Author Results for R. C. Anderson
The Sicilian War of 1674-1678
This is a very detailed account of the war between the French and the Dutch, with their Spanish allies, that followed on after the Treaty of Westminster, that ended the third Anglo-Dutch War in 1674. The French commander, Comte de Vivonne, first met and engaged the Spanish, under Beltran de la Cueva, until the Dutch […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Early Modern) | Mediterranean
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Navies
The Thirty Years’ War in the Mediterranean Part I
This paper considers the actions between France and Spain in the Mediterranean following France’s entry into the Thirty Years War in 1635 to the relief of the siege of Tarragona in 1641. It describes the capture of the Iles de Lerins by Spain and the ineffectual response by France, whose fleet was reinforced by ships […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Early Modern) | Mediterranean
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Navies
The First Fifty Years
This review by one of the founders of the Society of its achievements in the first fifty years is a proud catalogue of great deeds. The preservation of HMS Victory, the establishment of the National Maritime Museum and the Victory Museum in Portsmouth were the most visible evidences. There were occasional publications, annual lectures and […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Twentieth C) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Miscellaneous
Obituary: Sir Alan Moore
Along with Morton Nance and L. G. Carr-Laughton, Sir Alan Moore was jointly responsible for the creation of the SNR and was instrumental in making it a success. He produced an article for the very first edition of The Mariner’s Mirror and, like Morton Nance, carried on contributing for over forty-years. He published two books, […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Twentieth C) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Biography
Obituary: R. Morton Nance
Morton Nance, along with Sir Alan Moore and L. G. Carr-Laughton, was jointly responsible for the foundation of this Society and together the three ensured it flourished. Nance’s first contribution to The Mariner’s Mirror appeared in the second issue and he continued to write for the journal for over forty years. In addition to his […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Twentieth C) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Biography
Obituary: Admiral Sir George Hope
Admiral Sir George Hope, who died in July 1959, was the Society’s President from 1936 until 1951 and for the preceding eleven years he was Chairman. During those eleven years he was literally Acting President on Lord Beatty’s behalf. During the twenty-six years he held high office within the Society, he was also a Trustee […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Twentieth C) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Biography
The Story of the Woolwich Ship
Newspaper letters pages sometimes host historians’ debates; as when 1912 excavations near Woolwich uncovered a large ship, ascribed initially to the 18c. The timber was sold. A year later, Seymour Lucas wrote that she was the Grace-à-Dieu. Then Leonard Laughton suggested a 17c block ship. Another correspondent wondered what 16c ship could be found in […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | Other (Early Modern) | Other (Twentieth C) | Other (Eighteenth C) | Internal Waterways
Subjects include: Archaeology | Harbours & Dockyards | Navies | Shipbuilding & Design
Francis Sheldon and his Family
This short article tells the story of the Englishman Francis Sheldon. Between 1658 and 1692, he built ships in Sweden, Denmark, England and Ireland, mainly in Sweden. He spent twenty years there, spanning two distinct periods, the first from 1658 to 1672, and the second one from 1677 to 1683. An interesting facet of his […] Read More
Filed under: Baltic | North Sea | Other (Early Modern) | Other (Eighteenth C)
Subjects include: Biography | Shipbuilding & Design
Obituary: L. G. Carr Laughton
G. Carr Laughton, who died in April 1955, is acknowledged as one of the major driving forces behind the foundation of the SNR and was editor of The Mariner’s Mirror from its inception until 1913. Not only did he edit the journal for three years, at a time when there were twelve issues per annum, […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Twentieth C) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Biography
Obituary: Sir James Caird
Sir James Caird, who died in September 1954, was a major benefactor without whom neither the restoration of HMS Victory nor the establishment of a national maritime museum would have been possible. He was a significant donor to the Save the Victory Fund and purchased the Macpherson collection of prints, pictures and drawings and the […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Twentieth C) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Biography
English Flag Officers, 1688–1713
