Library Results | Royal Museums Greenwich

Sons of the waves : the common seaman in the heroic age of sail, 1740-1840 /Stephen Taylor. "British maritime history in the age of sail is full of the deeds of officers like Nelson but has given little voice to plain, 'illiterate' seamen. Now Stephen Taylor draws on published and unpublished memoirs, letters, and naval records, including court-martials and petitions, to present these men in their own words. In this account, ordinary seamen are far from the hapless sufferers of the press gangs. Proud and spirited, learned in their own fashion, with robust opinions and the courage to challenge overweening authority, they stand out from their less adventurous compatriots. Taylor demonstrates how the sailor was the engine of British prosperity and expansion up to the Industrial Revolution. From exploring the South Seas with Cook to establishing the East India Company as a global corporation, from the sea battles that made Britain a superpower to the crisis of the 1797 mutinies, these 'sons of the waves' held the nation's destiny in their calloused hands."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 359.0092241

The truth about the mutiny on HMAV Bounty : and the fate of Fletcher Christian /Glynn Christian. "The Truth About the Mutiny on HMAV BOUNTY - and the Fate of Fletcher Christian brings this famed South Pacific saga into the 21st century. By combining unprecedented research into Fletcher Christian and his fate with deep knowledge of Bounty's Polynesian women, Glynn Christian presents a fresh and comprehensive telling of a powerful maritime adventure that still captivates after 230 years. Of over 3000 books and major articles on the mutiny, or the five feature films starring such as Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, Marlon Brando and Mel Gibson, none has told the true story as until 1982, no author knew the real Fletcher Christian, or could understand his relationship with William Bligh, his mentor-turned-nemesis. Glynn Christian's extraordinary research into Bligh, Christian and Bounty included every deposit of documents worldwide and a sailing expedition to Pitcairn Island. This book details the cramped dark conditions on the ship and how Bligh bravely commanded it at Cape Horn, saving it and the crew. Yet he was unable to keep discipline because he didn't punish enough, instead relying on his brutal tongue. Forced to remain in Tahiti for 23 weeks, Bligh struggled to retain order when Bounty sailed. Glynn Christian reveals how this affected Fletcher Christian mentally, explaining his out-of-character mutiny. Then Christian showed revolutionary social conscience, using democracy and uniforms on Bounty to maintain leadership, including through the little-known settlement of Fort George on Tubuai. After this, he and Bounty disappeeared for 18 years. Bounty's story becomes that of Pitcairn Island, of revolutionary black women who protected their children with the blood of their fathers and continued Fletcher's ideals to become the first women in the world permanently to have the vote and guarantee education for girls. But where was Fletcher Christian?"--Provided by the publisher. 2021. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 996.18

Black poppies : Britain's black community and the Great War /Stephen Bourne. "In this updated edition of his acclaimed study of the black presence in Britain during the First World War, Stephen Bourne illuminates fascinating stories of black servicemen of African heritage. These accounts of the fights for their 'Mother Country' are charted from the outbreak of war in 1914 to the conflict's aftermath in 1919, when black communities up and down Great Britain were faced with anti-black 'race riots' despite their dedicated services to their country at home and abroad. With unprecedented access to the wartime personal correspondence of the Jamaican siblings Vera, Norman and Douglas Manley, Bourne helps bring to light the day-to-day trials, tribulations and tragedies of life on the battlefield. The stories of servicemen like Arthur Roberts - Scotland's Black Tommy - and Trinidadian soldier and campaigner George A. Roberts sit alongside the experiences of people of African descent at home during the First World War. These include a black police officer, munitions factory workers and even stars of the stage like Cassie Walmer. Informative and accessible, with first-hand accounts and original photographs, Black Poppies is the essential guide to the military and civilian wartime experiences of black men and women, from the trenches to the music halls."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.4/008996/041

