Library Results | Royal Museums Greenwich

On the edge : mapping North America's coasts /Roger M. McCoy. McCoy, Roger M. 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 528.9(7)

Privateering : patriots and profits in the War of 1812 /Faye M. Kert. "During the War of 1812, most clashes on the high seas involved privately owned merchant ships, not official naval vessels. Licensed by their home governments and considered key weapons of maritime warfare, these ships were authorized to attack and seize enemy traders. Once the prizes were legally condemned by a prize court, the privateers could sell off ships and cargo and pocket the proceeds. Because only a handful of ship-to-ship engagements occurred between the Royal Navy and the United States Navy, it was really the privateers who fought-and won-the war at sea. In Privateering, Faye M. Kert introduces readers to U.S. and Atlantic Canadian privateers who sailed those skirmishing ships, describing both the rare captains who made money and the more common ones who lost it. Some privateers survived numerous engagements and returned to their pre-war lives; others perished under violent circumstances. Kert demonstrates how the romantic image of pirates and privateers came to obscure the dangerous and bloody reality of private armed warfare. Building on two decades of research, Privateering places the story of private armed warfare within the overall context of the War of 1812. Kert highlights the economic, strategic, social, and political impact of privateering on both sides and explains why its toll on normal shipping helped convince the British that the war had grown too costly. Fascinating, unfamiliar, and full of surprises, this book will appeal to historians and general readers alike."--Provided by the publisher. 2015. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 341.362.1(73)"18"

Maskelyne : astronomer royal /edited by Rebekah Higgitt. A collection of essays about the life and work of Nevil Maskelyne, who served as British Astronomer Royal during the latter half of the 17th Century. The essays cover subjects including Maskelyne's development of a method to measure longitude, and associated role in helping adjudicate the Longitude Prize, his calculation of the mass of the Earth, his management of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, and his domestic life. Includes illustrations in both colour and black and white throughout. [2014]. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92MASKELYNE

HMS Victory pocket manual 1805 : Admiral Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar /Peter Goodwin. "This new addition to the best-selling Conway pocket-book range features Admiral Nelson's fully preserved flagship HMS Victory, the most tangible symbol of the Royal Navy's greatest battle off Cape Trafalgar on October 21st 1805. In the HMS Victory Pocket Manual, Peter Goodwin adopts a fresh approach to explain the workings of the only surviving 'line of battle' ship of the Napoleonic Wars. And, as Victory was engaged in battle during only two per cent of her active service, the book also provides a glimpse into life and work at sea during the other ninety-eight per cent of the time. This volume presents answers to questions such as: 'What types of wood were used in building Victory?'; 'What was Victory's longest' voyage?'; 'How many shots were fired from her guns at Trafalgar?'; 'How many boats did Victory carry?'; 'What was prize money?'; 'What was grog?'; 'When did her career as a fighting ship end?', and 'How many people visit Victory each year?'. It gives a full history of the world's most famous warship through a highly accessible pocket-book format. The book Includes a pertinent and varied selection of contemporary documents and records to explain the day-to-day running of a three-decker Georgian warship. The leading historian of the sailing man of war, Peter Goodwin was technical and historical advisor to HMS Victory in Portsmouth for more than 20 years, and is in a unique position to investigate and interpret not only the ship's structure but also the essential aspects of shipboard life: victualling, organisation, discipline, domestic arrangements and medical care."--Provided by the publisher. 2017. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 623.82VICTORY

Empires of the imagination : politics, war and the arts in the British world, 1750-1850 /Holger Hoock. "Between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries, Britain evolved from a substantial international power yet relative artistic backwater into a global superpower and a leading cultural force in Europe. In this original and wide-ranging book, Hoock illuminates the manifold ways in which the culture of power and the power of culture were interwoven in this period of dramatic change. Britons invested artistic and imaginative effort to come to terms with the loss of the American colonies; to sustain the generation-long fight against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France; and to assert and legitimate their growing empire in India. Demonstrating how Britain fought international culture wars over prize antiquities from the Mediterranean and Near East, the book explores how Britons appropriated ancient cultures from the Mediterranean, the Near East, and India, and casts a fresh eye on iconic objects such as the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon Marbles."--Provided by the publisher. 2010. • BOOK • 2 copies available. 7:941-44"17/18"

Three men for the Navy wanted for the townships of Chipping, Dutton, and Clayton-le-Dale, three able-bodied seamen or landmen. [1796]. • RARE-PAMPH • 1 copy available. 659.133.1:355.216:094