There was a very brief period during which the organisation of a fleet and its squadrons could be represented by the classification of admirals, vice-admirals and rear-admirals. The article recounts the historical conditions which determined the appointments during this period. The inconsistencies of the Sergison list are mentioned, aand Rooke’s Journal is also quoted as […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Early Modern) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Administration | Navies
The Wappen von Hamburg
This paper relates to a model of this name held in the museum of the Royal United Services Institute, and seeks to identify which of about six possible ships it is modelled on. The author bases his detailed analysis on the scale and dimensions of the model and of its decorated poop, and on information […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Early Modern) | Other (Eighteenth C) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Ship Models & Figureheads
The Unfortunate Voyage of the San Carlo
Venetian men-of-war may not have ventured far from the Mediterranean but here Anderson relates the misfortunes of one such voyage. In 1758 three warships, commanded by Angelo Emo, sailed for Lisbon to escort returning merchantmen. After initial slow progress the wind picked up, causing them to overshoot their destination. This was the least of Emo’s […] Read More
Filed under: Mediterranean | Other (Eighteenth C)
Subjects include: Navies | Ship Handling & Seamanship
Jal’s ‘Memoire No. 5’ and the Manuscript ‘Fabbrica de Galere’
This document starts with a critique of the Jal’s analysis of the Venetian manuscript ‘Fabbrica de Galere’ in his Archaeologie Navale, commenting that in spite of Jal stating that he had analysed the whole document, he referred to only about one third of the folios, and questioning the date of publication. The paper goes on […] Read More
Filed under: High Middle Ages | Mediterranean
Subjects include: Shipbuilding & Design
Triremes and Other Ancient Galleys
This article is a contribution to the discussion – and controversy – on the arrangement of the oars in a Greek trireme. Refuting the theory of W. W. Tarn, according to which the rowers worked in three squads or sections, thalamites forward, zugites amidships, and thranites aft, it particularly maintains that the so-called Lenormant relief […] Read More
Filed under: Antiquity | Mediterranean
Subjects include: Archaeology | Art & Music | Manpower & Life at Sea | Shipbuilding & Design
Some Contemporary Prints of the First Britannia
Eight views of an English three decker found in Coronelli’s late 17th century collection are discussed. Comparison with a sketch by Van de Velde and painting by Sailmaker of the Britannia show close agreement. Comparison with the Sergison model of the Britannia also show close general agreement but with a number of detailed discrepancies in […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Early Modern) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Art & Music | Ship Models & Figureheads
Dutch Flag-Officers in 1665–7 and 1672–3
Attempting to understand the command structures in the Dutch navy is not an easy task, particularly in relation to the organization of its naval forces during the second and third wars with England. There were three Admiralties at the province of Holland (Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Northern Quarter) and a further two in Friesland and […] Read More
Filed under: Dutch Wars | Other (location)
Subjects include: Administration | Navies
Have the Masts of the Mayflower been Found?
This paper discusses a number of earlier essays and articles which suggest that two pillars which are part of the structure of the schoolroom of Abingdon Congregational church are parts of the masts to the Mayflower, or possibly of the Brielle, the ship in which William, Prince of Orange, arrived in England. After considering detailed […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Early Modern) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Archaeology | Miscellaneous
Models of Dutch East-Indiamen, 1716 to 1725
Since writing in the January 1930 MM, Anderson has discovered another model of a Dutch East-Indiaman, which led him to re-examine the previously researched models. The Dutch East India Company rated their ships as either 160, 145 or 130 feet but these lengths are confusing due to the use of either ‘Amsterdam’ or ‘Rhineland’ feet, […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Eighteenth C) | East India Company | Other (location)
Subjects include: Ship Models & Figureheads | Shipbuilding & Design
Second-Hand Men-of-War in 1712-14
Buying ‘used’ warships in the early 18th-century was common practice, especially for lesser maritime powers who needed ready-built units quickly. The new navy of Peter the Great was in a bitter, life-or-death struggle against Sweden, and the close of the War of Spanish Succession was a welcome opportunity for Russia to purchase unwanted men-of-war of […] Read More
Filed under: Spanish Succession | Baltic
Subjects include: Navies
Dutch Three-Deckers