The Channel : the remarkable men and women who made it the most fascinating waterway in the world /Charlie Connelly. "A bulwark against invasion, a conduit for exchange and a challenge to be conquered, the English Channel has always been many things to many people. Today it's the busiest shipping lane in the world and hosts more than 30 million passenger crossings every year but this sliver of choppy brine, just 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, represents much more than a conductor of goods and people. Criss-crossing the Channel - not to mention regularly throwing himself into it for a bracing swim - Charlie Connelly collects its stories and brings them vividly to life, from tailing Oscar Wilde's shadow through the dark streets of Dieppe to unearthing Britain's first beauty pageant at the end of Folkestone pier (it was won by a bloke called Wally). We uncover the tragic fate of the first successful Channel swimmer. We learn that Louis Bleriot was actually a terrible pilot. And we discover how - if a man with a buttered head and pigs' bladders attached to his trousers hadn't fought off an attack by dogfish - we might never have had a Channel Tunnel. Here is a cast of extraordinary characters - geniuses, cheats, dreamers, charlatans, visionaries, eccentrics and at least one pair of naked, cuddling balloonists - whose stories are all united by the English Channel to ensure the sea that makes us an island will never be the same again."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 909.096336

Seeking sanctuary : a history of refugees in Britain /Jane Marchese Robinson. "Seeking Sanctuary explores the history of people looking for refuge in this country. It starts with those protestant refugees fleeing oppression and persecution from Catholic Spain who ruled the Netherlands in the 16th century. It traces successive waves of peoples in the context of why they fled. At various times this was due to religious persecution, political upheaval, war and ethnic cleansing."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 305.9069140941

China station : the British military in the Middle Kingdom 1839-1997 /Mark Felton. "The Author, who lives in Shanghai, sets out to demonstrate that the British military has been at the forefront of many of the great changes that have swept China over the last two centuries. He devotes chapters to the various wars, military adventures and rebellions that regularly punctuated Sino#British relationships since the 1st Opium War 1839-1842. This classic example of Imperial intervention saw the establishment of Hong Kong and Shanghai as key trading centres. The Second Opium War and the Taiping and Boxer Rebellions saw the advancement of British influence despite determined but unsuccessful efforts by the Chinese to loosen the grip of Western domination. The Royal Navys might ensured that, by gunboat diplomacy, trading rights and new posts were established and great fortunes made. But in the 1940s the British grossly underestimated Japanese military might and intentions with disastrous results. After the Second World War the British returned to find that the Americans had supplanted them. The Communists victory in the Civil War sealed British and Western fates and, while Hong Kong remained under British control until 1997, the end of British rule was almost inevitable. But the handover was a masterly piece of pragmatic capitalism and the former Colony remains an economic powerhouse with strong British influence."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 951.033

Sperry gyro-compass : Mark XIV, mod 1 : service book Great Britain. Admiralty. Compass Department 1948 • PAMPHLET • 2 copies available. 629.1.054.6

Flash. Trinity House (London, England) [1958]-2003. • JOURNAL • 1 copy available.

The battle of Britain : August - October 1940 : an Air ministry account of the great days from 8th August- 31st October 1940. Great Britain.-Air Ministry, 1941. • PAMPHLET • 1 copy available. 940.545.9"1940"

Superfast : and the ships of Attica Group /Bruce Peter. "This publication looks at the development and introduction of the Superfast ships operating in the Adriatic and Aegean seas. The distinctive and slick Superfast vessels built in Germany and Finland transformed the Greek ferry business from the mid-1990s until the present. The book contains unique first-hand accounts of the design development, construction and operations of the Superfast fleet and the challenges overcome. It describes the expansion of the parent company, Attica Group, and its development of the Blue Star Ferries brand, as well as the re-organisation of the ferry services in Greek waters and Attica?s recent acquisition of Hellenic Seaways. Many of the twelve Superfast ships have been cascaded to various parts of the world, including Australia, France, Canada and the Baltic and their subsequent careers are included as well."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. txt

Red Devils and Heroes : the sinking of the Nerissa /Kevin R. Paul, M.D. "Lt. Russell Paul sailed for Great Britain aboard the S.S. Nerissa during the early days of World War II, leaving his pregnant wife behind in Canada. One hundred miles from the Irish coast, the Nerissa was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat, the Red Devil. Over two hundred passengers and crew were killed, and the survivors spent a frigid night in the North Atlantic before being rescued. Lieutenant Paul remained in London for the duration of the War, surviving Nazi bombs and providing support for the Normandy invasion, before returning to Canada where he met his four year old son for the first time. Red Devils and Heroes is the story of the Nerissa. It is the story of the heroes who fought in the war, the heroes who remained at home, and the heroes who never made it home. It is the story of my grandfather, Russell Paul."--Provided by the publisher. 2014. • BOOK • 1 copy available.

