Library Results | Royal Museums Greenwich

Afloat : a memoir /Danie Couchman "Surrounded by an eclectic and itinerant community in the uncharted territory of the capital's urban wilderness, Danie becomes fully immersed in this hidden world. Each day onboard her boat Genesis is an adventure full of disaster and magic. Over five years of living off-grid, nomadic Danie learns to survive the many highs and lows of boat life alone, keeping herself, and her steel home, afloat. A captivating debut, Afloat is the story of a young woman's desire to escape an ever more isolated city existence and reconnect with nature, discovering what is important in life."--Provided by publisher 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 643.2092

The Other Norfolk Admirals : Myngs, Narbrough and Shovell /Simon Harris "The careers of the three Norfolk admirals were intimately related. Narbrough and Shovell came from the small North Norfolk hamlet of Cockthorpe and Myngs from nearby Salthouse. In the 1660s, Myngs was the captain, Narbrough the lieutenant and Shovell the lowly cabin boy in the same ship. It is also possible that they were all related at least by marriage. In the majority of the naval wars of the second half of the seventeenth and the early eighteenth centuries one or other of them was invariably present. Cloudesley Shovell was born to a yeoman farmer; he entered the Navy whilst still a boy and, in 1676, came to national prominence by burning the four ships of the Dey of Tripoli right under his castle walls. This led to conflict with Samuel Pepys over a gold medal that the generous Charles II had awarded Shovell. Later there was a spectacular falling out with James II over the new king's Catholicism. Following Narbrough's premature death, Shovell married his widow: effectively the cabin boy marrying the admiral's widow which is unique in British naval history. Brave to a fault, in the reigns of William and Mary, and Anne, Shovell became the leading fighting admiral of the age. In 1707, at the very height of his considerable powers, Shovell and nearly 2,000 men drowned after his ships were wrecked on the rocks of Scilly. According to his grandson, Shovell arrived on the shore alive and was then brutally murdered for the sake of an emerald ring on his finger. Faulty navigation was at the heart of Shovell's demise; did he keep his appointment with the celebrated scientist, Sir Isaac Newton, to discuss longitude? New theories concerning the causes of the disaster are examined and also the fate of his gold dinner service. Explorer, navigator, consummate sailor and naval administrator, John Narbrough was all this and more. No biography of Narbrough has been produced for 85 years and much new material has come to light in this time. For example the rediscovery of the ship, the Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion from which Narbrough was trying to salvage sunken Spanish silver when he died from a mysterious illness. In addition, the British Library recently raised a large sum of money to buy Narbrough's journals of his voyage [1669-71] into the Pacific Ocean and up to, what is now, modern day Chile. He illustrated his journals with paintings of the flora and fauna plus accurate depictions of the harbours that he visited. On his return journey, Narbrough became the first Englishman to sail through the Strait of Magellan from west to east. Both Narbrough and Shovell owed so much to Christopher Myngs and yet no comprehensive biography of him has yet been written. In the 1650s, out in the West Indies, he played very much the part of an Elizabethan buccaneer with repeated attacks on the Spanish Main. After helping himself to treasure that more properly belonged to the state, he was shipped home to England in semi-disgrace. However, in the run-up to the Restoration of the monarchy, the authorities did not think it appropriate to discipline the most popular man in the Navy. Later, at the Four Days' Battle of 1666, Myngs leading the English van, would attempt to fight on despite having his face shattered by a musket ball. Six days later, he died at his home in London and was buried in an East London churchyard which has now become a seedy park. He deserved better."--Provided by the publisher. 2017 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92:355.333.3

To build a ship : the VOC replica ship, Duyfken /Robert Garvey. Garvey, Robert, 2001. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 629.123DUYFKEN

