Archive Results For: Atlantic
Book Review – ‘Thomas Hurd, RN and His Hydrographic Survey of Bermuda 1789–97’ by M. K. Barritt
The remarkable manuscript survey which is discussed in this book measures, in total, some 13 feet by 6 feet. It was the result of over eight years of work in the field, while compilation took another three. The detailed depiction of the Bermudan archipelago and its intricate fringing reefs has astounded both those who compared […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Eighteenth Century | Caribbean
Subjects include: Administration | Biography | Harbours & Dockyards | Navies | Science & Exploration
Book Review-‘Enigma: The untold story of the secret capture’ by D. Balme ed. by P. Hore
Anyone even vaguely familiar with the Battle of the Atlantic knows the story of U110. The boat’s capture on 9 May 1941, by an armed boarding party under 20-year old Sub-lieutenant David E. Balme of the destroyer HMS Bulldog, produced an unparalleled cryptanalytic bonanza for the British code-breakers at Bletchley Park that changed the trajectory […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | WW2
Subjects include: Biography | Submarines
Book Review – ‘Revolutions Without Borders: The call to liberty in the Atlantic world’ by Gavin Murray-Miller
The ‘Age of Atlantic Revolutions’ is the veritable substance of history. It marked a period rife with political upheavals that transformed the world and larger-than-life figures shrouded in the allure of romantic mythology. As Janet Polasky herself admits in her latest book Revolutions Without Borders, the late-eighteenth century appeared ‘an era when anything seemed possible’. Polasky […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | American Revolution | Eighteenth Century | French Revolution | Other (Eighteenth C)
Subjects include: Miscellaneous | Strategy & Diplomacy
Book Review – ‘A History of the Royal Navy: The Seven Years War’ by Janet Macdonald
Martin Robson is the author of the latest in the ‘A History of the Royal Navy’ series, published by the National Museum of the Royal Navy, which aims to give an overview of the role of the navy in wider history. This edition is perhaps best described as an extended precis of previous works on […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | English Channel | Seven Years’ War | Pacific
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Navies | Strategy & Diplomacy
Book Review – ‘Viola: The life and times of a Hull steam trawler’ by Elsa Cox
In 2007 the reviewer arrived at Grytviken whaling station as curator of the South Georgia Museum, returning to the island as a summer resident for three consecutive years. The rusting hulk of Dias, berthed at a small jetty in front of the former whaling station manager’s villa, now the museum, was a familiar sight. Dias arrived at […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Twentieth Century
Subjects include: Whaling & Fishing
Book Review – ‘The Sinking of the Laconia and the U-boat War: Disaster in the mid-Atlantic’ by Marc Milner
On 12 September 1942 U-156 torpedoed and sank the 20,000 ton British liner Laconia 900 miles south of Sierra Leone, spilling 2,732 passengers and crew – including 1,793 Italian PoWs – into the sea. When Korvettenkapitain Werner Hartenstein realized the scope of the disaster, he called for help, broadcast his position in clear, raised a Red Cross flag on […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic
Subjects include: Lifesaving & Coastguard | Navies | Submarines
Book Review-‘Germany’s High Seas Fleet in the First World War’ by Admiral Reinhard Scheer
At least on the German side of the naval war of 1914–18, no figure was better positioned to write a definitive account of the action than Admiral Reinhard Scheer. Already a vice-admiral and battleship squadron commander when the war began, Scheer became commander of the High Seas Fleet in January 1916 and maintained operational oversight […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | WW1
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Strategy & Diplomacy
Book Review – ‘The Crimean War in Imperial Context, 1854–1856’ by Nicholas Tracy
The publisher of this study asserts that this is ‘the only book to consider expertly translated sources in eight languages that examine the conflict’s maritime history in areas ranging from South America to Scandinavia . Until now, accounts of Britain’s and France’s naval campaigns against Tsarist Russia in the Baltic, White Sea, and Pacific have […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Baltic | Crimean War | Mediterranean | Nineteenth Century | Pacific
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Navies | Strategy & Diplomacy
Book Review – ‘Captain Cook’s Computer: The life of William Wales FRS (1734–1798)’ by Janet MacDonald
In the eighteenth century, computers were not electronic boxes but people who performed calculations to create tables which assisted astronomers, surveyors, and navigators in their work. William Wales was one such, and this books focuses on his life. The book falls into three sections, the first starting with Wales’s early life. He was born in […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Eighteenth Century
Subjects include: Biography | Science & Exploration
Book Review – ‘True Yankees: The South Seas and the discovery of American identity’ by John H. Schroeder
In the years between 1783 (the Peace of Paris) and 1844 (the Treaty of Wangxi), Americans participated actively in the Old China or Indies trade. Hundreds of Americans traversed the Great South Sea, the term commonly used to describe the vast expanse of oceans, lands and peoples between the Cape of Good Hope and the […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | American Revolution | Indian Ocean | Pacific
Subjects include: Manpower & Life at Sea | Merchant Marines | Miscellaneous