The dissenting minister Andrew Kippis (1725-95) was a Member of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Society. With this work of 1788, he was the first biographer of Captain James Cook (1728-79), although several of Cook's colleagues, including Johann Reinhold Forster in 1778 and David Samwell in 1786, had previously published memoirs of their service with him. Believing that 'his public transactions ... are the grand objects to which the attention of his biographer must be directed', Kippis draws on the official Admiralty accounts of Cook's voyages and focuses on his professional life. The book was criticised at the time for failing to convey Cook's personality and motivation, stressing his achievements without putting them in context. However, it remained the only biography for forty years, and shaped public perception of Cook as a brilliant navigator and commander, a fearless explorer and an exemplary British hero.

A unique and outstanding military and industrial achievement, the Collins class submarine project was also plagued with difficulties and mired in politics. Its story is one of heroes and villains, grand passions, intrigue, lies, spies and backstabbing. It is as well a story of enormous commitment and resolve to achieve what many thought impossible. The building of these submarines was Australia's largest, most expensive and most controversial military project. From initiation in the 1981 82 budget to the delivery of the last submarine in 2003, the total cost was in excess of six billion dollars. Over 130 key players were interviewed for this book, and the Australian Defence Department allowed access to its classified archives and the Australian Navy archives. Vividly illustrated with photographs from the collections of the Royal Australian Navy and ASC Pty Ltd, The Collins Class Submarine Story: Steel, Spies and Spin, first published in 2008, is a riveting and accessibly written chronicle of a grand-scale quest for excellence.

This book recounts the efforts over many years to dive wrecks that contained treasure in one form or another. The often prolonged and sometimes dangerous expeditions tell of dives to many ships that were wrecked while carrying tons of gold or other valuables. Many of the wrecks came to lie at great depths which demanded considerable diving expertise using rebreathers which allowed longer dives to be performed.The authors are both diving experts and in addition to the accounts and historical pictures they have added their own photography to convey to the reader the challenges of the dives undertaken. The technical demands were considerable, from adjusting the camera housing to accommodate the depth to diving at particular times of the year because many of the wrecks were situated in areas of high seas and extreme currents. Many of these wrecks have been the subject of concerted efforts from salvage teams but success could never be assumed.It took several years to visit and photograph the wrecks mentioned in the book which provides a fascinating account of the vessels and their treasure, and the challenges of diving in what can be a dangerous environment. Each entry provides details and a brief history of the vessel and the means of its demise, enhanced by a modern diving account with photographs. As such the book will be of great interest to all divers whether active or armchair, and to anyone with an interest in maritime/military history.

First published in 1914, this book was created to provide a comprehensive guide to the processes at the heart of ocean trade and shipping. Prior to publication, these processes had not been dealt with collectively, and descriptions of them could only be found scattered through disparate treatises. Originally aimed at naval and military officers, the focus of the text is explanatory, rather than technical, offering a practical grounding in a broad range of topics. The majority of the information relates to peacetime, but additional reflections are given on the position of ocean trade in the event of war. This is a highly informative book that will be of value to anyone with an interest in maritime history.

Provides deep insights into the roles and responsibilities of men, women and children within naval families. This book explores the competing demands of family, war and duty in the lives of eighteenth-century naval men and their families. It covers not just the men afloat and their wives ashore, but also the rich and complex financial, professional and fraternal networks that were essential to naval lives. By drawing on a substantial body of personal correspondence, the book goes beyond cultural and gendered stereotypes to examine the roles and responsibilities of men, women and children within a naval family and how war shaped and determined those roles. The families considered include those of several famous naval figures, including Philip Broke, Matthew Flinders and George Bass, and also the families of "lower deck" seamen, some of whom could not write for themselves and where data has been gleaned from previously unexplored petitions. The information provided contributes to a wider understanding of gender roles, especially masculinity, in the period and to eighteenth-century social and cultural history more broadly. Moreover, as insights into the intimate and emotional details of family life, especially between husbands and wives, aredifficult to discover in any historical period (such intimacy being rarely recorded), the details presented here constitute a rare resource. Ellen Gill completed her doctorate at the University of Sydney.

James Weddell (1787-1834) a self-taught navigator, started his sailing career aged 9 and later led several voyages towards the Antarctic. This book, first published in 1825, is his account of the voyage of the Jane, which went on a sealing trip to the Falklands and beyond, but turned back before reaching Antarctica itself. It features detailed scientific measurements, careful observations of wildlife, and descriptions of the islands and coasts visited by the expedition, including an important early account of the South Shetlands. It also provides first hand insight into the hardships of a long and perilous voyage. Weddell speaks warmly of the Jane's crew, who withstood frostbite, reduced rations and frequent danger from icebergs. He also reports encounters with other ships, mutiny, scurvy and even the alleged sighting of a mermaid. His thoughtful approach to his mission makes this fascinating exploration narrative an especially valuable historical source.

I ran out on the deck and then I could see ice. It was a veritable sea of ice and the boat was rocking over it. I should say that parts of the iceberg were eighty feet high, but it had been broken into sections, probably by our ship. There fell on the ear the most appalling noise that ever human ear listened to the cries of hundreds of our fellow-beings struggling in the icy-cold water, crying for help with a cry that we knew could not be answered. First published in 1912, Jay Henry Mowbray's Sinking of the Titanic was hugely influential in the aftermath of the maritime disaster, recording the harrowing, first-hand accounts of the survivors - from sailors, to stewards, to passengers - throughout the ordeal, from when the iceberg first hit to when the Carpathia eventually arrived, and honouring those who were lost on that fateful night in 1912. Mowbray's text even follows the survivors when they make it back to land - a lesser-known, riveting aspect of the tragic saga that deals with the investigation and the hearings that took place in the US and UK in the months that followed. The swiftness of the publication of Mowbray's text, the sheer number of first-hand witness accounts therein and the intensity of the chaos and fear that their accounts convey makes for a unique compilation which, together with new notes, maps, images and expert introductory material in this new, updated edition, will fascinate, educate and deeply move contemporary readers as much today as the original publication would have back in 1912.

First published in 1831, this account of a notorious event in the history of the navy makes extensive use of letters, papers and the testimony of those involved. Sir John Barrow (1764-1848) was Second Secretary to the Admiralty, and so had unrivalled access to official documents. He begins with a chapter detailing the first visit to Tahiti by Captain Cook. The mutiny, Bligh's 4,000-mile voyage in an open boat, the capture and court martial of some of the mutineers and the fate of the remainder who settled on Pitcairn Island are described with clarity and even-handedness. Whilst acknowledging that Bligh was 'a man of coarse habits' with 'mistaken notions with regard to discipline', Barrow is unequivocal that the episode 'ought to operate as a warning ... to our brave seamen, not to be led astray ... either by order or persuasion of some hot-brained, thoughtless, or designing person'.

When archaeologist John Henry Phillips volunteered with a charity that took D-Day veterans back to Normandy, due to an administrative error he found himself without a hotel room and reliant on the generosity of one of the veterans who had a spare bed. That veteran was Patrick Thomas - and it was an encounter that would change both their lives forever. Patrick's landing craft, LCH 185, had led the first wave into Sword Beach on D-Day, and stayed off Normandy until the 25th June when an acoustic mine sent it to the seabed along with most of the crew. His story transfixed John, and the resulting search for the shipwreck was to consume him. Jumping back and forwards in time, between vivid descriptions of the final days on board LCH 185 and John's thrilling search to find the shipwreck, The Search is an emotional story of a devastating time in history, an unlikely, life-changing friendship and a quest to honour a wartime home and family lost over seventy-five years ago.

This fascinating book provides a unique record of the careers and final underwater resting places of ships of the Cunard Line, whose rich history spans over 300 ships and nearly two centuries. Many books have been published on Cunard's heritage but the final fate of these ships is often little more than a footnote of history. Authors Sam Warwick and Mike Roussel have taken the shipwrecks as a starting point to create a vivid new history. Featured vessels include the well-known Caronia, Lancastria, Campania, Lusitania, Malta, Oregon, Scotia and Carpathia, famous for rescuing the survivors from the Titanic, as well as many others. Events surrounding the wrecking of each vessel are thoroughly explored and unique diver accounts are incorporated, along with never-before-seen underwater images of the wrecks. Finishing off with practical data for interested divers, this book offers a fresh analysis of Cunard's maritime history.

This book examines British naval policy during the mid-Victorian period, with an emphasis on the political, economic, and foreign relations contexts within which naval policy was formulated. This period has sometimes been characterized as the "dark age" of modern British naval history, reflecting not only the comparative lack of research on the period, but also the marginal role played by the Royal Navy during a time of peace. The author takes a fresh look at the navy's role, which traditionally has been viewed negatively in the wake of the reconceptualization of naval strategy brought about by Mahan and the changed global circumstances of the 1890's.
Against a background of rapid industrialization and economic transformation, the author describes the structure of British naval administration in the Gladstone-Disraeli era, assesses the important reforms of that structure by the Liberal politician Hugh Childers, and examines the strategic and operational contexts of the navy itself. The comfortable foundations upon which were erected the world views and assumptions of mid-Victorian politicians and naval administrators were swept away with disconcerting swiftness by the mechanization of naval warfare. The author shows how this transformation went far beyond the realm of technology, profoundly influencing naval tactics and strategy, government finance, political discourse, and public opinion. This book is therefore as much a case study in human responses to the process of modernization as it is an investigation of mid-Victorian British naval policy.

How did the British navy maintain authority among its potentially disorderly crews? And what order exactly did it wish to establish? Churchill once famously remarked that he would not join the navy because it was "all rum, sodomy and the lash". How far this was true of the navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars is the subject of this important new book. Summary punishments, courts martial, flogging and hanging were regularly made use of in this period to establish order in the navy. Based on extensive original research, including a detailed study of ships' captain's logs and muster tables, this book explores the concepts of order and disorder aboard ships and examines how order was preserved. It discusses the different sorts of disorder and why they occurred; argues that officers toosometimes pushed against the official order; and demonstrates that order was much more than the simple enforcement of the Articles of War. The book argues that the behaviours that were punished, how and to what degree reveal what the navy saw as most resistive or dangerous to its authority and the order it wanted established. In addition, it considers the role of patronage in shaping order, outlining how this was affected by Admiralty moves to centralise appointments, and shows that acts of disorder were plentiful, and increasing, in this period, and that the imbalance in court martial outcomes for sailors, marines and warrant officers, in comparison to commissioned officers, points to a flawed system of justice. Overall, the book provides an extremely nuanced picture of order and how it was preserved. Thomas Malcomson is a Professor in the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences at George Brown College, Toronto, Ontario. He completed his doctorate in history at York University, Toronto.

In "Grey Seas Under", Farley Mowat writes passionately of the courage of men and of a small, ocean-going salvage tug, Foundation Franklin. From 1930 until her final voyage in 1948, the stalwart tug's dangerous mission was to rescue sinking ships, first searching for them in perilous waters and then bringing them back to shore. Battered by towering waves, dwarfed by the great ships she towed, blasted by gale-force winds and frozen by squalls of snow and rain, Foundation Franklin and her brave crew saved hundreds of vessels and thousands of lives as they patrolled the North Atlantic, including waters patrolled by U-boats in wartime.

Mowat spent two years gathering this material and sailed on some of the missions he describes. The result is a modern epic -- a vigorous, dramatic picture of the eternal battle between men and the cruel sea.

Piracy on the coast of China in the nineteenth century inflicted chaos and serious economic damage, with large mobs of bandits attacking coastal villages as well as wreaking havoc at sea. Yung-lun Yuan's account of this period, published in Chinese in 1830 and in English in 1831, is a colourful depiction of the pirate scourge. Interwoven with the narratives of the pirates themselves as well as those of the courageous civilians who resisted them, the text describes the organisation and rules of the pirates as well as the authorities' attempts to broker peace. Also included is Sir John Dalrymple Hay's account of battling pirates in the 1840s, first published in 1849. Hay (1821-1912) describes his tenure as a British naval commander struggling to suppress piracy. As well as providing a naval perspective on the pirate problem, Hay recounts numerous anecdotes of daring and heroism on the seas.

Maritime archaeology deals with shipwrecks and is carried out by divers rather than diggers..It embraces maritime history and analyzes changes in ship-building, navigation, and seamanship, and offers fresh perspectives on the cultures and societies that produced the ships and sailors. Drawing on detailed past and recent case studies, Richard A. Gould provides an up-to-date review of the field that includes dramatic new findings arising from improved undersea technologies. This second edition of Archaeology and the Social History of Ships has been updated throughout to reflect new findings and new interpretations of old sites. The new edition explores advances in undersea technology in archaeology, especially remotely operated vehicles. The book reviews many of the major recent shipwreck findings, including the Vasa in Stockholm, the Viking wrecks at Roskilde Fjord, and the Titanic.

