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Books > History > History of specific subjects > Maritime history
While the Ottoman Empire is most often recognized today as a land
power, for four centuries the seas of the Eastern Mediterranean
were dominated by the Ottoman Navy. Yet to date, little is known
about the seafarers who made up the sultans' fleet, the men whose
naval mastery ensured that an empire from North Africa to Black Sea
expanded and was protected, allowing global trading networks to
flourish in the face of piracy and the Sublime Porte's wars with
the Italian city states and continental European powers. In this
book, Christine Isom-Verhaaren provides a history of the major
events and engagements of the navy, from its origins as the fleets
of Anatolian Turkish beyliks to major turning points such as the
Battle of Lepanto. But the book also puts together a picture of the
structure of the Ottoman navy as an institution, revealing the
personal stories of the North African corsairs and Greek sailors
recruited as admirals. Rich in detail drawn from a variety of
sources, the book provides a comprehensive account of the Ottoman
Navy, the forgotten contingent in the empire's period of supremacy
from the 14th century to the 18th century.
Titanic is a fascinating exploration of the most famous maritime
disaster of all time. It delves into the astonishing facts
surrounding the tragedy of 1912 and is essential for anyone wishing
to separate myth from reality. With a range of trivia including
facts about the construction of the vessel deemed to be
'unsinkable', the information is presented in an interesting and
engaging way to embrace a wide variety of readers. This title is
brimming with facts about the Titanic and its passengers, the
history of the Titanic, strange stories of premonitions of the
disaster, conspiracy theories, the various films, the sinking of
the Titanic, the discovery of the wreck and salvage operations, are
all explored. Brief, accessible and entertaining pieces on a wide
variety of subjects makes it the perfect book to dip in to. The
amazing and extraordinary facts series presents interesting,
surprising and little-known facts and stories about a wide range of
topics which are guaranteed to inform, absorb and entertain in
equal measure.
Submerged stories from the inland seas The newest addition to Globe
Pequot's Shipwrecks series covers the sensational wrecks and
maritime disasters from each of the five Great Lakes. It is
estimated that over 30,000 sailors have lost their lives in Great
Lakes wrecks. For many, these icy, inland seas have become their
final resting place, but their last moments live on as a part of
maritime history. The tales, all true and well-documented, feature
some of the most notable tragedies on each of the lakes. Included
in many of these tales are legends of ghost ship sighting, ghostly
shipwreck victims still struggling to get to shore, and other
chilling lore. Sailors are a superstitious group, and the stories
are sprinkled with omens and maritime protocols that guide
decisions made on the water.
Did British, French and Russian gunboats pacify the notoriously
corsair-infested waters of the Eastern Mediterranean? This book
charts the changing rates and nature of piracy in the Eastern
Mediterranean in the nineteenth century. Using Ottoman, Greek and
other archival sources, it shows that far from ending with the
introduction European powers to the region, piracy continued
unabated. The book shows that political reforms and changes in the
regional economy caused by the accelerated integration of the
Mediterranean into the expanding global economy during the third
quarter of the century played a large role in ongoing piracy. It
also considers imperial power struggles, ecological phenomena,
shifting maritime trade routes, revisions in international maritime
law, and changes in the regional and world economy to explain the
fluctuations in violence at sea.
This book collects together about sixty drawings of fishing boats
at Arbroath Harbour, completed between 1989 to 1995. There are also
fifteen drawings of the harbour at Montrose, and of other Scottish
harbours relevant to Arbroath, in the same period. The author's
viewpoint is that of an interested spectator who likes fishing
boats. While drawing, he gained valuable background information
from the local people, including some fishermen, that he met as he
worked. His notes on the harbours he draws, and on the boats and
people within them, are written in the hope that everyone reading
the book will 'feel close to the sea'. The main story unfolds
gradually, starting in 1989 and running through to 1995. It begins
with a bird's eye view of Arbroath Harbour, 'so that even if you
have never been to Arbroath, you will soon know your way around'.
At the end of the book there is a map that show the positions of
all the Scottish harbour towns mentioned in the text. 'I have
written not just for Arbroath people, or just for Scottish people,
or even just for British people. I have written the book for people
everywhere. The call of the sea is universal.'
Naval mines are pernicious weapons of debated legality and fearsome
reputation. Since World War II over 18,400 of these ingenious
devices have been deployed during 24 naval mining events, seriously
damaging or sinking over 100 ships including 44 warships. Despite
this sustained drumbeat of use both in attack and in defence, there
were no modern books that examine this `Weapon That Waits'. Naval
Minewarfare: Politics to Practicalities is a comprehensive guide to
modern naval minewarfare. From explaining the basic tenets of both
naval mining and naval mine countermeasures, then examining the
modern history of naval mining, through to the legal, political and
statecraft factors that should underpin any decisions to employ
naval mines, this detailed analysis provides a contemporary view of
how this weapon is used as part of a military or insurgent
campaign. Focussing on both the psychological warhead in every mine
as well as naval mining's lethal effects, it contains a wealth of
invaluable information and explanation all carefully scripted to
enlighten military historians and inform international strategists.