A brief account of the construction and employment of the large series of fifteen or so 90-gun three-deckers built in Holland between I682 and 1996 is followed by a detailed consideration of the possible identity of two ship models of the class; one acquired privately by the author and the other, a half-model, in the […] Read More
Filed under: Spanish Succession | North Sea | Nine Years' War
Subjects include: Navies | Ship Models & Figureheads | Shipbuilding & Design
Italian Naval Architecture about 1445
A technical article on the hull construction of early 14th century Italian/Venetian ships based on a small volume in the British Museum entitled Titus, A. 26. Along with the architecture of ships is a description of sailmaking. Italian text is included along with explanations on the various text elements. Recommended for someone who is really […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | High Middle Ages | Mediterranean
Subjects include: Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration | Miscellaneous | Navies | Shipbuilding & Design
Early Books on Shipbuilding and Rigging
Anderson tracks the publication of books on the above subject from the earliest days of mechanical printing. He believes that the first book that truly explained how ships were built and rigged was Diego Garcia de Palacio’s Instrucion Nauthica which first appeared in 1587. He then goes on to detail the succeeding seventeenth and early […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Early Modern) | Other (Eighteenth C) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Shipbuilding & Design
Some Additions to the Brigantine Problem
A brave attempt is made to distinguish the rigs of brigantines, sloops, ketches, yachts, snows, corvettes, barques, hermaphrodite-, sloop- and ship-brigs. The 1700 brigantine rig has been defined and sloop rigs are related. The 1672 Pepysian sloop list includes sails but not the mast and yard establishment. The “sloop” class as introduced to the Navy […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Early Modern) | Other (Eighteenth C) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Merchant Marines | Navies | Shipbuilding & Design
Comparative Naval Architecture 1670-1720 Part III
Many models, books, plates and rigging-plans illuminate the English, Spanish, Danish, Russian and Venetian developments of the early 18c. The size of 90 gun three-deckers changed little though ships became beamier compared to length. Spanish and Portuguese ships threw a much heavier weight of metal than northern ships. Other notable design trends included the replacement […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Baltic | North Sea | Other (Early Modern) | Other (Eighteenth C) | Mediterranean | Other (location)
Subjects include: Art & Music | Navies | Ship Models & Figureheads | Shipbuilding & Design
Comparative Naval Architecture 1670-1720 Part II
In this second paper the author compares in some detail the design of large warships (80 – 90 guns), for the British, French, Dutch and Spanish navies. He considers the weight of their construction, the rake of stem and sternposts, their armament, but particularly their dimensions and the extent to which they were built up […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Early Modern) | Other (Eighteenth C) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Shipbuilding & Design
Comparative Naval Architecture 1670-1720 Part I
This paper compares the design and construction of warships from England, Holland, France and Spain. The author lists his sources – works that provide extensive descriptions of ships in each of the countries, allowing for the first time comparisons of contemporaneous ships. The author compares the size of the ships (and includes Danish, Swedish and […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Early Modern) | Other (Eighteenth C) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Navies | Shipbuilding & Design
Naval Museums Part II Denmark
A description of the collection, mainly ship-models, of the Royal Dockyard Naval Museum of Copenhagen formally established in 1692. The oldest model in the Museum is a fully rigged two-decker of the reign of Christian V, I670-99. Eight ship-models in the Chronological Collection of the Danish Kings at Rosenborg Castle Copenhagen are also described. Read More
Filed under: Baltic | Other (Twentieth C) | Other (Nineteenth C) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Art & Music | Harbours & Dockyards | Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration | Leisure & Small Craft | Ship Handling & Seamanship
Eighty-Gun Three-Deckers
This, a detailed examination of the comparative advantages and disadvantages of the 70, 80 and 90 gun ship as requested by the Master Surveyor of the Navy in 1693. Comparative dimensions are tabulated by four Master Shipwrights; Lee, Laurance, Harding and Stigant at four Dockyards; Chatham, Woolwich, Deptford and Portsmouth. R. C. Anderson undertakes an […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Early Modern) | Internal Waterways
Subjects include: Harbours & Dockyards | Navies | Shipbuilding & Design