After completing his studies at Trinity College, Oxford, John Charnock (1756-1807) joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer. Though details of his career at sea are lacking, he is known to have embarked on assiduous research into historical and contemporary naval affairs, and he cultivated contacts with many serving officers. His six-volume Biographia Navalis (1794-8), flawed yet still useful, is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. Published in three volumes from 1800 to 1802, the present work stands as the first serious study of naval architecture in Britain in particular, while also noting major developments in Europe and beyond. The volumes are illustrated throughout with numerous designs of vessels. Volume 1 (1800) traces the origins of marine architecture and how it was affected by commerce and war, from the ancient Chinese and Egyptians, through the Greeks and Romans, up to the death of Richard III.

After completing his studies at Trinity College, Oxford, John Charnock (1756-1807) joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer. Though details of his career at sea are lacking, he is known to have embarked on assiduous research into historical and contemporary naval affairs, and he cultivated contacts with many serving officers. His six-volume Biographia Navalis (1794-8), flawed yet still useful, is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. Published in three volumes from 1800 to 1802, the present work stands as the first serious study of naval architecture in Britain in particular, while also noting major developments in Europe and beyond. The volumes are illustrated throughout with numerous designs of vessels. Volume 3 (1802) covers changes across the entire eighteenth century, with some discussion of African and Asian examples. The work concludes with various experimental and practical considerations relating to effective shipbuilding and seafaring.

John Charnock (1756 1807) was a professional naval biographer and historian. After completing his studies at Trinity College, Oxford, he joined the Navy as a volunteer and began to research historical and contemporary naval affairs. This six-volume work, first published between 1794 and 1798, contains biographies of over two thousand post-captains and admirals who served in the Navy between 1660 and 1793. Charnock researched this monumental project using collections of historical naval biographies made available by his friend Captain William Locker, lieutenant-governor of Greenwich Hospital. He also drew on his own experiences and his contacts among serving officers to provide valuable insights into contemporary events. However, his sometimes uncritical approach to sources means his work is best consulted together with other evidence. The biographies are arranged by year of first appointment, and alphabetically within each year. Volume 1 contains biographies of officers appointed between 1660 and 1673.

John Charnock (1756 1807) was a professional naval biographer and historian. After completing his studies at Trinity College, Oxford, he joined the Navy as a volunteer and began to research historical and contemporary naval affairs. This six-volume work, first published between 1794 and 1798, contains biographies of over two thousand post-captains and admirals who served in the Navy between 1660 and 1793. Charnock researched this monumental project using collections of historical naval biographies made available by his friend Captain William Locker, lieutenant-governor of Greenwich Hospital. He also drew on his own experiences and his contacts among serving officers to provide valuable insights into contemporary events. However, his sometimes uncritical approach to sources means his work is best consulted together with other evidence. The biographies are arranged by year of first appointment, and alphabetically within each year. Volume 2 contains biographies of officers appointed between 1674 and 1692.

John Charnock (1756 1807) was a professional naval biographer and historian. After completing his studies at Trinity College, Oxford, he joined the Navy as a volunteer and began to research historical and contemporary naval affairs. This six-volume work, first published between 1794 and 1798, contains biographies of over two thousand post-captains and admirals who served in the Navy between 1660 and 1793. Charnock researched this monumental project using collections of historical naval biographies made available by his friend Captain William Locker, lieutenant-governor of Greenwich Hospital. He also drew on his own experiences and his contacts among serving officers to provide valuable insights into contemporary events. However, his sometimes uncritical approach to sources means his work is best consulted together with other evidence. The biographies are arranged by year of first appointment, and alphabetically within each year. Volume 3 contains biographies of officers appointed between 1693 and 1708.

John Charnock (1756 1807) was a professional naval biographer and historian. After completing his studies at Trinity College, Oxford, he joined the Navy as a volunteer and began to research historical and contemporary naval affairs. This six-volume work, first published between 1794 and 1798, contains biographies of over two thousand post-captains and admirals who served in the Navy between 1660 and 1793. Charnock researched this monumental project using collections of historical naval biographies made available by his friend Captain William Locker, lieutenant-governor of Greenwich Hospital. He also drew on his own experiences and his contacts among serving officers to provide valuable insights into contemporary events. However, his sometimes uncritical approach to sources means his work is best consulted together with other evidence. The biographies are arranged by year of first appointment, and alphabetically within each year. Volume 4 contains biographies of officers appointed between 1709 and 1739.

John Charnock (1756 1807) was a professional naval biographer and historian. After completing his studies at Trinity College, Oxford, he joined the Navy as a volunteer and began to research historical and contemporary naval affairs. This six-volume work, first published between 1794 and 1798, contains biographies of over two thousand post-captains and admirals who served in the Navy between 1660 and 1793. Charnock researched this monumental project using collections of historical naval biographies made available by his friend Captain William Locker, lieutenant-governor of Greenwich Hospital. He also drew on his own experiences and his contacts among serving officers to provide valuable insights into contemporary events. However, his sometimes uncritical approach to sources means his work is best consulted together with other evidence. The biographies are arranged by year of first appointment, and alphabetically within each year. Volume 5 contains biographies of officers appointed between 1740 and 1746.

John Charnock (1756 1807) was a professional naval biographer and historian. After completing his studies at Trinity College, Oxford, he joined the Navy as a volunteer and began to research historical and contemporary naval affairs. This six-volume work, first published between 1794 and 1798, contains biographies of over two thousand post-captains and admirals who served in the Navy between 1660 and 1793. Charnock researched this monumental project using historical naval biographies made available by his friend Captain William Locker, lieutenant-governor of Greenwich Hospital. He also drew on his own experiences and his contacts among serving officers to provide valuable insights into contemporary events. However, his sometimes uncritical approach to sources means his work is best consulted together with other evidence. The biographies are arranged by year of first appointment, and alphabetically within each year. Volume 6 covers officers appointed between 1747 and 1763, and admirals to 1793.

After completing his studies at Trinity College, Oxford, John Charnock (1756-1807) joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer. Though details of his career at sea are lacking, he is known to have embarked on assiduous research into historical and contemporary naval affairs, and he cultivated contacts with many serving officers. His six-volume Biographia Navalis (1794-8), flawed yet still useful, is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. Published in three volumes from 1800 to 1802, the present work stands as the first serious study of naval architecture in Britain in particular, while also noting major developments in Europe and beyond. The volumes are illustrated throughout with numerous designs of vessels. Volume 2 (1801) opens by considering Venetian and Genoese seafaring in the middle of the fifteenth century. Significant space is then given to the navies of the Tudors and Stuarts, and to changes in Europe up to the end of the seventeenth century.