|
Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Maritime history
For over 50 years between the 1760s and the early 19th century, the
pioneers who sailed from Europe to explore the Pacific brought back
glimpses of this new world in the form of oil paintings,
watercolours and drawings - a sensational view of a part of the
world few would ever see. Today these works represent a fascinating
and inspiring perspective from the frontier of discovery. It was
Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, who popularised
the placement of professional artists on British ships of
exploration. They captured striking and memorable images of
everything they encountered: exotic landscapes, beautiful flora and
fauna, as well as remarkable portraits of indigenous peoples. These
earliest views of the Pacific, particularly Australia, were
designed to promote the new world as enticing, to make it seem
familiar, to encourage further exploration and, ultimately, British
settlement. Drawing on both private and public collections from
around the world, this lavish book collects together oil paintings,
watercolours, drawings, prints and other documents from those
voyages, and presents a unique glimpse into an age where science
and art became irrevocably entwined.
An interesting and insightful book exploring the author's efforts
to follow in his father's footsteps and succeed in the tumultuous
fishing industry. The reader is invited to experience the author's
life as a Hull trawlerman; from his first trip out as a teenager,
to achieving the highest rank of skipper. The intense highs and
lows in between are relayed in great detail, with photographs
adding to the reading pleasure. This is a story of hard work,
courage, and the importance of following your heart. The author's
infinite love for his family and high regard for his shipmates add
a touching element to the book.
*Shortlisted for the 2019 Mountbatten Award* "We went up on deck
and were looking around when the awful crash came. The ship listed
so much that we all scrambled down the deck and for a moment
everything was in confusion. When I came to myself again I glanced
around but could find no trace of Mr Prichard. He seemed to have
disappeared." - Grace French The sinking of the Lusitania 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 coast of Ireland
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 began 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 received. 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, 41/2 hours 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 that they
discovered there was still life in me."
In 1789, as the Bounty made its return voyage through the western
Pacific Ocean, disgruntled crewmen seized control from their
captain, William Bligh. The mutineers set Bligh and the eighteen
men who remained loyal to him adrift in one of the ship's boats,
with minimal food and only four cutlasses for weapons.In the two
centuries since, the mutiny and its aftermath have become the stuff
of legend. Millions of words have been written about it; it has
been the subject of novels, plays, feature films and documentaries.
The story's two protagonists - Bligh and his mutinous deputy,
Fletcher Christian - are cast as villain and hero, but which is
which depends on which account you read.In Mutiny, Mayhem,
Mythology, Alan Frost looks past these inherited narratives to shed
new light on the infamous expedition and its significance.
Returning to the very first accounts of the mutiny, he shows how
gaps, misconceptions and hidden agendas crept into the historical
record and have shaped it ever since.
Shrouded by myth and hidden by Hollywood, the real pirates of the
Caribbean come to life in this collection of essays edited by David
Head. Twelve scholars of piracy show why pirates thrived in the New
World seas of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century empires, how
pirates operated their plundering ventures, how governments battled
piracy, and when and why piracy declined. The essays presented take
the study of piracy, which can easily lapse into rousing,
romanticized stories, to new heights of rigor and insight. The
Golden Age of Piracy also delves into the enduring status of
pirates as pop culture icons. Audiences have devoured stories about
cutthroats such as Blackbeard and Henry Morgan from the time that
pirates sailed the sea. By looking at the ideas of gender and
sexuality surrounding pirate stories, the fad for hunting pirate
treasure, and the construction of pirate myths, the book's
contributors tell a new story about the dangerous men, and a few
dangerous women, who terrorized the high seas.
This book provides a thoroughly researched biography of the naval
career of Matthew Flinders, with particular emphasis on his
importance for the maritime discovery of Australia. Sailing in the
wake of the 18th-century voyages of exploration by Captain Cook and
others, Flinders was the first naval commander to circumnavigate
Australia's coastline. He contributed more to the mapping and
naming of places in Australia than virtually any other single
person. His voyage to Australia on H.M.S. Investigator expanded the
scope of imperial, geographical and scientific knowledge. This
biography places Flinders's career within the context of Pacific
exploration and the early white settlement of Australia. Flinders's
connections with other explorers, his use of patronage, the
dissemination of his findings, and his posthumous reputation are
also discussed in what is an important new scholarly work in the
field.
|
You may like...
Zombies
DVD
R54
Discovery Miles 540
|