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.

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.

Formed in 1901 by U.S. Steel Corporation, the Pittsburgh Steamship Company became the largest commercial fleet in the world and assumed a dominant role in Great Lakes shipping and the American steel industry. Tin Stackers tells its story: the ships, the men who sailed them, and the conditions that shaped their times. Drawing on company records and interviews with officials and sailors, Miller tells how the fleet kept organized labor off Great Lakes ships while leading the way in efficient operation, technological advancement, and employee safety. He emphasizes the human element in the company's history by relating the personal challenges faced by crews, and includes many archival photographs. Now navigating the waters of the lakes as the USS Great Lakes Fleet, Inc., these ships continue to play a part in commerce. Tin Stackers preserves their role in industrial history.

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.

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.

People are drawn to the harbours and boats of Scotland whether they have a seafaring background or not. Why do boats take on different shapes as you follow the complex shorelines of islands and mainland? And why do the sails they carry appear to be so many shapes and sizes? Then there are rowing craft or power-driven vessels which can also be considered 'classics', whether they were built for work or leisure. As he traces the iconic forms of a selection of the boats of Scotland, Ian Stephen outlines the purposes of craft, past and present, to help gain a true understanding of this vital part of our culture. Sea conditions likely to be met and coastal geography are other factors behind the designs of a wide variety of craft. Stories go with boats. The vessels are not seen as bare artefacts without their own soul but more like living things.

Two of mankind's most persistent quests-"get rich quick" and "something for nothing"-provide the power driving these tales of treasure-seekers in action. Renowned storytellers like Louis L'Amour and Jack London join real-life adventurers risking their lives for riches they think are worth the dangers. Buried treasure, creeks glittering with gold nuggets, sunken galleons filled with Spanish doubloons-the mother lodes are as varied as the men pursuing them. Some of the seekers will be rewarded; others face tragedy in remote places, lost among the jungles, mountains, and oceans. In both fiction and non-fiction, these stories make treasure hunting a real-life experience, in gripping prose that makes the reader of these stories part of the hunt itself.

This book examines the little studied story of Bellingshausen, and includes the fullest biography of the celebrated Russian explorer ever published. By translating the official reports and other eye-witness documents from the first scientific expedition to the Antarctic of the nineteenth century, conducted 47 years after James Cook's pioneering venture in the 1770s, Bulkeley transports the reader onto HIMS "Vostok," one of the most celebrated ships in the history of the Russian Navy. While her seamen marvel at the aurora and her astronomer is nearly blown overboard in a storm, her intrepid commander tacks his ship between the ice floes in zero visibility, with only the menacing sound of the breakers to guide him. The largely unknown history of the Bellingshausen voyage is comprehensively explored, with thoughtful discussion of the achievements and limitations of the expedition and suggestions for further research.

In the Age of Sail scurvy was responsible for more deaths at sea than piracy, shipwreck and all other illnesses, and its cure ranks among the greatest of military successes - yet its impact on history has mostly been ignored. Stephen Bown searches back to the earliest recorded appearance of scurvy in the sixteenth century, to the eighteenth century when the disease was at its gum-shredding, bone-snapping worst, and to the early nineteenth century, when the preventative was finally put into service. Bown introduces us to James Lind, the navy surgeon and medical detective, whose research on the disease spawned the implementation of the cure; Captain James Cook, who successfully avoided scurvy on his epic voyages; and Gilbert Blane, whose social status and charisma won over the British Navy. Scurvy is a lively recounting of how three determined individuals overcame the constraints of eighteenth-century thinking to solve the greatest medical mystery of their era.

Think of maritime slavery, and the notorious Middle Passage - the unprecedented, forced migration of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic - readily comes to mind. This so-called 'middle leg' - from Africa to the Americas - of a supposed trading triangle linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas naturally captures attention for its scale and horror. After all, the Middle Passage was the largest forced, transoceanic migration in world history, now thought to have involved about 12.5 million African captives shipped in about 44,000 voyages that sailed between 1514 and 1866. No other coerced migration matches it for sheer size or gruesomeness. Maritime slavery is not, however, just about the movement of people as commodities, but rather, the involvement of all sorts of people, including slaves, in the transportation of those human commodities. Maritime slavery is thus not only about objects being moved but also about subjects doing the moving. Some slaves were actors, not simply the acted-upon. They were pilots, sailors, canoemen, divers, linguists, porters, stewards, cooks, and cabin boys, not forgetting all the ancillary workers in ports such as stevedores, warehousemen, labourers, washerwomen, tavern workers, and prostitutes. Maritime Slavery reflects this current interest in maritime spaces, and covers all the major Oceans and Seas. This book was originally published as a special issue of Slavery and Abolition.