Warships of the Great War era : a history in ship models /David Hobbs. "The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich houses the largest collection of scale ship models in the world, many of which are official, contemporary artefacts made by the craftsmen of the navy or the shipbuilders themselves, and ranging from the mid seventeenth century to the present day. As such they represent a three-dimensional archive of unique importance and authority. Treated as historical evidence, they offer more detail than even the best plans, and demonstrate exactly what the ships looked like in a way that even the finest marine painter could not achieve. This book is one of a series that takes a selection of the best models to tell the story of specific ship types - in this case, the various classes of warship that fought in the First World War, from dreadnoughts to coastal motor boats. It reproduces a large number of model photos, all in full colour, and including many close-up and detail views. These are captioned in depth, but many are also annotated to focus attention on interesting or unusual features. Although pictorial in emphasis, the book weaves the pictures into an authoritative text, producing an unusual and attractive form of technical history."--Provided by the publisher. 2014. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 086.5:623.82

The Women's Royal Naval Service : a world war two memoir /Brenda Birney. "Aged only 24, in 1941 Brenda Heimann, a London secretary, joins up as a Wren. Little does she imagine that she will work in the tunnels under the white cliffs of Dover. Eight months' preparation for D-Day in Inverness culminates in Brenda being driven all along the south coast of England from Portsmouth to Dover delivering the final sealed instructions to commanders taking part in the Invasion of Normandy. Stationed in Caserta, near Naples, Brenda was shown round Venice by one of the real Monuments' Men. At the end of the War, Brenda takes her first flight - from Naples to Malta for her last posting. The WRNS was the time of her life!"--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. txt

Sir Charles Raymond of Valentines and the East India Company / Georgina Green. "Meticulously researched, Georgina Green's Sir Charles Raymond of Valentines and the East India Company offers readers a detailed biography of a successful eighteenth-century sea captain whose Oriental fortune laid the foundations for domestic comfort and commercial achievement at home in Georgian Essex. Raymond's later life in the City of London managing ships for the East India Company, as a director of the Sun Fire Office and later as a banker, earned him respect and a baronetcy. Living at Valentines in modern day Ilford, Raymond's success attracted other retired captains - relations and business colleagues, to live nearby in Ilford and Woodford. Without these captains who carried their cargo the East India Company would never have become a major force in India. The book includes new material about voyages at sea, the risks and rewards, backed up by statistical information. Readers will encounter Georgian Britain in the round. Trade, politics, marriage, culture, business, sociability, neighbourhood and material life were intertwined in the life of Sir Charles Raymond, just as they were woven through the foundation of Britain's Indian empire. Georgina Green has been well known as a local historian in Redbridge and the Epping Forest area for over 30 years and has written several other books about the history of the area."--Provided by the publisher. 2015. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 954.031092

Tide : the science and lore of the greatest force on earth /Hugh Aldersey-Williams. "From Cnut to D-Day, the history and science of the unceasing tide is explored for the first time. Half of the world's population lives in coastal regions lapped by tidal waters. Yet how little most of us know about the tide - a key force on our planet that has altered the course of history and will transform our future. Our ability to predict and understand the tide depends on centuries of science, from the observations of Aristotle and the theories of Newton to today's supercomputer calculations. This story is punctuated here by notable tidal episodes in history, from Caesar's thwarted invasion of Britain to the catastrophic flooding of Venice, and interwoven with a rich folklore that continues to inspire art and literature today. With Aldersey-Williams as our guide to the most feared and celebrated tidal features on the planet, from the original maelstr²m in Scandinavia to the world's highest tides in Nova Scotia to the crumbling coast of East Anglia, the importance of the tide, and the way it has shaped - and will continue to shape - our civilization, becomes startlingly clear."--Provided by the publisher. 2016 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 551.466:094

Great American passenger ships / William H. Miller. "The United States has produced some of the world's finest, most interesting, advanced, and innovative passenger ships, such as the amazing SS United States, the fastest ocean liner ever to sail the seas, ingloriously left lying in limbo for 42 years. This book also documents passenger ships seized in wartime, notably the giant German SS Vaterland, which became the Leviathan in the United States Lines, as well as many newly built passenger ships, such as Santa Rosa, Lurline, President Cleveland, Independence, and Brasil. Also included are peacetime troopships as well as "combo ships," the once very popular passenger-cargo ships. The great saga of American liners continues to this day with modern cruise ships in Hawaiian service. The cast of ships is both vast and varied, but endlessly fascinating. Presenting many unpublished images alongside historic, insightful text including personal anecdotes of the ships and voyages from passengers and crew alike, William Miller takes the reader on a nostalgic voyage and the great American passenger fleet sails once again."--Back cover. 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 629.123.3(73)"19"

