Seafarers were the first workers to inhabit a truly international labour market, a sector of industry which, throughout the early modern period, drove European economic and imperial expansion, technological and scientific development, and cultural and material exchanges around the world. This volume adopts a comparative perspective, presenting current research about maritime labourers across three centuries, in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, to understand how seafarers contributed to legal and economic transformation within Europe and across the world. Focusing on the three related themes of legal systems, labouring conditions, and imperial power, these essays explore the dynamic and reciprocal relationship between seafarers' individual and collective agency, and the social and economic frameworks which structured their lives.

The School of Salamanca in the Affairs of the Indies explores the significance of Salamancans, such as Vitoria and Soto, and related thinkers, such as Las Casas and Sepulveda, in the formation of the early modern political order. It also analyses early modern understandings of political order, with a focus both on the decline of the medieval universal world through the independence and secularization of political community and the establishment of continuous and imbalanced relations between various European and non-European political communities. Through its investigation, this book highlights how Salamancans and related thinkers clearly distinguished their understandings of political order from medieval thought, and did so in a different way to contemporary and later thinkers, such as Machiavelli, Luther, Bodin, and Grotius, particularly with regards to the Indies, "barbarian" worlds. It also reveals the strong contribution of the School of Salamanca in early modern political thought, both internally and externally. Salamancans imposed moral restrictions against "interior barbarism," that is, power beyond law, and included "exterior barbarism," that is, "barbarian" societies, in the common political order. Situating the School of Salamanca in the mainstream history of European political thought, The School of Salamanca in the Affairs of the Indies is ideal for academics and postgraduate students of intellectual history and of Spanish colonial expansion.

Slaves, convicts, and unfree immigrants have traveled the oceans throughout human history, but the conventional Atlantic World historical paradigm has narrowed our understanding of modernity. This provocative study contrasts the Atlantic conflation of freedom and the sea with the complex relationships in the Indian Ocean in the long 19th century.

John Quirk loves history, drawing and boats and these three elements come together in this attractive and entertaining book. He has sought out obscure episodes or familiar events from the past and written engagingly about them, illustrated with his excellent colour cartoons. Where possible he relates the historical happenings and maritime moments to the present day, be it when tracing the history of the screw, misinformation (fake news) during the Second World War, plague ships in the fourteenth century, or Russia's ill-fated war with Japan in 1904. The events covered range from Henry V's invasion of France in 1415, consisting mainly of chartered French ships and paid for partially by Dick Whittington, to episodes in the Second World War, like the Somali Camel Corps capturing a German U-boat. Other historic figures involved include Horatio Nelson, Napoleon, Rudolf Diesel and Lawrence of Arabia. The 25 stories and over 100 cartoons are a treasure-trove of compelling, salt-infused, tales told with imagination and humour, with an eye on the present day, which will be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in maritime history (or even just history).

This book explores the historical and archaeological evidence of the relationships between a coastal community and the shipwrecks that have occurred along the southern Australian shoreline over the last 160 years. It moves beyond a focus on shipwrecks as events and shows the short and long term economic, social and symbolic significance of wrecks and strandings to the people on the shoreline. This volume draws on extensive oral histories, documentary and archaeological research to examine the tensions within the community, negotiating its way between its roles as shipwreck saviours and salvors.

Since its invention in Italy in the fourteenth century, marine insurance has provided merchants with capital protection in times of crisis, thus oiling the gears of trade and commerce. With a focus on customs, laws, and organisational structures, this book reveals the Italian origins of marine insurance, and tracks the spread of underwriting practices and institutions in Europe and America through the early modern era. With contributions from eleven leading researchers from seven countries, the book examines key institutional developments in the history of marine insurance. The authors discuss its invention in Italy, and its evolution from private to corporate structures, assessing the causes and impacts of various state interventions. Amsterdam and Antwerp are analysed as one-time key centres of underwriting, as is the emergence and maturity of marine insurance in London. The book evaluates an experiment in corporate underwriting in Cadiz, and the development of insurance institutions in the United States, before applying the metrics of underwriting to discuss commerce raiding in the Atlantic up to the nineteenth century.

This introduction to the years of the Napoleonic wars (1793 to 1815) tells the story of one of the keys to that great conflict, the Ship of the Line - the deadly battleships that played such a vital role in the battles. The author describes the ships' construction and armaments, the daily life of the men who served and the problems faced by commanders of the time in battles that include the Glorious First of June, the Battle of the Nile and Trafalgar.

During WWII the mission of the Navy was, first and foremost, 'holding the line' against the German surface fleet, preventing it from disrupting the vital transatlantic sea-lanes or escorting an invasion force to Britain. The importance of holding the line cannot be over-emphasised but it is often overlooked as there was no decisive battle on the seas surrounding Britain in WWII. This work is a strategic and operational history of the Home Fleet. It examines the role of the home fleet in allied strategy and how well the home fleet carried out the missions assigned to it within the framework of that strategy.

