Commemorating the Seafarer


Book Description

A generously illustrated survey of memorials to different kinds of seafarers, recounting the stories behind them.




The Sea and Englishness in the Middle Ages


Book Description

Focuses on the literary origins of insular identity from local communities to the entire archipelago.




Erebus


Book Description

Driven by a passion for travel and history and a love of ships and the sea, former Monty Python stalwart and beloved television globe-trotter Michael Palin explores the world of HMS Erebus, last seen on an ill-fated voyage to chart the Northwest Passage. Michael Palin brings the fascinating story of the Erebus and its occupants to life, from its construction as a bomb vessel in 1826 through the flagship years of James Clark Ross’s Antarctic expedition and finally to Sir John Franklin’s quest for the holy grail of navigation—a route through the Northwest Passage, where the ship disappeared into the depths of the sea for more than 150 years. It was rediscovered under the arctic waters in 2014. Palin travels across the world—from Tasmania to the Falkland Islands and the Canadian Arctic—to offer a firsthand account of the terrain and conditions that would have confronted the Erebus and her doomed final crew. Delving into the research, he describes the intertwined careers of the two men who shared the ship’s journeys: Ross, the organizational genius who mapped much of the Antarctic coastline and oversaw some of the earliest scientific experiments to be conducted there; and Franklin, who, at the age of sixty and after a checkered career, commanded the ship on its last disastrous venture. Expertly researched and illustrated with maps, photographs, paintings, and engravings, Erebus is an evocative account of two journeys: one successful and forgotten, the other tragic yet unforgettable.




Jacksonville Seafarer


Book Description

Includes Jacksonville port directory and schedule of sailings.




The Northern Earldoms


Book Description

The medieval earldoms of Orkney and Caithness were positioned between two worlds, the Norwegian and the Scottish. They were a maritime lordship divided, or united, by the turbulent waters of the Pentland Firth. This unlikely combination of island and mainland territory survived as a single lordship for 600 years, against the odds. Growing out of the Viking maelstrom of the early Middle Ages, it became an established and wealthy principality which dominated northern waters, with a renowned dynasty of earls. Despite their peripheral location these earls were fully in touch with the kingdoms of Norway and Scotland and increasingly subject to the rulers of these kingdoms. How they maintained their independence and how they survived the clash of loyalties are themes explored in this book from the early Viking age to the late medieval era when the powerful feudal Sinclair earls ruled the islands and regained possession of Caithness. This is a story of the time when the Northern Isles of Scotland were part of a different national entity which explains the background to the non-Gaelic culture of this locality, when links across the North Sea were as important as links with the kingdom of Scotland to the south.




The Sea Their Graves


Book Description

Like other groups with dangerous occupations, mariners have developed a close-knit culture bound by loss and memory. Death regularly disrupts the fabric of this culture and necessitates actions designed to mend its social structure. From the ritual of burying a body at sea to the creation of memorials to honor the missing, these events tell us a great deal about how sailors see their world. Based on a study of more than 2,100 gravestones and monuments in North America and the United Kingdom erected between the seventeenth and late twentieth centuries, David Stewart expands the use of nautical archaeology into terrestrial environments. He focuses on those who make their living at sea--one of the world's oldest and most dangerous occupations--to examine their distinct folkloric traditions, beliefs, and customs regarding death, loss, and remembrance.




Between the Temple and the Cave


Book Description

Drawing on a wide variety of newly available source material, Angela McAuliffe examines the roots of Pratt's religious attitudes, including his strict Methodist upbringing in Newfoundland and his plans to enter the ministry. She explores Pratt's early prose and unpublished poetry, including his theses on demonology and Pauline eschatology and the unpublished poem "Clay," to trace the origins of religious ideas and motifs that occur in his later work. McAuliffe focuses on key motifs in Pratt's poetry, such as his image of a distant and formidable God, his apocalyptic vision of the world, and his belief in determinism and fate. She concludes that the diversity of religious positions attributed to Pratt and the image of God that emerges from his poetry are facets of the ironic vision of a man of twentieth-century sensibility who wrestled with God and sought a medium of expression equal to his themes.







The Mainline in Late Modernity


Book Description

In the last fifty years, religion in America has changed dramatically, and Mainline Protestantism is following suit. This book reveals a fundamental transformation taking place in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The ELCA is looking to postdenominational Christianity for inspiration on how to attract people to the pews, but is at the same time intent on preserving its confessional, liturgical tradition as much as possible in late modernity. As American religion grows increasingly experiential and individualistic, the ELCA is caught between its church heritage and a highly innovative culture that demands participative structures and a personal relationship with the divine. In the midst of this tension, the ELCA is deflating its church hierarchy and encouraging people to become involved in congregations on their own terms, while it continues to celebrate its confessional, liturgical identity. But can this balance between individual and institution be upheld in the long run? Or will the democratization and pluralization of the faith ultimately undermine the church? This book explores how the ELCA attempts to resist the forces of Americanization in late modernity even as it slowly but surely comes to resemble mainstream American religion more and more.




Arts, Letters, Society


Book Description

"No Arts; No Letters; No Society; and which is worst of all, ... the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."—Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) The University of Liverpool pioneered the system, now general among British universities, whereby departments of related disciplines are grouped into "Faculties" with administrative and academic responsibilities and powers. The first Faculty at Liverpool with these commitments was the Arts Faculty, whose initial meeting was held in December 1896. Commemoration of the centenary of the Arts Faculty was marked by the publication of this volume. The book contains reminiscences by former students relating to each decade of the century, and also the reminiscences of a number of former Deans. Essays "informative and critical" have been contributed by recent and present members of staff. They include an account of the buildings occupied by – and in some instances designed for – the Faculty of Arts; a 1950s dialogue by the late Kenneth Muir, the distinguished Shakespeare scholar; and a study of J. M. Mackay, the Highlander who in the 1890s was the prime advocate of a Faculty system. The volume concludes with an essay by Professor Stephen R. L. Clark analyzing the position of Arts today and pointing to the future.