Author Results for Michael Lewis
An Eye-Witness at Petropaulovski 1854
Hitherto unpublished extracts from a letter written by the then Chaplain in the flagship of the Rear Admiral commanding the British Pacific Squadron throw further light on the events surrounding the Siege of Petropaulovski in 1854. They give an eye-witness account of how Admiral Price shot himself, dying before the action; and of the carnage […] Read More
Filed under: Crimean War | Pacific
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Biography
Naval Buttons Part II
This is the second of two papers that discuss in great detail the design and symbolism of the uniform buttons worn in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Different buttons were used to differentiate between commissioned and warrant officers and between departments such as Masters or Pursers, and many groups adopted their own unofficial […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Nineteenth C) | Other (Eighteenth C) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Administration
Naval Buttons Part I
The story of the naval button starts in 1748, the year when naval uniforms were first introduced. There are but three button designs now uniform for all in the Royal Navy, the Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, from the Admiral of the Fleet to rating. One is assigned to Flag officers […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | Napoleonic War | English Channel | WW2 | French Revolution | Other (Eighteenth C) | Other (Nineteenth C) | Other (Twentieth C)
Subjects include: Administration | Archaeology | Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration | Manpower & Life at Sea | Navies
Armada Guns: A Comparative Study of English and Spanish Armaments Part VIII Appendices
The article contains further explanations for a few points addressed in the main article on the Armada guns: “The English, Spanish and Italian pound in 1588”, “The musket in 1588” and “The missing guns of the N.S. Del Rosario and San Salvador”, a question that arises from discrepancies in the numbers of Spanish guns captured […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | English Channel | The Armada
Subjects include: Navies | Weapons
Armada Guns: A Comparative Study of English and Spanish Armaments Part VII The Lessons of the Armada Fight
This is the seventh article in a series on the armaments in use by both English and Spanish navies in 1588. The conclusion is that the artillery on neither side was effective. The English guns fired shot that was too light to penetrate Spanish ships except at extreme short range and the heavier shotted Spanish […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | Francis Drake | English Channel | The Armada
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Navies | Weapons
Armada Guns: A Comparative Study of English and Spanish Armament Part VI Comparisons
This part of the series of articles compares the armaments of the English and Spanish fleets in the Armada campaign. A detailed analysis reveals that previous assumptions are flawed. The Spanish fleet fired a total weight of shot at least equal to the English, and with fewer pieces, they fired heavier balls shot for shot. […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | English Channel | The Armada
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Navies | Weapons
Armada Guns: A Comparative Study of English and Spanish Armaments Part V The Guns of the Spanish Fleet, 1588
This is Part 5 of a series comparing the size and number of guns present on ships that took part in the Armada. Dealing with the guns of the Spanish Fleet, the author concludes that (a) that the gun-power of the Spanish Armada, when compared with that of the English Fleet, was very weak in […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | English Channel | The Armada
Subjects include: Weapons
Armada Guns: A Comparative Study of English and Spanish Armaments Part IV The Auxiliary English Fleet
This is Part 4 of a series providing details of the size and number of guns present on ships that took part in the Armada. Dealing with the auxiliary ships that made up the English Fleet proved difficult as there are no complete records giving the armament of the auxiliaries. The author uses what records […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | English Channel | The Armada
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Weapons
Armada Guns: A Comparative Study of English and Spanish Armaments Part III The Queen’s Ships in July 1588
This article is the third comprising an extensive and meticulous study of the guns on board the ships on both sides when the English encountered the Spanish Armada in July 1588. This part of the study provides a detailed estimate of the gun-power of the 34 ‘Queen’s Ships’, drawing on evidence from lists of both […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | English Channel | The Armada
Subjects include: Weapons
Armada Guns: A Comparative Study of English and Spanish Armaments Part II The Guns of the Queen’s Ships 1569-99
In Part II of his study Michael Lewis considers the armament carried by the Queen’s Ships. His studies are complicated by the lack of specific information from the year 1588, he therefore builds his thesis with reference to lists of armament from before and after the Armada date. Starting with “Sir William Wynter’s Proportion” of […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | English Channel | The Armada
Subjects include: Navies | Weapons
Armada Guns: A Comparative Study of English and Spanish Armaments Part I Introduction
This article concerns the hypothesis and the first category (ordinance classification) of an eight article comprehensive exploration of the subject, each of MM issues 1942/1/2/3/4 and 1943/1/2/3/4 containing one article continuing the subject. In this first article Lewis states his hypothesis that superiority of guns and their range were vital to English victory. In order […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | English Channel | The Armada
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Navies | Weapons
Fresh Light on San Juan de Ulua
The author begins remembering a previous article written by him (‘Guns of the Jesus of Lubeck’), published in MM July 1936, whose source was a single document, and the posterior receipt of several valuable transcripts, inventories and their translations sent by Mr. G.R.G. Conway from Mexico, which improve and enlarge his primitive source. The author […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Early Modern) | Caribbean
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Pirates, Corsairs & Privateers
The Guns of the Jesus of Lubeck
The article reproduces a translation by Zelie Nuttal of a Spanish document listing the guns of the Jesus of Lubeck which was captured by the Spanish in 1568. The author adds detailed and extensive notes on the different types of guns that are enumerated in the Spanish document and on the conclusions that may be […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Early Modern) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Navies | Weapons
Papers Relating to the Westminster Fish Market: 1750-1751
The author received a number of original manuscripts concerning the establishment of a fish market in Westminster in 1750, starting with a petition to Parliament but also detailing the workings of a loan scheme for the construction of vessels to supply the market. Many of the surviving papers relate to the case of a Henry […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Eighteenth C) | Internal Waterways
Subjects include: Shipbuilding & Design | Whaling & Fishing