Scientific Practices in European History, 1200-1800 presents and situates a collection of extracts from both widely known texts by such figures as Copernicus, Newton, and Lavoisier, and lesser known but significant items, all chosen to provide a perspective on topics in social, cultural and intellectual history and to illuminate the concerns of the early modern period. The selection of extracts highlights the emerging technical preoccupations of this period, while the accompanying introductions and annotations make these occasionally complex works accessible to students and non-specialists. The book follows a largely chronological sequence and helps to locate scientific ideas and practices within broader European history. The primary source materials in this collection stand alone as texts in themselves, but in illustrating the scientific components of early modern societies they also make this book ideal for teachers and students of European history.

Imperial Steam explores the early history of steamship travel to Britain's imperial East. Drawing upon the wealth of voyage narratives which were produced in the first decades of the new route to India, the book examines the thoughts, emotions and experiences of those whose lives were caught up with the imperial project. The potent symbolism of the steamship, which exceeded the often harsh realities of travel, provided a convincing narrative for coming to terms with Britain's global empire - not just for passengers, but for those at home who consumed the ubiquitous accounts of steamship travel. Imperial Steam thus contributes to our understanding of the role of imperial networks in the production of the British imperial world view. -- .

This short history is the first broad and selective survey of the phenomenon known as "jointness"--the co-operative operations of land and naval forces until the twentieth-century and of land, sea, and air forces since World War I. Touching on operational, doctrinal, and political dimensions, the survey ranges from the ancient Mediterranean to recent times while focusing on European and American experiences from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries, including Desert Storm. Illustrative cases and reference materials are attuned to the interests of scholars, defense analysts, and students of military affairs. Jointness, subject of major concern to military historians, policymakers, politicians, and military professionals has in the past been covered within certain periods on a case by case or topical basis. This history begins instead with a broad survey from ancient to modern times and then focuses more closley on joint operations since World War I with wide-ranging examples to illustrate trends and patterns of Jointness. The survey closes with a discussion of the central problem of friction and other paradoxes connected with joint military operations. A selected bibliography provides an array of sources both for general readers and military professionals. Maps and appendices further enrich this important history.

Centred upon a man who never participated in combat operations during his sixty-year naval career, this volume depicts the routine peacetime operations of the mid-Victorian Royal Navy, operations that have received short shrift in naval histories, even though they have constituted the bulk of the service's mission during the past two centuries. Not surprisingly, the Navy operated in support of the liberal state and its agenda, as many of the documents in this collection make clear. Following the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, both Britain and the United States moved quickly to exploit new trade opportunities and for the next seventy years it was the Royal Navy that enforced the Doctrine, to the benefit of British commercial interests, but also to those of the United States and of any other country engaged in legitimate trade in the hemisphere. The service took the lead in combating piracy and the slave trade, and upheld the rule of law across global trade routes. The documents that comprise this volume therefore deal with topics of interest to scholars of international relations, Anglo-American affairs, the U.S. Civil War and the slave trade. Other aspects addressed include naval medicine, steam-era logistics and other elements of the Royal Navy's modernization pertaining to its materiel, personnel, and administration.

Examining diversity as a fundamental reality of empire, this book explores European colonial empires, both terrestrial and maritime, to show how they addressed the questions of how to manage diversity. These questions range from the local to the supra-regional, and from the management of people to that of political and judicial systems. Taking an intersectional approach incorporating categories such as race, religion, subjecthood and social and legal status, the contributions of the volume show how old and new modes of creating social difference took shape in an increasingly early modern globalized world, and what contemporary legacies these 'diversity formations' left behind. This volume show diversity and imperial projects to be both contentious and mutually constitutive: one the one hand, the conditions of empire created divisions between people through official categorizations (such as racial classifications and designations of subjecthood) and through discriminately applied extractive policies, from taxation to slavery. On the other hand, imperial subjects, communities, and polities within and adjacent to empire asserted themselves through a diverse range of affiliations and identities that challenged any notion of a unilateral, universal imperial authority. This book highlights the multidimensionality and interconnectedness of diversity in imperial settings and will be useful reading to students and scholars of the history of colonial Empires, global history, and race.

'What a fun book! Reading Sea Fever is enticing and intriguing, like watching floating treasure bob past your nose.' Tristram Gooley, author of The Natural Navigator Can you interpret the shipping forecast? Do you know your flotsam from your jetsam? Or who owns the foreshore? Can you tie a half-hitch - or would you rather splice the mainbrace? Full of charming illustrations and surprising facts, Sea Fever provides the answers to all these and more. Mixing advice on everything from seasickness to righting a capsized boat with arcane marine lore, recipes, history, dramatic stories of daring-do and guides to the wildlife we share our shores with, even the most experienced ocean-dweller will find something in these pages to surprise and delight.

