to Eriboll as well as a brief summary of their service, photographs taken during the operation, a short bibliography for further reading, and a series of brief appendices detailing the history of Allied crafts involved. 2010. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.451.2(411)"1945"

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