The Mariners Mirror Archive
Book Review-‘Steamers at War: The story of the Clyde steamers in the Second World War’ by P. G. Herriot
Clyde steamers have had a loyal and avid following among enthusiasts and a great deal of research has been carried out and published by the members of the Clyde River Steamer Club. Until now, however, there has not been a publication that focuses on the steamers’ service during the Second World War. The research that […] Read More
Filed under: WW2
Subjects include: Leisure & Small Craft
Book Review-‘A Maritime History of Somerset: Volume 2’ by Adrian J. Webb (ed.)
The first thing that readers will notice is that this book is beautifully produced. It has black-and-white and colour images throughout, ranging from engravings, maps, newspaper articles, Punch cartoons, watercolour sketches, paintings and modern photographs, all in a book that costs only £20. The topics are diverse, with chapters on maritime travel, the development of […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Early Modern) | Other (Nineteenth C) | Other (Eighteenth C) | Other (Twentieth C)
Subjects include: Archaeology | Harbours & Dockyards | Leisure & Small Craft | Whaling & Fishing
The Dummett Freighter: A nineteenth-century log sailing canoe from northeastern Florida
This article provides a comparative physical and cultural study of a cypress log sailing canoe and the plantation culture of nineteenth-century north-eastern Florida that created it. The author makes the argument that this and other vessels of similar construction represent a typology of log boat construction that was limited to Florida’s north-east during the mid- […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | War of 1812 | American Civil War | Nineteenth Century | Caribbean
Subjects include: Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration | Leisure & Small Craft | Shipbuilding & Design
Was Arthur Ransome’s John Walker a Competent Seaman?
This note explores the competence of Arthur Ransome’s blundering boy sailor John Walker, in We Didn’t Mean To Go Sea, one of the books of the Swallows and Amazon‘s series, and draws parallels with the authors own life. In We Didn’t Mean To Go Sea, John Walker negotiates a difficult passage from Harwich to Flushing, thereby entering the […] Read More
Filed under: English Channel | Other (Twentieth C)
Subjects include: Biography | Leisure & Small Craft | Ship Handling & Seamanship
Note: Maupassant’s Afloat: Why did this classic account of yacht cruising sink without trace?
A critical analysis of Guy de Maupassant’s yachting memoir Afloat discussing why it failed to appeal to contemporary critics and readers. Read More
Filed under: Mediterranean | Other (Nineteenth C)
Subjects include: Leisure & Small Craft
At War with the Navy
The small ships taken up by the Australian navy were of small account to the navy but of far more importance to their owners. These case studies reveal the local implications of such dealings. Read More
Filed under: Other (Twentieth C) | Pacific
Subjects include: Leisure & Small Craft
Note: At War with the Navy
Small civilian craft were taken up by the Australian navy during the Second World War, and this account details the experiences of some of them. Read More
Filed under: WW2 | Pacific
Subjects include: Leisure & Small Craft
The Royal Yacht Isabella of 1683: Identification and principal dimensions
The Isabella of 1683 was the last yacht built for Charles II. Although in the past her name has been associated with several images, this yacht has never been fully identified. The process of identification will add detail to a suite of drawings made around 1696 by the seventeenth-century Venetian etcher Vincenzo Coronelli and to a painting […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Early Modern) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Leisure & Small Craft | Shipbuilding & Design
The Austin Farrar Memorial Article 2011: Documentation of Working Sailing Craft in the British Isles in the 1930s
This lecture documented the disappearance of working sailing vessels from the 1920s onwards. Acknowledgement of this prompted Frank Carr to publish the survey Vanishing Craft, and to involve the SNR in undertaking detailed documentation of the disappearing world. The quick response by the Society and a research fund brought 160 plans, but once the fund […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Twentieth C) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Leisure & Small Craft | Shipbuilding & Design
Documentation of Working Sailing Craft in the British Isles in the 1930s
This lecture describes the role of the Society in the project to document working smiling craft on the British Isles during the early decades of the twentieth century. Read More
Filed under: English Channel | North Sea | Irish Sea | Other (Twentieth C) | Internal Waterways
Subjects include: Harbours & Dockyards | Leisure & Small Craft | Merchant Marines | Shipbuilding & Design | Whaling & Fishing