Captain James Burney (1750 1821), the son of the musicologist Dr Charles Burney and brother of the novelist Fanny Burney, was a well-travelled sailor, best known for this monumental compilation of voyages of discovery in the Pacific Ocean. After joining the navy in 1764, he sailed on Cook's second voyage between 1772 and 1774, and was also present on the ill-fated third voyage. He retired from the navy in 1784 and turned to writing works on exploration. These volumes, published between 1803 and 1817, and regarded as the standard work on the subject for much of the nineteenth century, contain collected accounts of European voyages of discovery in the Pacific Ocean between 1492 and 1764. Burney provides summaries of Spanish, Dutch and English accounts, which include descriptions of voyages to China, Micronesia and Australia. Volume 5 covers voyages between 1724 and 1764, including Commodore George Aston's circumnavigation.

The Gulf of Mexico: A Maritime History presents the first such narrative of the earth's tenth largest body of water. In this beautifully written and illustrated volume, John S. Sledge explores the people, ships, and cities that have made the Gulf's human history and culture so rich. Many famous figures who sailed the Gulf's viridian waters are highlighted, including Ponce de Leon, Robert Cavelier de La Salle, Francis Drake, Jean Laffite, Tyrone Power, Richard Henry Dana, Libbie Custer, Elizabeth Agassiz, Ernest Hemingway, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as Charles Dwight Sigsbee, at the helm of the doomed Maine. But Sledge also introduces a fascinating and diverse array of people connected to maritime life in the Gulf, including Mesoamerican pyramid builders, Spanish conquistadores, French pirates, Creole women, Cajun fishermen, African American stevedores, British jack-tars, and Greek sponge divers.Gulf events of global historical importance are detailed, such as the only defeat of armed and armored steamships by wooden sailing vessels, the first accurate deep-sea survey and bathymetric map of any ocean basin, the development of shipping containers by a former truck driver frustrated with antiquated loading practices, and the worst environmental disaster in American annals. Occasionally shifting focus ashore, Sledge explains how people representing a gumbo of ethnicities built some of the world's most exotic cities--Havana, way station for conquistadores and treasure-filled galleons; New Orleans, the Big Easy, famous for its beautiful French Quarter, Mardi Gras, and relaxed morals; and oft-besieged Veracruz, Mexico's oldest city, founded in 1519 by Hernan Cortes. Throughout history the residents of these cities and their neighbors along the littoral have struggled with challenges both natural and human-induced--devastating hurricanes, frightening epidemics, catastrophic oil spills, and conflicts ranging from dockside brawls to pirate raids, foreign invasion, civil war, and revolution. In the modern era the Gulf has become critical to energy Production, fisheries, tourism, and international trade, even as it is threatened by pollution and climate change. The Gulf of Mexico: A Maritime History is a work of verve and sweep that illuminates both the risks of life on the water and the riches that come from its bounty.

British power and global expansion between 1755 and 1815 have mainly been attributed to the fiscal-military state and the achievements of the Royal navy at sea. Roger Morriss here sheds new light on the broader range of developments in the infrastructure of the state needed to extend British power at sea and overseas. He demonstrates how developments in culture, experience and control in central government affected the supply of ships, manpower, food, transport and ordnance as well as the support of the army, permitting the maintenance of armed forces of unprecedented size and their projection to distant stations. He reveals how the British state, although dependent on the private sector, built a partnership with it based on trust, ethics and the law. This book argues that Britain's military bureaucracy, traditionally regarded as inferior to the fighting services, was in fact the keystone of the nation's maritime ascendancy.

Captain James Burney (1750 1821), the son of the musicologist Dr Charles Burney and brother of the novelist Fanny Burney, was a well-travelled sailor, best known for this monumental compilation of voyages of discovery in the Pacific Ocean. After joining the navy in 1764, he sailed on Cook's second voyage between 1772 and 1774, and was also present on the ill-fated third voyage. He retired from the navy in 1784 and turned to writing works on exploration. These volumes, published between 1803 and 1817, and regarded as the standard work on the subject for much of the nineteenth century, contain collected accounts of European voyages of discovery in the Pacific Ocean between 1492 and 1764. Burney provides summaries of contemporary Spanish, Dutch and English accounts, which include descriptions of voyages to China, Micronesia and Australia. Volume 1 covers voyages between 1492 and 1574, including the voyages of Magellan.