Border vigils : keeping migrants out of the rich world /Jeremy Harding. "Ours is an era marked by extraordinary human migrations, with some 200 million people alive today having moved from their country of origin. The political reaction in Europe and the United States has been to raise the drawbridge: immigrant workers are needed, but no longer welcome. So migrants die in trucks or drown en route; they are murdered in smuggling operations or ruthlessly exploited in illegal businesses that make it impossible for the abused to seek police help. More than 15,000 people have died in the last twenty years trying to circumvent European entry restrictions. In this beautifully written book, Jeremy Harding draws haunting portraits of the migrants - and anti-immigrant zealots - he encountered in his investigations in Europe and on the US-Mexico border. Harding's painstaking research and global perspective identify the common characteristics of immigration policy across the rich world and raise pressing questions about the future of national boundaries and universal values."--Provided by the publisher. 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 305.9/0691

Great Britain, international law, and the evolution of maritime strategic thought, 1856-1914 / Gabriela A. Frei. "Gabriela A. Frei addresses the interaction between international maritime law and maritime strategy in a historical context, arguing that both international law and maritime strategy are based on long-term state interests. Great Britain as the predominant sea power in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries shaped the relationship between international law and maritime strategy like no other power. This study explores how Great Britain used international maritime law as an instrument of foreign policy to protect its strategic and economic interests, and how maritime strategic thought evolved in parallel to the development of international legal norms. Frei offers an analysis of British state practice as well as an examination of the efforts of the international community to codify international maritime law in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Great Britain as the predominant sea power as well as the world's largest carrier of goods had to balance its interests as both a belligerent and a neutral power. With the growing importance of international law in international politics, the volume examines the role of international lawyers, strategists, and government officials who shaped state practice. Great Britain's neutrality for most of the period between 1856 and 1914 influenced its state practice and its perceptions of a future maritime conflict. Yet, the codification of international maritime law at the Hague and London conferences at the beginning of the twentieth century demanded a reassessment of Great Britain's legal position."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 343.41096

Crime at sea / compiled by B.A.H. Parritt. Ã1996. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 364.1

Constable : a master draughtsman /[Dulwich Picture Gallery]. This catalogue was produced to accompany the exhibition 'Constable: a Master Draughtsman' which took place in 1994 at Dulwich Picture Gallery. It focuses on the drawings of John Constable rather than the paintings and oil sketches for which he is generally well known. The author of the introduction co-organised the 1976 and 1991 Constable exhibitions at the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain). The catalogue contains three essays by other scholars in the field: Anne Lyles of the Tate Gallery analyses and compares the drawings of Constable's contemporaries; Jane McAusland, conservator and restorer of art on paper, explores the paper and drawing materials available to artists in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; and the artist Patrick Heron discusses his personal response to Constable's draughtsmanship. [1994]. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 7CONSTABLE

Ships of the Royal Navy : the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th century to the present /J.J. Colledge revised and updated by Ben Warlow & Steve Bush. "This is the fifth fully revised edition of a book first published in 1970. This longevity is testimony to its enduring value as a reference work--indeed, 'Colledge' (as it is universally known) is still the first stop for anyone wanting more information on any British warship from the fifteenth century to the present day when only the name is known. Each entry gives concise details of dimensions, armament and service dates, and its alphabetical and chronological arrangement makes it easy to track down the right ship (otherwise the Royal Navy's tradition of re-using the same names can be misleading). This edition contains more than two hundred new entries and revisions to many older entries."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 3 copies available. 355.009