Waterford's maritime world : the ledger of Walter Butler, 1750-1757 /John Mannion. "In October 1750 Walter Butler, a Waterford sea captain, purchased a ship in the port of Bordeaux and had it refitted there before loading it with wine, brandy and other French produce for his home port. Renamed the Catherine after his wife, the ship spent the winter in Waterford where Butler and his men prepared for a voyage to Newfoundland. She departed for the fishery in April 1751 with "passengers" (seasonal migrants) and salt provisions, returning home in the fall. Over the next six years the Catherine completed three more round trips to Newfoundland and voyages to London, Tenby, Dublin, Cork, Lisbon, Cadiz and Seville. The brig was captured off St Lucar by a French privateer in spring, 1757. Butler's account of the Catherine survives (Prize Papers, High Court of Admiralty). The ledger contains the most detailed description of a Waterford ship, shipmaster and crew for the eighteenth century. It is a record of everyday economic exchanges with merchants, traders, artisans and labourers in Waterford city and in the ports and fishing harbours visited by the Catherine overseas, in England, Wales, France, Iberia and in faraway Newfoundland."--Provided by the publisher. [2022] • BOOK • 1 copy available. 387.20941915

John Harrison and the quest for longitude / Jonathan Betts. The quest to accurately determine longitude at sea was one of the most remarkable endeavors of the eighteenth century. This is the story of John Harrison (1693-1776), the self-taught English clockmaker who dedicated his life to solving the ocean's longitude problem. From the end of the fifteenth century, merchants, explorers, and adventurers took to the open seas in unprecedented numbers as worldwide trade increased. These journeys were hazardous not only because of the inherent dangers of the ocean but also because, once out of sight of land, sailors had no accurate means of knowing their exact position. Long-distance sea travel was so dangerous that, in 1714, the British Parliament offered a prize to anyone who could solve the problem. Inspired, Harrison designed and built the marine chronometer: the first device to calculate longitude at sea. The chronometer quickly became a vital tool of maritime trade, revolutionizing sea travel and saving countless lives. John Harrison and the Quest for Longitude is the fascinating account of one man's quest to solve one of the greatest practical problems of his time. With sixty full-color images and technical drawings throughout, it sheds important new light on a fundamental piece of British maritime and horological history. 2020. • BOOK • 3 copies available. 92HARRISON

Ju 87 Stuka vs Royal Navy carriers : Mediterranean /Robert Forsyth "Ju 87 dive-bombers, originally developed for pin-pointing bombing missions against land targets and Allied naval vessels were deployed by both the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica against the Allied forces. Included in such a target were perhaps the greatest prize of all for a Stuka pilot: a British aircraft carrier. This superbly illustrated book looks at the duel between the Ju 87 Stuka and the aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy. Despite their gun protection ('pompoms') and their squadrons of fighters, these immense and mighty vessels proved irresistible targets to determined and experienced Stuka aces as they endeavoured to stop British naval intervention in the campaigns in Norway, Malta and Crete. By 1941, the Ju 87 had become known by the British as a fearsome aircraft following its operations in France, specifically at Dunkirk, as well as in the Balkans. For the Luftwaffe, it was an aircraft in which they still had great confidence despite its mauling in the Battle of Britain during the summer of 1940. This book examines the key attributes and shortcomings of both aircraft and carrier by analyzing various compelling episodes including the dramatic attacks on Ark Royal by Stukageschwader (St.G) 1 off Norway in April 1940, the strikes by the Luftwaffe's St.G 1, St.G 2 and the Regia Aeronautica's 237À Squadriglia against Illustrious in Malta harbour. Aside from outstanding photography and artwork, this volume also include numerous personal accounts from Stuka crews, the pilots of carrier-borne fighters opposing them and the sailors embarked in the various carriers that came under attack." --Provided by the publisher. 2021. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 358.42

A matter of honor : Pearl Harbor : betrayal, blame, and a family's quest for justice /Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan. An account of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the 'scapegoat' Admiral Husband Edward Kimmel, the failure of the top brass in Washington to provide Kimmel with vital intelligence prior to the attack, and the continuing efforts of the family to have Kimmel formally exonerated. [2016] • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.542.6"1941"

Staying power : the history of black people in Britain /Peter Fryer "'STAYING POWER is a panoramic history of black Britons. Stretching back to the Roman conquest, encompassing the court of Henry VIII, and following a host of characters from Mary Seacole to the abolitionist Olaudah Equiano, Peter Fryer paints a picture of two thousand years of Black presence in Britain. First published in the 1980s, amidst race riots and police brutality, Fryer's history performed a deeply political act; revealing how Africans, Asians and their descendants had long been erased from British history. By rewriting black Britons into the British story, showing where they influenced political traditions, social institutions and cultural life, was - and is - a deeply effective counter to a racist and nationalist agenda.This new edition includes the classic introduction by Paul Gilroy, author of 'There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack', in addition to a brand-new foreword by Guardian journalist Gary Younge, which examines the book's continued significance today as we face Brexit and a revival of right wing nationalism."--Provided by the publisher. 2018. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 305.896041