The inclusion of an Annex of mitigations against mining
specifically designed for use by civilian ships, their owners and
also port authorities makes this an outstanding primary reference
for politicians through to practitioners of both military and
civilian elements of conflicts that involve naval mines.
This volume brings together scholars of Mediterranean archaeology,
ancient history, and complexity science to advance theoretical
approaches and analytical tools for studying maritime connectivity.
For the coast-hugging populations of the ancient Mediterranean,
mobility and exchange depended on a distinct environment and
technological parameters that created diverse challenges and
opportunities, making the modeling of maritime interaction a
paramount concern for understanding cultural interaction more
generally. Network-inspired metaphors have long been employed in
discussions of this interaction, but increasing theoretical
sophistication and advances in formal network analysis now offer
opportunities to refine and test the dominant paradigm of
connectivity. Extending from prehistory into the Byzantine period,
the case studies here reveal the potential of such network
approaches. Collectively they explore the social, economic,
religious, and political structures that guided Mediterranean
interaction across maritime space.
If you centre a globe on Kiritimati (Christmas Island), all you see
around it is a vast expanse of ocean. Islands of various sizes
float in view while glimpses of continents encroach on the fringes,
but this is a view dominated by water. The immense stretch of the
Pacific Ocean is inhabited by a diverse array of peoples and
cultures bound by a common thread: their relationship with the sea.
The rich history of the Pacific is explored through specific
objects, each one beautifully illustrated, from the earliest human
engagement with the Pacific through to the modern day. With entries
covering mapping, trade, whaling, flora and fauna, and the myriad
vessels used to traverse the ocean, Pacific builds on recent
interest in the voyages of James Cook to tell a broader history.
This visually stunning publication highlights the importance of an
ocean that covers very nearly a third of the surface of the globe,
and which has dramatically shaped the world and people around it.
By extending their voyages to all oceans from the 1760s onward,
whaling vessels from North America and Europe spanned a novel net
of hunting grounds, maritime routes, supply posts, and transport
chains across the globe. For obtaining provisions, cutting
firewood, recruiting additional men, and transshipping whale
products, these highly mobile hunters regularly frequented coastal
places and islands along their routes, which were largely
determined by the migratory movements of their prey. American-style
pelagic whaling thus constituted a significant, though often
overlooked factor in connecting people and places between distant
world regions during the long nineteenth century. Focusing on
Africa, this book investigates side-effects resulting from
stopovers by whalers for littoral societies on the economic,
social, political, and cultural level. For this purpose it draws on
eight local case studies, four from Africa's west coast and four
from its east coast. In the overall picture, the book shows a broad
range of effects and side-effects of different forms and strengths,
which it figures as a "grey undercurrent" of global history.
An extraordinary account of one woman's single-minded campaign to
restore a Victorian steamship to her former glory and make her an
Andean attraction Here is a vivid account of Meriel Larken's
incredible quest to restore the "Yavari" steamship against the
odds--a ship that is now celebrating its 150 year anniversary in
2012. In 1862 the English-built "Yavari" was taken to bits and
shipped to South America. In an epic logistical feat it was carried
in thousands of pieces, by mule, up the Andes to Lake Titicaca,
12,500 feet above sea level, the world's highest navigable
waterway. She was reconstructed and for more than a century plied
her trade up and down the lake, but by 1985 she was a sad rotting
hulk--until she was found by Larken, who led the quest to project
to restore and preserve the ship. The oldest single screw iron
passenger ship in the world, this nautical and engineering jewel is
now a major Peruvian tourist attraction.
The Constitution was one of the US Navy's first six original
frigates, ordered as a counter to the Barbary corsairs in the
Mediterranean. Fast and heavily built, she was nominally rated as a
44 but mounted thirty 24-pdr and twenty-two 12-pdr cannon. Her most
famous encounter, after which she became nicknamed 'Old Ironsides'
due to British shot being seen bouncing off her hull, involved HMS
Guerriere, which she smashed; the same treatment was meted out to
HMS Java four months later. Now the oldest commissioned warship
afloat in thw world, she is berthed in Boston Harbor. The 'Anatomy
of the Ship' series aims to provide the finest documentation of
individual ships and ship types ever published. What makes the
series unique is a complete set of superbly executed line drawings,
both the conventional type of plan as well as explanatory views,
with fully descriptive keys. These are supported by technical
details and a record of the ship's service history.
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