Enemy Waters : Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Norwegian Navy, U.S. Navy, and other Allied mine forces battling the Germans and Italians in World War II /Cdr. David D. Bruhn, USN (retired) and Lt. Cdr. Rob Hoole, RN (retired). "When Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, the Royal Navy was deficient in minelayers needed to try to hold enemy forces at bay and out of its home waters. Turning first to the Merchant Navy, it requisitioned a liner and two ferries for this use, and a dozen destroyers and submarines were also converted to carry mines. Later, six fast minelaying cruisers joined the force. When Italy entered the war on the Axis side in June 1940, the situation became dire. As U-boats continued to sink shipping in the North Sea and around the British Isles, the Italian Fleet and German and Italian Air Forces controlled the central Mediterranean. Royal Air Force Bomber and Coastal Command planes took up mining, as did old Swordfish biplanes of the Fleet Air Arm. Joining in the fight were units of exiled navies, including the Dutch minelayer Willem van der Zaan, Free French submarine Rubis, and the Norwegian 52nd Motor Launch Flotilla. U.S. Navy mine forces supported the invasion of French North Africa in late 1942, subsequent landings in Italy, and the invasions of Normandy and southern France. The Canadian 31st Minesweeping Flotilla was at Normandy, and joined in later operations. Enemy Waters puts readers in the heart of the action. One hundred and forty-five photographs, maps, and diagrams; appendices; and an index to full-names, places and subjects add value to this work."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 2 copies available. 940.5421 BRU

An Act for protection of naval stores. 32 Vict. Ch 12 Great Britain. Laws, statutes, etc 1869 • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 355.75

Disease in the merchant navy : a history of the Seaman's Hospital Society /Gordon C Cook. "In this unique, highly detailed examination, Gordon C Cook explores disease in the merchant navy through the history of the Seamen's Hospital Society. From its foundation in 1812, until the present day, the Seamen's Hospital Society has been responsible for the physical welfare of merchant seamen and has headed many remarkable advances in medical science. This handsome volume is ideal for all those with an interest in the Seamen's Hospital Society, medical and naval historians, and general readers with an interest in maritime and naval history."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 362.11:656.61

Women against slavery : the British campaigns, 1780-1870 /Clare Midgley. "This comprehensive study of women anti-slavery campaigners fills a serious gap in the history of anti-slavery and women. Covering all stages of the anti-slavery campaign, Women Against Slavery uses hitherto neglected sources to build up a vivid picture of the lives, words and actions of the women who were involved. It examines the extent of women's involvement, looks at the type of women who became activists and considers the distinctive contribution that they made to the organization, activities, policy and ideology of the movement. The close links between British and American women, which were central to the transatlantic abolitionist network, are explored. Clare Midgley's discussion moves outwards to analyse the impact that participation had on women's lives: particularly in terms of their social roles, and their attitudes to politics and public life. Exploring the vital role played by gender in shaping the movement as a whole, this book makes an important contribution to the debate on gender and 'race'."--Provided by the publisher. 1992. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 326/.0942

Of penguins and polar bears : a history of cold water cruising /Christopher Wright. "We have been cruising and exploring polar waters since the nineteenth century, but very little has been written about them. Drawing on expert research, Of Penguins and Polar Bears seeks to rectify this, and looks at activity in both the Antarctic and Arctic waters the homes of the penguins and the polar bears to provide insight into how the passenger trades developed in these regions. With over a hundred stunning pictures, this is a must-have gazetteer for anyone thinking about cruising the Earth's 'last frontier'. From William Bradford's cruise to Greenland in a seal-hunting boat in 1869 to the newest builds of the twenty-first century, let Arctic expert Christopher Wright take you on a journey through lands less travelled."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.911

