Archive Results For: English Channel
Book Review-‘Dunkirk and the Little Ships’ by P. Weir,
The Little Ships of the evacuation of Dunkirk are firmly etched into the common folk lore surrounding the events of the Second World War. Requisitioned by the Royal Navy via the Ministry of Shipping, a series of workboats, fishing boats, small pleasure cruisers and leisure steamers were taken (mostly with the owner’s permission, sometimes without) […] Read More
Filed under: English Channel | WW2
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Leisure & Small Craft
The Liberty and the London: Fishing for guns, 1650–1665
Little has been written about the history of English underwater salvage in the mid-seventeenth century. The navy of the 1650s and the 1660s needed divers and salvagers for their expanded operations, especially during wars against the Dutch. Ships sunk deep at sea were irretrievable, but vessels lost near shore in tidal waters could yield recoverable […] Read More
Filed under: English Channel | North Sea
Subjects include: Archaeology
Book Review-‘Catastrophe at Spithead: The sinking of the ‘Royal George’’ by H. L. Rubinstein
Hilary Rubinstein’s in-depth research has successfully collated all the relevant information to explain why the 100-gun Royal George should have foundered on 29 August 1782 while at anchor between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. Certainly, to the many witnesses it was beyond belief that she could just disappear with only her mast visible in […] Read More
Filed under: English Channel | Shipwrecks
Subjects include: Miscellaneous
Book Review-‘North Sea War 1914–1919’ by R. Malster
The title of this book is somewhat misleading because readers, expecting perhaps another account of the clashes of the British and German battle fleets or a far-ranging analysis of how naval and air operations in the North Sea theatre influenced the outcome of the First World War, will feel disappointed. Instead Robert Malster, author of […] Read More
Filed under: WW1 | English Channel | North Sea
Subjects include: Navies
Thomas Cave Childs: Pioneer chaplain to female emigrants and the Missions to Seamen
Thomas Cave Childs (1819–67), a vicar in the worst part of Devonport, was a pioneer in the welfare of female emigrants and was involved in the foundation of the Missions to Seamen. Childs, the real link with the remnants of John Ashley’s missionary work with seafarers, was the catalyst which brought W. H. G. Kingston […] Read More
Filed under: English Channel
Subjects include: Manpower & Life at Sea
Book Review-‘Firing on Fortress Europe: HMS ‘Belfast’ at D-Day’ by N. Hewitt
‘That straight-shooting ship’ was how an American admiral described HMS Belfast. This book describes her contribution to Operation Overlord in 1944. A cruiser of 11,500 tons with 12 6-inch and 12 4-inch guns, she provided heavy bombardment in support of the landings from the very start of D-day and remained on station just off the […] Read More
Filed under: English Channel | WW2
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Manpower & Life at Sea | Weapons
Book Review-‘Securing the Narrow Sea: The Dover Patrol 1914–1918’ by S. R. Dunn
Older readers may remember a board game called ‘Dover Patrol’ which they played with their friends on the playroom floor in days long past. Each side had a base to protect and a ‘fleet’ to attack the enemy or to defend one’s own ‘waters’. The different units of your ‘fleet’, represented by pieces of pasteboard […] Read More
Filed under: WW1 | English Channel
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics
Book Review-‘Ports, Piracy and Maritime War: Piracy in the English Channel and the Atlantic, c. 1280– c. 1330’ by Thomas K. Heebøll-Holm
Expressed in a perhaps surprising manner within a scholarly publication, the author’s preface to this book opens thus: ‘I have never been a big fan of pirates.’ Some readers may feel that a strand of surprise threads its way throughout the subsequent pages, published as part of a Brill series that involves various aspects of […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Late Middle Ages | English Channel | Pirates
Subjects include: Pirates, Corsairs & Privateers
Book Review-‘Sandwich 24 août 1217: L’Angleterre échappe à la domination française: La bataille navale de l’Écluse 24 Juin 1340 ‘ by G. le Moing
Since he retired, Guy le Moing has devoted his time to the study of naval history, and the two titles above are the latest he has published. His interest is in warfare at sea, especially medieval and early modern battles and in particular those which have been to some extent neglected by French historians, perhaps […] Read More
Filed under: English Channel
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Strategy & Diplomacy
Book Review-‘1545: Who sank the ‘Mary Rose’? ‘by P. Marsden
One of the questions asked of any shipwreck, whether a recent tragedy or an archaeological find, is why it did sink? Very often the real question being asked is, who is at fault? Modern accident investigation techniques focus on identifying all of the contributing factors to an air crash or ship sinking, such as technical […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | English Channel | Shipwrecks
Subjects include: Archaeology | Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration