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Books > History > History of specific subjects > Maritime history
North American Society for Oceanic History John Lyman Book Award in
United States Maritime History Passamaquoddy Bay lies between Maine
and New Brunswick at the mouth of the St. Croix River. Most of it
(including Campobello Island) is within Canada, but the Maine town
of Lubec lies at the bay's entrance. Rich in beaver pelts, fish,
and timber, the area was a famous smuggling center after the
American Revolution. Joshua Smith examines the reasons for
smuggling in this area and how three conflicts in early republic
history the 1809 Flour War, the War of 1812, and the 1820 Plaster
War reveal smuggling's relationship to crime, borderlands, and the
transition from mercantilism to capitalism. Smith astutely
interprets smuggling as created and provoked by government efforts
to maintain and regulate borders. In 1793 British and American
negotiators framed a vague new boundary meant to demarcate the
lingering British empire in North America (Canada) from the new
American Republic. Officials insisted that an abstract line now
divided local peoples on either side of Passamaquoddy Bay. Merely
by persisting in trade across the newly demarcated national
boundary, people violated the new laws. As smugglers, they defied
both the British and American efforts to restrict and regulate
commerce. Consequently, local resistance and national authorities
engaged in a continuous battle for four decades. Smith treats the
Passamaquoddy Bay smuggling as more than a local episode of
antiquarian interest. Indeed, he crafts a local case study to
illuminate a widespread phenomenon in early modern Europe and the
Americas. A volume in the series New Perspectives on Maritime
History and Nautical Archaeology, edited by James C. Bradford and
Gene Allen Smith
Captain Stanley Lord and his vessel, the Californian, were accused
of ignoring the Titanic's distress calls. This book offers an
evidence which prompted the British Government to re-open the case
surrounding Captain Lord and the Californian and proved that the
captain and his ship could not have been the ship seen from the
decks of the Titanic.
Richard Halliburton (1900-1939), considered the world's first
celebrity travel writer, swam the length of the Panama Canal,
recreated Ulysses' voyages in the Mediterranean, crossed the Alps
on an elephant, flew around the world in a biplane, and descended
into the Mayan Well of Death, all the while chronicling his own
adventures. Several books treat his life and travels, yet no book
has addressed in detail Halliburton's most ambitious expedition: an
attempt to sail across the Pacific Ocean in a Chinese junk. Set
against the backdrop of a China devastated by invading Japanese
armies and the storm clouds of world war gathering in Europe,
Halliburton and a crew of fourteen set out to build and sail the
Sea Dragon-a junk or ancient sailing ship-from Hong Kong to San
Francisco for the Golden Gate International Exposition. After
battling through crew conflicts and frequent delays, the Sea Dragon
set sail on March 4, 1939. Three weeks after embarking, the ship
encountered a typhoon and disappeared without a trace. Richly
enhanced with historic photographs, Richard Halliburton and the
Voyage of the Sea Dragon follows the dramatic arc of this ill-fated
expedition in fine detail. Gerry Max artfully unpacks the tensions
between Halliburton and his captain, John Wenlock Welch (owing much
to Welch's homophobia and Halliburton's unconcealed homosexuality).
And while Max naturally explores the trials and tribulations of
preparing, constructing, and finally launching the Sea Dragon, he
also punctuates the story with the invasion of China by the
Japanese, as Halliburton and his letters home reveal an excellent
wartime reporter. Max mines these documents, many of which have
only recently come to light, as well as additional letters from
Halliburton and his crew to family and friends, photographs, films,
and tape recordings, to paint an intricate portrait of
Halliburton's final expedition from inception to tragic end.
From its inception, P&A Campbell dominated steamer travel on
the Bristol Channel, both for tourism and trade between Bristol and
South Wales. The steamers of Campbell's were a regular sight as
they were down to the north Devon coast, Lundy Island, and the
Somerset piers. This book presents the history of the early P&A
Campbell years.
Southeast Asia contains some of the world's busiest shipping
waters, particularly the Indonesian archipelago, the Straits of
Malacca and South China Sea. The natural geography and human
ecology of maritime Southeast Asia makes the area particularly apt
for piracy. It is perhaps no surprise, then, that these waters are
also the world's most pirate-infested, accounting for over a third
of the total number of pirate attacks world-wide. The figures have
increased in recent years, as transnationally organized crime
syndicates have extended their activities in the area. Meanwhile,
the capacity of the state authorities in the region to suppress
piracy appears to have declined, fuelling suspicions that sections
of the maritime authorities are colluding with some of the
organized pirate gangs that they are supposed to be combating. Not
surprisingly, piracy has a long history in the region, and in
several instances during the last 250 years, pirates have disrupted
peaceful trade and communications. This text traces the shifting
character and development of Southeast Asian piracy from the 18th
century to the present day, demonstrating how political, economic,
social and technological factors have contributed to change - but
have by no means exterminated - the phenomenon.
In 1498 a young captain sailed from Portugal, circumnavigated
Africa, crossed the Indian Ocean, and discovered the sea route to
the Indies, opening up access to the fabled wealth of the East. It
was the longest voyage known to history; the ships were pushed to
their limits, their crews were racked by storms and devastated by
disease. However, the greatest enemy was neither nature nor the
fear of venturing into unknown worlds. With blood-red Crusader
crosses emblazoned on their sails, the explorers arrived in the
heart of the Muslim East at a time when the old hostilities between
Christianity and Islam had intensified. In two voyages that spanned
six years, Vasco da Gama would fight a running sea battle that
would ultimately change the fate of three continents. The Last
Crusade is an epic tale of spies, intrigue, and treachery; of
bravado, brinkmanship, and confused - often comical collisions -
between cultures encountering one another for the first time. With
the world once again tipping back East, The Last Crusade offers a
key to understanding age-old religious and cultural rivalries
resurgent today.
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