Map worlds : a history of women in cartography /Will C. van den Hoonaard. Van den Hoonaard, Will. C.-(Willy Carl), [2013] • BOOK • 1 copy available. 526.0922

The sea mark : Captain John Smith's voyage to New England /Russell M. Lawson. "By age thirty-four Captain John Smith was already a well-known adventurer and explorer. He had fought as a mercenary in the religious wars of Europe and had won renown for fighting the Turks. He was most famous as the leader of the Virginia Colony at Jamestown, where he had wrangled with the powerful Powhatan and secured the help of Pocahontas. By 1614 he was seeking new adventures. He found them on the 7,000 miles of jagged coastline of what was variously called Norumbega, North Virginia, or Cannada, but which Smith named New England. This land had been previously explored by the English, but while they had made observations and maps and interacted with the native inhabitants, Smith found that "the Coast is...even as a Coast unknowne and undiscovered." The maps of the region, such as they were, were inaccurate. On a long, painstaking excursion along the coast in a shallop, accompanied by sailors and the Indian guide Squanto, Smith took careful compass readings and made ocean soundings. His Description of New England, published in 1616, which included a detailed map, became the standard for many years, the one used by such subsequent voyagers as the Pilgrims when they came to Plymouth in 1620. The Sea Mark is the first narrative history of Smith's voyage of exploration, and it recounts Smith's last years when, desperate to return to New England to start a commercial fishery, he languished in Britain, unable to persuade his backers to exploit the bounty he had seen there."--Provided by the publisher. [2015] • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.4(734.1/.6)"16"

Slavery, capitalism and the Industrial Revolution / Maxine Berg and Pat Hudson. "For too long, the role of slavery in driving Britain's economic development has been marginalized. In their remarkable new book, Maxine Berg and Pat Hudson 'follow the money' to document in revealing detail the role of slavery in the making of Britain's industrial revolution. Slavery was not just a source of wealth for a narrow circle of slave owners who built grand country houses and filled them with luxuries. The forces set in motion by the slave and plantation trades seeped into almost every aspect of the economy and society. In textile mills, iron and copper smelting, steam power, and financial institutions, slavery played a crucial part. Things we might think far removed from the taint of slavery, like 18th century fashions for indigo-patterned cloth, sweet tea, snuff boxes, mahogany furniture, ceramics and silverware, were intimately connected. Even London's role as a centre for global finance was partly determined by the slave trade as insurance, financial trading and mortgage markets were developed in the City to promote distant and risky investments in enslaved people. The result is a bold and unflinching account of how Britain became a global superpower, and how the legacy of slavery persists. Acknowledging Britain's role in slavery is not just about toppling statues and renaming streets. We urgently need to come to terms with slavery's inextricable links with Western capitalism, and the ways in which many of us continue to benefit from slavery to this day."--Provided by publisher. 2023 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 382/.440941

Crime and punishment in the Royal Navy of the Seven Years' War, 1755-1763 / Markus Eder. "In recent years the subject of crime in early modern Britain has become a highly studied topic, yet this interest has largely been limited to crime in civilian society. In many ways this is surprising given the abundance of archival material that survives concerning the Royal Navy, and current interest in 'non-elites' such as made up the bulk of sailors.". 2004. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.133"1755/1763"

The war of the gunboats / Bryan Cooper "The 'little ships' of the Second World War - the fast and highly manoeuvrable motor torpedo boats and gunboats which fought in coastal waters all over the world - developed a special kind of naval warfare. With their daring nightly raids against an enemy's coastal shipping - and sometimes much larger warships - they acquired the buccaneering spirit of an earlier age. And never more so than in the close hand-to-hand battles which raged between opposing craft when they met in open waters. Large numbers of these small fighting boats were built by the major naval powers. The Germans called them Schnellboote (Fast Boats), referred to by the British as E-boats (E for Enemy). In the Royal Navy they were MTBs and MGBs. The American equivalent were PT boats (for Patrol Torpedo). They fought in the narrow waters of the English Channel and the stormy North Sea, in the Mediterranean off the coasts of North Africa and Italy and among the islands of the Aegean, across the Pacific from Pearl Harbour to Leyte Gulf, in Hong Kong and Singapore, and off Burma's Arakan coast. Bryan Cooper's book traces the history and development of these craft from their first limited use in the First World War and the fast motor boats designed in the 1930s for wealthy private clients and water speed record attempts. With account of the battles which took place during the Second World War, when the vital importance of coastal waters came to be recognised, he captures the drama of this highly individual form of combat. And not least the sea itself which was the common enemy of all who crewed these frail craft."--Provided by the publisher. 2009. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 623.824"19"

