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Books > History > History of specific subjects > Maritime history
The story of Leith-built ships continues in this third volume from
just after the conclusion of World War Two to 1965. However, the
world was different; the men came back from the front and those
women who had been working in the shipyards lost their jobs. All
shipyards were experiencing full order books, replacing, or
repairing ships lost or damaged in the conflict, but the industry
was changing albeit slowly at first. The advent of electric welding
would eventually change the way ships were built leading to the
demise of the Rivet Squad, which was replaced as a cost cutting
exercise as it became the accepted method of ship construction.
Henry Robb Shipyard participated in the massive new shipbuilding
programme with a great many vessels being ordered from two of the
largest customers of the yard. Many orders came from the giant
Ellerman Lines, while a great many more were ordered by other
customers, such as the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand. The
Admiralty also remained a customer and a few large supply ships
would be built in this time. In this volume the author has not
forgotten the people who were the very fabric of the yard and
community. Personal accounts are included from those who built or
sailed on these vessels. This is the story of a mighty industry,
but one which nonetheless had begun its decline. In the century
from 1893, this nation went from producing 80% of all the worlds'
commercial ships to producing no commercial ships at all. It is a
sad fact, but this volume keeps alive the story of the Leith-built
ships and the vibrant industry that once existed.
On 15 April 1912, passengers stood on a dimly lit Boat Deck,
looking down at the lifeboats they were told to enter. In the
freezing air, away from the warmth of the interior, they had to
decide whether to enter a boat that would be lowered into darkness
or remain on an 'unsinkable' ship. RMS Titanic in 50 Objects is a
look at the world-famous liner through the objects that tell her
story. Sheet music recovered from the body of a musician, a
full-sized replica of her First Class Entrance Hall clock, a
lifeboat from a fellow White Star Line ship - all of these objects
and more come together to tell not only the tragedy of the ship
herself, but also that of her passengers and crew. Lavishly
illustrated and extensively researched by two of the world's most
foremost Titanic experts, this is her history brought to life like
never before.
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.
This dictionary is the most comprehensive work of reference on the
ship portraitists and marine artists who worked in Liverpool
between the late eighteenth century and the present day. It
includes 65 known portraitists and marine artists and an appendix
of over a dozen other locally-based painters who produced an
occasional marine work and about half a dozen possible marine
artists who may have worked, visited or have been temporarily
resident in the port. It is organised alphabetically by surname.
Each entry includes a full biography of the artist; a summary of
their main subjects, style and range of work; details of the main
UK and US museums holding their paintings; and the principal
published sources. The dictionary includes 70 illustrations which
are typical examples of the work of each of the main artists. These
included: Samuel and Miles Walters, Joseph Heard, Robert Salmon,
Francis Hustwick, William Jackson, John Jenkinson, Sam Brown, Odin
Rosenvinge, Thomas Dove, William G Yorke and William H Yorke.
Sir John Duckworth commanded ships and squadrons and fleets
throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. He was an
assiduous correspondent, writing to Admirals St Vincent, Nelson,
Collingwood, and numerous other naval officers. He kept every piece
of paper he wrote on or received. He was in the first expedition to
the West Indies when he went on a mission to the United States to
suppress a French privateer. He commanded a ship in First of June
fight in 1794, and was peripherally involved in the great naval
mutinies of 1797. He was picked out by Lord St Vincent to command
the recovery of Minorca in 1798. He returned to the West Indies in
1799 where he was commander-in-chief in the Leeward Islands, and
then at Jamaica. There he was much involved in the Revolutionary
war in Haiti, eventually receiving several thousands of French
refugees and sending them on to France. A spell with the Channel
fleet was succeeded by time at the blockade of Gibraltar. Against
orders, he chased a French squadron across the Atlantic and
destroyed it (Battle of San Domingo 1796). One of his more curious
adventures was a diplomatic mission to the Constantinople to
browbeat the Ottoman Sultan into making peace with Russia in 1807.
He failed, of course, and was criticised for not bombarding the
city. He served out his time afloat with the Channel fleet,
displaying his usual humanity. A three-year appointment as governor
of Newfoundland completed his career.
Those travelling on the seas have always been vulnerable to the
attacks of predators acting within or without the law. In the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries such assaults reached new
heights as the development of trans-oceanic empires increased
massively the wealth and extent of sea-borne trade, and with it the
potential for prize-taking. Pirates and Privateers focuses on the
character of pirate communities in the Caribbean, the East Indies
and China, and on the scale and significance of privateering
operations based in the principal European maritime states. It
brings together the latest work of an internationally renowned
group of scholars to shed fresh light on the fascinating,
frequently misunderstood subject of violence at sea in the age of
sail.
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Titanic
Stuart Robertson
Hardcover
R307
R206
Discovery Miles 2 060
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