Persistent piracy : maritime violence and state formation in global historical perspective /edited by Stefan Eklèof Amirell and Leos Mèuller. "Warfare and legitimate violence have long been seen as key elements in state formation. Persistent Piracy brings into the picture the long missing component of maritime violence - and shows it to be of vital importance to the formation and, on occasion, disintegration, of states. Spanning from the Caribbean to East Asia and covering almost 3,000 years of history, from Classical Antiquity to the eve of the twenty-first century, the book is an important contribution to the history of state formation as well as the history of violence at sea. The book has contributions by leading authorities in the field of piracy studies and history more generally: Philip de Souza, Neil Price, Wolfgang Kaiser, Guillame Calafat, James K. Chin, Robert J. Antony, David J. Starkey, Matthew McCarthy, James Francis Warren and Stig Jarle Hansen."--Provided by the publisher. 2014. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 341.362.1

The East India Company at home, 1757-1857 / edited by Margot Finn and Kate Smith. "The East India Company at Home, 1757-1857 explores how empire in Asia shaped British country houses, their interiors and the lives of their residents. It includes chapters from researchers based in a wide range of settings such as archives and libraries, museums, heritage organisations, the community of family historians and universities. It moves beyond conventional academic narratives and makes an important contribution to ongoing debates around how empire impacted Britain. The volume focuses on the propertied families of the East India Company at the height of Company rule. From the Battle of Plassey in 1757 to the outbreak of the Indian Uprising in 1857, objects, people and wealth flowed to Britain from Asia. As men in Company service increasingly shifted their activities from trade to military expansion and political administration, a new population of civil servants, army officers, surveyors and surgeons journeyed to India to make their fortunes. These Company men and their families acquired wealth, tastes and identities in India, which travelled home with them to Britain. Their stories, the biographies of their Indian possessions and the narratives of the stately homes in Britain that came to house them, frame our explorations of imperial culture and its British legacies."--Provided by the publisher. 2018. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 747.0941

The Durham papers : selections from the papers of Admiral Sir Philip Charles Henderson Calderwood Durham, G.C.B. (1763-1845) /edited by Hilary L. Rubinstein "Admiral Sir Philip Durham (1763?1845) was one of the most distinguished and colourful officers of the late Georgian Navy. His lucky and sometimes controversial career included surviving the sinking of HMS Royal George in 1782, making the first conquest of the tricolour flag in 1793 and the last in 1815, and having two enemy ships surrender to him at Trafalgar. A Scot distantly related to Lord Barham, Durham entered the Navy in 1777, serving initially on the American and West Indies stations. He was Kempenfelt's signal officer on HMS Victory during the second battle of Ushant in 1781 and on the Royal George. Making his reputation initially as the daring young master and commander of HMS Spitfire early in the French Revolutionary War, he became a crack frigate captain with a fortune in prize money, and commanded HMS Defiance at Trafalgar, where he was wounded. He ended his war service as Commander-in-Chief, Leeward Islands. En voyage he artfully captured two brand-new French frigates which were subsequently taken into the service of Britain, and during his tenure he won the heartfelt gratitude of local merchants by ridding the surrounding seas of American privateers preying on British trading vessels. True to form, he clashed with the judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court on Antigua and with the general with whom he led a combined naval and military assault on Martinique and Guadeloupe following Napoleon's escape from Elba. He later served as Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth having resigned his parliamentary seat to do so. Married first to the sister of the Earl of Elgin, of 'Marbles' fame, and secondly to a cousin of 'sea wolf' Lord Cochrane, he was well-known to George III, who as a result of Durham's amusing yet improbable anecdotes, dubbed any tall tale he heard 'a Durham'. This collection of his papers consists mainly of letters and despatches relating to his service in the Channel Fleet, the Mediterranean, and the Leeward Islands. Correspondence with his parents during 1789?1790 reflects his anxieties relating to employment and prospects for promotion when he was a young lieutenant with an illegitimate child to support. The collection, featuring items from and to him, comprises a fascinating and informative set of documents."--Provided by publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 061.22NRS

Letters of the late Ignatius Sancho, an African / edited by Vincent Carretta. Sancho, Ignatius, 2015. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 942.1/3200496

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