Bitter Peleliu : the forgotten struggle on the Pacific War's worst battlefield /Joseph Wheelan. "In late 1944, as a precursor to the invasion of the Philippines, U.S. military analysts decided to seize the small island of Peleliu to ensure that the Japanese airfield there could not threaten the invading forces. This important new book explores the dramatic story of the resulting campaign and its strategic failings. Joseph Wheelan expertly details how U.S. intelligence officers failed to detect the complex network of caves, tunnels, and pillboxes hidden inside the island's coral ridges. More importantly, they did not discern - nor could they before it happened - that the defense of Peleliu would represent a tectonic shift in Japanese strategy. No more contested enemy landings at the water's edge, no more wild banzai attacks. Now, invaders would be raked on the beaches by mortar and artillery fire. Then, as the enemy penetrated deeper into the Japanese defensive systems, they would find themselves on ground carefully prepared for the purpose of killing as many Americans as possible. For the battle-hardened 1st Marine Division, Peleliu was a hornets' nest like no other. Yet thanks to pre-invasion over-confidence on the part of commanders, 30 of the 36 news correspondents accredited for the campaign had left prior to D-Day. Bitter Peleliu reveals the full horror of this 74-day battle, a battle that due to the reduced media presence has never garnered the type of attention it deserves."--Provided by the publisher. 2022. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.542666

The lure of illustration in the nineteenth century : picture and press /edited by Laurel Brake and Marysa Demoor. Explores the subject of illustration, technically, metaphorically and historically with reference to nineteenth-century popular periodicals. 2009. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 655.533:82-92"18"

Pilot cutters under sail : pilots and pilotage in Britain and Northern Europe /Tom Cunliffe. "The pilot cutters that operated around the coasts of northern Europe until the First World War were amongst the most seaworthy and beautiful craft of their size ever built, while the small number that have survived have inspired yacht designers, sailors and traditional craft enthusiasts over the last hundred years. Even in their day they possessed a charisma unlike any other working craft; their speed and close-windedness, their strength and seaworthiness, fused together into a hull and rig of particular elegance, all to guide the mariner through the rough and tortuous waters of the European seaboard, bought them an enviable reputation. This new book is both a tribute to and a minutely researched history of these remarkable vessels. The author, perhaps the most experienced sailor of the type, describes the ships themselves, their masters and crews, and the skills they needed for the competitive and dangerous work of pilotage. He explains the differences between the craft of disparate coasts - of the Scilly Isles and the Bristol Channel, of northern France, and the wild coastline of Norway - and weaves into the history of their development the stories of the men who sailed them. Written to complement the recent histories of pilot schooners and open boat pilotage, edited and written by the author, this book will be an essential addition to the libraries of historians and enthusiasts of traditional boats."--Provided by the publisher. 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 629.123.16(42:4-17)

Global piracy : a documentary history of seaborne banditry/James E. Wadsworth "Many people in the western world maintain the contradictory notions that the pirates of old were romantic social bandits while their modern brethren are brutal thugs, thieves, and villains. In Global Piracy, James E. Wadsworth compiles and contextualizes a wealth of primary source documents which illustrate the global phenomenon of piracy through the eyes and voices of those who experienced it: both the pirates or privateers themselves and their victims. The book allows us to confront our stereotypes by giving us access to 'real' pirates in a wide range of historical periods and global regions, from ancient Greece to modern day Nigeria, unfiltered as much as possible by authorial voice or interpretation. Global Piracy seeks neither to romanticize nor vilify pirates, but simply to understand them in the context of their times and the broader world they inhabited. Departing from run-of-the-mill narratives, it selects documents which provide new and fascinating insights into piracy around the globe. With documents introduced by contextual information, and supplemented by study questions, suggested reading lists, illustrations and maps, this book is an essential companion for anyone studying the history of piracy."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 341.362.1(100)