Examines the union of England and Scotland by weaving the navy into a political narrative of events between the regal union in 1603 and the parliamentary union in 1707. This book examines the union of England and Scotland by weaving the navy into a political narrative of events between the regal union in 1603 and the parliamentary union in 1707. For most of the century the Scottish crown had no separate naval force which made the Stuart monarchs' navy, seen by them as a personal not a state force, unusual in being an institution which had a relationship with both kingdoms. This did not necessarily make the navy a shared organisation, as it continued to be financed from and based in England and was predominantly English. Nevertheless, the navy is an unusually good prism through which the nature of the regal union can be interrogated as English commanded ships interacted with Scottish authorities, and as Scots looked to the navy for protection from foreign invaders, such as the Dutch in the Forth in 1667, and for Scottish merchant ships trading with the Baltic and elsewhere. These interactions were often harmonious, but there were also many instances of tensions, particularly in the 1690s. The book illustrates both the ambiguous relationship between England and Scotland in the seventeenth century and also the navy's under-appreciated role in creating the political union of Britain.

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.

Superb photographs and graphics provide a unique look at New York's colonization, settlement, and economic growth. Discover how the state's rich maritime heritage centers around 69 lighthouses, located on many different water bodies. This book details all of them, including famous lighthouses like Montauk Point, Fire Island, and Buffalo. These symbols of strength have protected mariners for over two hundred years. Fascinating historical facts, heroic rescues by lighthouse keepers, heartwarming stories about keepers and their families, engineering and construction details, lost beacons, and travel information make this a complete guide to New York State lighthouses.

"Boys at Sea" is a study of homoerotic life in the Royal Navy during the age of sail. It deals not only with sex among ordinary crewmen, but reveals that the most consistent feature of prosecutions for sodomy and indecency involved officers forcing their attentions on ships' boys. The book traces every feature of sexuality at sea, and provides a probing look at a dark and terrifying aspect of the lives of youngsters who served in Britain's warships.

This seventh volume of Naval Miscellany contains documents which range in date from the late thirteenth century to the Korean War. They illustrate the many different ways in which the naval forces of the crown have served the realm. Topics covered include the role of ships in campaigns against Scotland under Edward I and Edward VI, the protection of the Iceland fishery in the days of the Commonwealth government, and the operation of prize courts during the wars against France in the eighteenth century. Moving on to the nineteenth century, the supply of timber to the Royal Navy is examined, while two contributions deal with surveying off the west coast of Africa and another prints a diary kept by a member of the Naval Brigade operating onshore in the Zulu War. The most recent contributions deal with the origins and development of the Royal Australian Navy up to the 1950s. Two more controversial subjects are also included; the first gives more information about the storage of cordite on battle cruisers in 1916 and the battle of Jutland; the second documents the relief of Admiral North from Gibraltar in 1940. There is something here for every enthusiast for naval history and for all students of the relevant periods.

This is fourth in mulit-volume series covering United States Navy patches from World War II to the present-each volume contains over 1000 patches in full color. This new volume covers: Activities, Bases, Centers, Commands, Communications, Cruises, Depots, Division, Facilities, Fields, Fleets, Flotillas, Forces, Groups, Medical, Missiles, Schools, Shipyards, Squadrons, Stations, Teams, Units, and Miscellaneous units. (See page 40 for previous volumes).

This volume brings together a set of scholarly, readable and up-to-date essays covering the most significant naval mutinies of the 20th century, including Russia (1905), Brazil (1910), Austria (1918), Germany (1918), France (1918-19), Great Britain (1931), Chile (1931), the United States (1944), India (1946), China (1949), Australia, and Canada (1949).
Each chapter addresses the causes of the mutiny in question, its long- and short-term repercussions, and the course of the mutiny itself. More generally, authors consider the state of the literature on their mutiny and examine significant historiographical issues connected with it, taking advantage of new research and new methodologies to provide something of value to both the specialist and non-specialist reader. The book provides fresh insights into issues such as what a mutiny is, what factors cause them, what navies are most susceptible to them, what responses lead to satisfactory or unsatisfactory conclusions, and how far-reaching their consequences tend to be.