Histories of seaports and coastal resorts have usually been kept in separate compartments. This book brings them together and looks at how resort development affected historic ports during the rise and development of the seaside holiday in Europe from the 18th century to the 20th, and what the attributes of ports (fishing, harbour crafts, the whiff of the exotic, fishermen's homes and families) contributed to the attractions of resorts. Case-studies drawn from across Europe, from Wales and the Netherlands to Norway, Latvia and Spain, bring original perspectives to bear on these histories and relationships, and consider their influence on seaside heritage and regeneration at a time when coastal settlements are increasingly using their past to secure their future. The book will interest academics in tourism studies, history, geography and cultural studies, as well as provide essential information and analysis for policy-makers in coastal regeneration.

From the Stone Age to the present day, no technology has had a more profound impact on mankind than watercraft. Boats and ships made possible the settlement and conquest of new worlds. They determined the victors of history-changing wars and aided the spread of new philosophies, technologies and religions. Even today, virtually everything we purchase and consume depends on seaborne trade. 'Ships that Changed History' is more than just a delight for lovers of the sea - it's a virtual history of the world told through the boats and ships that influenced how and where people lived, the ideas they exchanged and how they won and lost the battles that set the course of later generations and millennia. Beautifully illustrated with art and photographs, it is a guide to how men and women went to sea in every age and place.

When HMS Laurentic sank in 1917, few knew what cargo she was carrying, and the Admiralty wanted to keep it that way. After all, broadcasting that there were 44 tons of gold off the coast of Ireland in the middle of a vicious and bloody war was not the best strategic move. But Britain desperately needed that gold. Lieutenant Commander Guybon Damant was an expert diver and helped discover how to prevent decompression sickness ('the bends'). With a then world record dive of 210ft under his belt and a proven history of military determination, Damant was the perfect man for a job that required the utmost secrecy and skill. What followed next was a tale of incredible feats, set against a backdrop of war and treacherous storms. Based on thousands of Admiralty pages, interviews with Damant's family and the unpublished memoirs of the man himself, The Sunken Gold is a story of war, treasure - and one man's obsession to find it.

For five centuries, since Vasco de Gama's ships began making the Indian Ocean a Portuguese lake, many governments used naval force to serve their political purposes. The sceptre of the seas passed from one nation to another, but political success did not always reward the strongest navy. This selective, international history of naval force as a political instrument, whether in peace or war, ranges from Calicut, navally cannonaded in 1501, to Baghdad, assailed by sea launched missiles in 1991.

In this innovative study, Jun Kimura integrates historical data with archaeological findings to examine a wide array of eleventh- through nineteenth-century ships from China, Korea, and Japan. Chinese junks and Japanese sailing ships were known throughout the world, and this work illustrates why their innovative designs have survived the centuries. Kimura presents an extensive dataset of excavated coastal and oceangoing ships that traveled the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea. Three detailed case studies include the Shinan and Quanzhou wrecks and the Takashima underwater site. Using travel documents, cargo manifests, iconographic paintings, and other descriptive resources, as well as the archaeological evidence of hull components, wooden timbers, and iron remains, Kimura sheds new light on East Asian shipbuilding traditions.

One of the attractions of Massachusetts destinations of Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard is their rich array of lighthouses. These architectural feats pepper the shores, where most continue to warn passing ships of the dangers of landfall. Arthur P. Richmond, a well-known photographer of the Cape and Islands, has gathered forty views of their lighthouses, including some views of some interiors and at various seasons. Active lights and inactive lights are presented as beautiful color postcards. Perforated, they can be detached and sent to friends (at 40 cents apiece they are a good bargain), framed and hung on your wall, or kept intact as a souvenir of your summer vacation. This is also the perfect gift for the lighthouse enthusiast or visitor to the New England shore.

This book by world-expert Barry Gough examines the period of Pax Britannica , in the century before World War I. Following events of those 100 years, the book follows how the British failed to maintain their global hegemony of sea power in the face of continental challenges.

Maritime Piracy and its Control develops an economic approach to the problem of modern-day maritime piracy with the goal of assessing the effectiveness of remedies aimed at reducing the incidence of piracy.

When John Lee joined the Merchant Navy he had no idea of the adventures which were to come his way over the next ten years. An innocent sixteen year old from East Yorkshire, he was first apprenticed to the toughest of trampship companies before experiencing the potentially explosive delights of life on an oil tanker.Finally, as a young officer enjoying rather more civilised surroundings, he is obliged to learn the art of polite conversation as he mixes with affluent first class passengers and takes charge of a memorable rescue at sea.... The book is a fascinating insight into life in the Merchant Navy of the 1950's and 60's peppered with a wealth of characters and stories. Often hilarious, but always truthful and entertaining, life on board and in port is described in all its facets- the typhoons, icy, bone-chilling North Atlantic gales, freak waves and near disasters, awful food and the demon drink. The stories and anecdotes come thick and fast of gnarled seadogs and eccentric captains, knife fights and bandits as well as sex pests and the beguiling females who haunt the dock gates. This entertaining book is a window on a way of life now largely gone, a tribute to that unique breed of men who put their skills and mettle to the test as they crossed the wild, unforgiving oceans of the world.