A new history of yachting / Mike Bender "This book, by a leading expert in the field, is the first major history of yachting for over a quarter of a century. Setting developments within political, social and economic changes, the book tells the story of yachting from Elizabethan times to the present day: the first uses of yachts, by monarchs, especially Charles II; yacht clubs and yacht racing in the eighteenth century; the early years of the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes and an analysis of the America Cup challenges; the pioneering developments in Ireland and the exporting of yachting to the colonies and trading outposts of the Empire; the expansion of yachting in Victorian times; the Golden Age of Yachting in the years before the First World War, when it was the sport of the crowned heads of Europe; the invention of the dinghy and the keelboat classes and, after the Second World War, the massive numbers of home-built dinghies; the breaking of new boundaries by risk-taking single-handers from the mid-1960s; the expansion of leisure sailing that came in the 1980s with the use of moulded plastic yachts; and current trends and pressures within the sport. Well-referenced yet highly readable, this book will be of interest both to the scholar and the sailing enthusiast."--Provided by the publisher. 2017 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 797.14

Bodies / machines / edited by Iwan Rhys Morus. "It is hard to believe that the pursuit of artificial intelligence is not a phenomenon of the twentieth century. For over three hundred years, the boundaries between bodies and machines[,] the natural and the artificial, the animate and the inanimate have been passionately explored. These explorations, beginning in the seventeenth and eighteenth and increasing during the nineteenth century, have been all but forgotten, lost beneath the commotion of the modern day world. This book retrieves these lost histories, giving voice to the hopes, dreams, and fears of philosophers, medical practitioners, engineers, craftsmen and artisans who have all been fascinated by the interface between bodies and machines. The journey back in time unfolds with the mysterious advent of mechanical philosophies, which conceptualized the body and the surrounding world largely in terms of mechanistic interactions. These theories develop in intriguing directions and fuel experiments in such areas as material production and social punishment, spiritualism and mental health. From reanimating dead bodies with electricity, which led to the introduction of the electric chair, through to the use of machines to render hysterics and the insane fit for reintroduction into society, this book conveys the dark truths behind our relationship with machines. This book is not only an exceptional contribution to the history of technology but also to contemporary debates about humans and machines."--Provided by the publisher. 2002. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 62-1

All his spies : the secret world of Robert Cecil /Stephen Alford. "Robert Cecil, statesman and spymaster, lived through an astonishingly threatening period in English history. Queen Elizabeth had no clear successor and enemies both external and internal threatened to destroy England as a Protestant state, most spectacularly with the Spanish Armada and the Gunpowder Plot. Cecil stood at the heart of the Tudor and then Stuart state, a vital figure in managing the succession from Elizabeth I to James I & VI, warding off military and religious threats and steering the decisions of two very different but equally wilful and hard-to-manage monarchs. The promising son of Queen Elizabeth's chief minister Lord Burghley, for Cecil there was no choice but politics, and he became supremely skilled in the arts of power, making many rivals and enemies. 'All His Spies' is an engaging and original work of history. Many readers are familiar with the great events of this tumultuous time, but 'All His Spies' shows how easily these dramas could have turned out very differently. Cecil?s sureness of purpose, his espionage network and good luck all conspired to keep England uninvaded and to create a new 'British' monarchy which has endured to the present day."--Provided by the publisher. 2024. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 942.055092