The Lusitania sinking : eyewitness accounts from survivors /Anthony Richards. "The Lusitania sinking is an event that has been predominantly discussed from a political or maritime perspective. For the first time, The Lusitania Sinking tells the story in the emotive framework of a family looking for information on their son's death. On 1 May 1915, the 29-year-old student Preston Prichard embarked as a Second Class passenger on the Lusitania, bound from New York for Liverpool. By 2pm on the afternoon of 7 May, the liner was approaching the Irish coast when she was sighted by the German submarine U-20. A single torpedo caused a massive explosion in the Lusitania's hold, and the ship sank rapidly. Within 20 minutes she disappeared and 1,198 men, women and children, including Preston, died. Uncertain of Preston's fate, his family leaped into action. His brother Mostyn, who lived in Ramsgate, travelled to Queenstown to search morgues but could find nothing. Preston's mother wrote hundreds of letters to survivors to find out more about what might have happened in his last moments. The Lusitania Sinking compiles the responses. Perhaps sensing his fate, Prichard had put his papers in order before embarking and told a fellow student where to find his will if anything happened to him. During the voyage, he was often seen in the company of Grace French, quoted above. Alice Middleton, who had a crush on him but was too shy to speak to him throughout the entire voyage, remembered that he helped her in reaching the upper decks during the last moments of the sinking: '[The Lusitania] exploded and down came her funnels, so over I jumped. I had a terrible time in the water bashing about among the wreckage and dead bodies. It was 10.30 before they landed me at the hospital in an unconscious condition. In fact, they piled me with a boat full of dead and it was only when they were carrying the dead bodies to the mortuary they discovered there was still life in me.'"--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.4514

Sound of the waves : a WW2 memoir, how scientists worked to defeat the U-boat threat during the Battle of the Atlantic /E.A. Alexander. "When German U-boats threatened to starve Britain into submission by cutting off food supplies in WW2, sonar scientists and engineers worked against the clock to improve anti-submarine detection in order to defeat them, to guide the X-Craft that attacked the German battleship, KMS Tirpitz, and the craft used in the D-Day landings. There has long been - and continues to be - great interest in WW2 submarine warfare which will often focus on the craft, the men who commanded them and the equipment developed for them but the lives and endeavours of those who developed, perfected and adapted the sonar on which they depended has not been widely appreciated. Many of the personal and specific details mentioned within Sound of the Waves have never been divulged until now. Seen through the eyes of Eric, a bright young physical chemist, this memoir describes in intimate detail what life was like for the talented men and women working for the British Admiralty at Her Majesty's Anti-Submarine Experimental Establishment in Scotland and the Top Secret projects they were involved in. The scientific and technical advances achieved at the Establishment during the war years are explained in uncomplicated terms but Sound of the Waves also reveals that these scientists and engineers were not simply part of Churchill's 'army of boffins ' working in a vacuum but were ordinary people with families and interests outside of their fields of study. This very personal account of the life and research of a young scientist and his colleagues is therefore as much a social history of the war years as a history of underwater weapons in WW2. Flashbacks to Eric's childhood give a clue as to how a curious and creative mind can be nurtured and how a dyslexic child can excel in the sciences. Eric Alexander was born in South Africa in 1916. He came to England prior to the start of the Second World War. It was on gaining his doctorate at Oxford University in 1941 that he was invited to join the Admiralty as an Experimental Officer to improve anti-submarine detection devices. After the war he made his career with the Admiralty as a senior sonar scientist in Dorset, England. In 1966 he was seconded to the diplomatic service of the Foreign Office and appointed Scientific Councellor to the British Embassy in Moscow."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available.

Eating the empire : food and society in eighteenth-century Britain /Troy Bickham. "When students gathered in a London coffeehouse and smoked tobacco, Yorkshire women sipped sugar-infused tea or a Glasgow family ate a bowl of Indian curry, were they aware of the mechanisms of imperial rule and trade that made such goods readily available? In Eating the Empire, Troy Bickham unfolds the extraordinary role that food played in shaping Britain during the 'long' eighteenth century (c. 1660-1837), when recipes from around the world peppered a new generation of popular cookery books, and coffee, tea and sugar went from rare luxuries to some of the most ubiquitous commodities in Britain, reaching even the poorest and remotest of households. The trade in the empire's edibles underpinned the emerging consumer economy, fomenting the rise of modern retailing, visual advertising and consumer credit, and, via taxes, financed the military and civil bureaucracy that secured, governed and spread the empire."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 394.12094109033

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