The Heyday of Sail


Book Description

By the middle of the 17th century, a division was evident between the trade ship and the war ship. The Heyday of Sail documents the history of the merchant sailing ship during a revolutionary era in ship design. This volume includes merchant shipping in the British Empire, seagoing ships of the Netherlands, ships of Scandinavia, the Baltic, and the Mediterranean, European inland sailing craft, yachts and pleasure craft.







The Heyday of Sail


Book Description




The Ancient Sailing Season


Book Description

A comprehensive examination of the effects of the shifting seasons on maritime trade, warfare and piracy during antiquity, this book overturns many long-held assumptions concerning the capabilities of Graeco-Roman ships and sailors.




The Merchant Ship in the British Atlantic, 1600–1800


Book Description

In The Merchant Ship in the British Atlantic, 1600—1800, Phillip Reid refutes the long-held assumption that merchant ship technology in the British Atlantic during the two centuries of its development was static for all intents and purposes, and that whatever incremental changes took place in it were inconsequential to the development of the British Empire and its offshoots. Drawing on a unique combination of evidence from both traditional and unconventional sources, Phillip Reid shows how merchants, shipwrights, and mariners used both proven principles and adaptive innovations in hulls, rigs, and steering systems to manage high physical and financial risks. Listen also to the podcast where the author is interviewed about the book for New Books Network and the podcast with Liz Covart for Ben Franklin’s World by clicking here.




The Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Early American Republic, 1783–1812 [3 volumes]


Book Description

Relatively little attention has been paid to American military history between 1783 and 1812—arguably the most formative years of the United States. This encyclopedia fills the void in existing literature and provides greater understanding of how the nation evolved during this era. This encyclopedia offers a comprehensive examination of U.S. military history from the beginning of the republic in 1783 up to the eve of war with Great Britain in 1812. It enables a detailed study of the Early Republic, during which ideological and political divisions occurred over the fledgling U.S. military. The entries cover all the important battles, key individuals, weapons, Indian nations, and treaties, as well as numerous social, political, cultural, and economic developments during this period. The contents of the work will enable readers at the high school, college, university, and even graduate level to comprehend how political parties emerged, and how ideological differences over the organization, size, and use of the military developed. Larger global developments, including Anglo-American and Franco-American interactions, relations between Middle Eastern states and the United States, and relations and warfare between the U.S. government and various Indian nations are also detailed. The extensive and detailed bibliographies will be immensely helpful to learners at all levels.




Waves of Prosperity


Book Description

When the Venetian merchant, Marco Polo, first arrived in Dynastic China he was faced with a society far advanced of anything he had encountered in Europe. The ports were filled with commodities from all over the eastern world, while new technology was driving the economy forward. It would take another 400 years before European trade in the Atlantic eclipsed the Pacific markets. From China's phenomenally successful Sung dynasty (c. AD 960-1279), Cargoes reveals the power of the Mughals merchants of Gujarat, who built an empire so powerful that, even in the 17th century, the richest man in the world was a Gujarat trader. It was not until the opening up of the spice routes and the discovery of South American gold that medieval Iberia came to the fore. It was only then that the Atlantic Empire of the west came to dominate world trade, first the Dutch Republic in the seventeenth century, then the British Empire in the age of the Industrial Revolution, American supremacy in the twentieth century, and the development of post-war Japan. Along the way Greg Clydesdale looks at the parallel lives and ideas of merchants and explorers, missionaries, kings, bankers and emperors. He shows how great trading nations rise on a wave of technological and financial innovation and how in that success lies the cause of their inevitable decline.




Maritime Science and Technology: Changing Our World


Book Description

This book addresses some key questions - Did the marine sector drive the developing technologies? Or did it just adopt them? It would appear that the former is the case - as the industry has moved from sail to steam, from steam to internal combustion engines, from wood to steel and to increasing sizes and types of specialist vessels - the pioneers of naval architects and marine engineers have applied the latest technologies, and our global society has benefited.




English/British Naval History to 1815


Book Description

The English/British have always been known as the sailor race with hearts of oak: the Royal Navy as the Senior Service and First Line of Defense. It facilitated the motto: The sun never set on the British Empire. The Royal Navy has exerted a powerful influence on Great Britain, its Empire, Europe, and, ultimately, the world. This superior annotated bibliography supplies entries that explore the influence of the English/British Navy through its history. This survey will provide a major reference guide for students and scholars at all levels. It incorporates evaluative, qualitative, and critical analysis processes, the essence of historical scholarship. Each one of the 4,124 annotated entries is evaluated, assessed, analyzed, integrated, and incorporated into the historiographical scholarship.




Mediterranean Wooden Shipbuilding


Book Description

In Mediterranean Wooden Shipbuilding: Economy, Technology and Institutions in Syros in the Nineteenth Century Apostolos Delis analyses the wooden shipbuilding industry of the port of Syros, an important maritime and commercial crossroad in the nineteenth century eastern Mediterranean. The main axes of analysis are the economic, technical and institutional aspects of the industry in relation to the wider international context of shipping and trade. Based on unpublished archival sources, multi-language secondary literature and the employment of interdisciplinary theoretical tools Apostolos Delis not only highlights the national and international significance of Syros’ shipbuilding industry, but also contributes novel material to our knowledge of wooden shipbuilding in the Mediterranean.