Edmund Burke and the British Empire in the West Indies : wealth, power, and slavery /P.J. Marshall. "Edmund Burke was both a political thinker of the utmost importance and an active participant in the day-to-day business of politics. It is the latter role that is the concern of this book, showing Burke engaging with issues concerning the West Indies, which featured so largely in British concerns in the later eighteenth century. Initially, Burke saw the islands as a means by which his close connections might make their fortunes, later he was concerned with them as a great asset to be managed in the national interest, and, finally, he became a participant in debates about the slave trade. This volume adds a new dimension to assessments of Burke's views on empire, hitherto largely confined to Ireland, India, and America, and explores the complexities of his response to slavery. The system outraged his abundantly attested concern for the suffering caused by abuses of British power overseas, but one which he also recognised to be fundamental for sustaining the wealth generated by the West Indies, which he deemed essential to Britain's national power. He therefore sought compromises in the gradual reform of the system rather than immediate abolition of the trade or emancipation of the slaves."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 325.3209033

The price of victory : a naval history of Britain, 1814-1945 /N. A. M. Rodger. "At the end of the French and Napoleonic wars, British sea-power was at its apogee. But by 1840, as one contemporary commentator put it, the Admiralty was full of 'intellects becalmed in the smoke of Trafalgar'. How the Royal Navy reformed and reinvigorated itself in the course of the nineteenth century is just one thread in this magnificent book, which refuses to accept standard assumptions and analyses. All the great actions are here, from Navarino in 1827 (won by a daringly disobedient Admiral Codrington) to Jutland, D-Day, the Battle of the Atlantic and the battles in the Pacific in 1944/45 in concert with the US Navy. The development and strategic significance of submarine and navy air forces is superbly described, as are the rapid evolution of ships (from classic Nelsonic type, to hybrid steam/sail ships, then armour-clad and the fully armoured Dreadnoughts and beyond) and weapons. The social history of officers and men - and sometimes women - always a key part of the author's work, is not neglected. Rodger sets all this in the essential context of politics and geo-strategy. The character and importance of leading admirals - Beatty, Fisher, Cunningham - is assessed, together with the roles of other less famous but no less consequential figures. Based on a lifetime's learning, it is the culmination of one of the most significant British historical works in recent decades. Naval specialists will find much that is new here, and will be invigorated by the originality of Rodger's judgements; but everyone who is interested in the one of the central threads in British history will find it rewarding."-- 2024. • BOOK • 1 copy available. txt

The journals of Jeffery Amherst, 1757-1763 / edited by Robert J. Andrews. "Volume 1: General Jeffery Amherst served as commander in chief of the British army in North America during the Seven Years' War from 1758 until 1763. Under Amherst's leadership the British defeated French forces enabling the British Crown to claim Canada. Like many military officers, Amherst kept a journal of his daily activities, and the scope of this publication is from March 1757, while he was Commissary to the troops of Hesse-Kassel on British service in Germany, until his return to Great Britain in December 1763. The daily journal contains a record of and a commentary on events that Amherst witnessed or that he learned of through his correspondence. Where he mentions letters or orders received or sent, where possible, the present-day source locations of documents are identified. The Daily and Personal Journals are the record of the man who played a decisive role in British victories at Louisbourg, on Lake Champlain, and at Montreal. Amherst wrote the personal journal after he returned home. It does not have entries made on a daily basis. It is replete with lists, diagrams, and compendia to more fully explain events. Colored diagrams show dispositions or 'Orders of Battle', organizational structures, and evidence of uniform colors of units for campaigns at Louisbourg, Quebec, Niagara, Lake Champlain, the Carolinas, Montreal, and the Caribbean. In addition, Amherst made mileage charts and lists of ships, currency values, and officers who died during the war."--Provided by the publisher. [2015]. • FOLIO • 2 copies available. 92AMHERST

Rain of steel : Mitscher's Task Force 58, Ugaki's Thunder Gods, and the Kamikaze war off Okinawa /Stephen L. Moore. "Rain of Steel follows Navy and Marine carrier aviators in the desperate air battles to control the kamikazes directed by Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki. Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher's Task Force 58 carriers had conducted air strikes on mainland Japan and supported the Iwo Jima landings, but his aviators were sorely tested once the Okinawa campaign commenced on April 1, 1945. Ugaki would unleash ten different Kikusui aerial suicide operations, one including a naval force built around the world's most powerful battleship, the 71,000-ton Yamato. These battles are related largely through the words and experiences of some of the last living U.S. fighter aces of World War II"--Provided by publisher. 2020 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.54/252294

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