Captain James Burney (1750 1821), the son of the musicologist Dr Charles Burney and brother of the novelist Fanny Burney, was a well-travelled sailor, best known for this monumental compilation of voyages of discovery in the Pacific Ocean. After joining the navy in 1764, he sailed on Cook's second voyage between 1772 and 1774, and was also present on the ill-fated third voyage. He retired from the navy in 1784 and turned to writing works on exploration. These volumes, published between 1803 and 1817, and regarded as the standard work on the subject for much of the nineteenth century, contain collected accounts of European voyages of discovery in the Pacific Ocean between 1492 and 1764. Burney provides summaries of Spanish, Dutch and English accounts, which include descriptions of voyages to China, Micronesia and Australia. Volume 2 covers voyages between 1579 and 1620, including that of Sir Richard Hawkins.

Captain James Burney (1750 1821), the son of the musicologist Dr Charles Burney and brother of the novelist Fanny Burney, was a well-travelled sailor, best known for this monumental compilation of voyages of discovery in the Pacific Ocean. After joining the navy in 1764, he sailed on Cook's second voyage between 1772 and 1774, and was also present on the ill-fated third voyage. He retired from the navy in 1784 and turned to writing works on exploration. These volumes, published between 1803 and 1817, and regarded as the standard work on the subject for much of the nineteenth century, contain collected accounts of European voyages of discovery in the Pacific Ocean between 1492 and 1764. Burney provides summaries of Spanish, Dutch and English accounts, which include descriptions of voyages to China, Micronesia and Australia. Volume 3 covers voyages between 1620 and 1688, including the voyages of Abel Tasman.

Captain James Burney (1750 1821), the son of the musicologist Dr Charles Burney and brother of the novelist Fanny Burney, was a well-travelled sailor, best known for this monumental compilation of voyages of discovery in the Pacific Ocean. After joining the navy in 1764, he sailed on Cook's second voyage between 1772 and 1774, and was also present on the ill-fated third voyage. He retired from the navy in 1784 and turned to writing works on exploration. These volumes, published between 1803 and 1817, and regarded as the standard work on the subject for much of the nineteenth century, contain collected accounts of European voyages of discovery in the Pacific Ocean between 1492 and 1764. Burney provides summaries of Spanish, Dutch and English accounts, which include descriptions of voyages to China, Micronesia and Australia. Volume 4 covers voyages between 1689 and 1723, including accounts of buccaneer expeditions.

Did you ever wonder which civilisation first took to water in small craft? Who worked out how to measure distance or plot a course at sea? Or why the humble lemon rose to such prominence in the diets of sailors? Taking one hundred objects that have been pivotal in the development of sailing and sailing boats, the book provides a fascinating insight into the history of sailing. From the earliest small boats, through magnificent Viking warships, to the technology that powers some of the most sophisticated modern yachts, the book also covers key developments such as keeps and navigational aids such as the astrolabe, sextant and compass. Other more apparently esoteric objects from all around the world are also included, including the importance of citrus fruit in the prevention of scurvy, scrimshaw made from whalebone and the meaning of sailor's tattoos. Beautifully illustrated with lively and insightful text, it's a perfect gift for the real or armchair sailor, the book gives an alternative insight into how and why we sail the way we do today.

The infamous Bounty mutiny of 1790 culminated in nine mutineers taking up residence on the small Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific. Rivalry over Polynesian women soon led to homicidal strife and, by 1808, when American sealing vessel Topaz stopped at the island, John Adams was the only mutineer alive. He, however, headed what was soon discovered to be a utopian like Christian society. Beginning with a background look at the circumstances surrounding the mutiny, this volume contains a detailed history of the Pitcairn islanders from the original settlement through the opening years of the 21st century. The island's isolation is contrasted with the international attention garnered from its captivating history, making the society a one-of-a-kind historical conundrum. Unlike previous volumes, this history takes a look at the Pitcairn Island of the 20th and 21st centuries, examining such subjects as the effect of the World War II and the 2004 sexual abuse trial and conviction of six Pitcairners. Helpful maps and photographs enhance the reader's experience.

Sir Walter Oakeshott was a British scholar who is best known as the discoverer of the Winchester Manuscript of Malory's Morte d'Arthur while he was an assistant master at Winchester College. He later became Rector of Lincoln College, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1962 to 1964. Oakeshott had a scholarly interest in Elizabethan exploration, which he examines in this volume, first published in 1942. He describes the military and exploratory achievements of the Elizabethan and Stuart navy, including attempts to find the Northwest Passage, the settlement of Virginia and the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Oakeshott also discusses the role of Renaissance thought and contemporary politics in these achievements, through changes in naval tactics and advances in cartography. The personalities of leading explorers including Sir Francis Drake, Sir John Hawkins and Sir Walter Raleigh are also vividly described in this clear and concise historical account.