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10-10-2008, 09:00 AM
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Re: Book, film, magazine reviews
Hello Rick --
you will not be dissapointed with DAMM THE DEFIANT - overall good script and great acting - good representation of British uniforms for the period . cheers
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"may there be no moaning at the bar
when I put out to sea" 
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03-06-2010, 03:34 PM
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A new look at some old books
New books?
Over the last few years, I’ve been working to increase the size of my small library of nautical books. As my budget is limited and as my goal is usefulness over appearance, many if not most of my books are used. A couple weeks ago, in searching the used stacks in my favorite bookstore, I came upon these books: Davis’ "Ship Models How to Build Them" and Davis’ "Ship Model Builder’s Assistant" Both looked quite old. They were in fact over eighty years old. They were both published by the Marine Research Society. Ship Models How to… was published in 1925 and appears to be copy 51 of a 97 volume run. It includes a pair of fold out sheet plans for the Sea Witch …Assistant was published in 1926 and is labeled as copy number 74, again of a 97 volume run. They were a bit pricy and not my usual type of book (first editions) but I couldn’t walk away. They’re now on my shelf where most likely they won’t get a lot of use. I thought some modelers might find them interesting. Jim
------------Members' Signature------------
Fair - and in scale - seas to all.
Jim
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03-06-2010, 08:55 PM
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Re: A new look at some old books
What great find Jim! Thanks for sharing.
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03-28-2010, 02:45 AM
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Sea of Glory Nathanial Philbrick
Sea of Glory - America’s Voyage of Discovery – The US Exploring Expedition, Nathaniel Philbrick, Penguin Books, 2003
ISBN 0-670-03231-X Nautical History Thirty-four years after Lewis and Clark, the United States Navy organized an ambitious voyage of discovery that would far surpass their journey and discoveries. Lt Charles Wilkes was given command of a small fleet of six vessels, Flagship Vincennes, Sloop of war Peacock, Brig Porpoise, schooners Sea Gull and Flying Fish and store ship Relief and sent off on a four year voyage of discovery. During the voyage the explorers would circumnavigate the globe, explore the ice shelves of Antarctica, the pacific islands and the mouth of the Columbia River. They would visit The Azores, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, the Hawaiian Islands, The Philippines, and Singapore. Arguably, Wilkes and his crew were the first explorers to see the land mass of Antarctica, confirming its status as a continent (other explorers also claim the honor). By most measures the voyage was an amazing success, but now it stands nearly forgotten. In this book Nathaniel Philbrick explores the successes of the voyage as well as the personalities of and conflicts between the officers that seem to have doomed the voyage to be a footnote in history. The book is well researched and documented with an extensive collection of notes and a long bibliography. It’s fully indexed and is 452 pages long with historic illustrations. I found the book both a revelation and quite readable. I recommend Sea of Glory to those interested in exploration, seamanship and the history of the US Navy. Jim
------------Members' Signature------------
Fair - and in scale - seas to all.
Jim
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04-29-2010, 01:24 AM
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Scurvy
Scurvy – How a Surgeon, a Mariner and a Gentleman Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail , Stephen R. Brown, Thomas Dunn Books, 2003
ISBN 0-312-31391-8 / 0-312-31292-6 History In 1740 with war with Spain looming, George Anson was given command of a squadron of British warships and tasked with sailing them around the horn into the Pacific, to harass Spanish commerce and settlements in south America and Mexico and if possible to capture the Manila galleon, a treasure ship plying the Pacific between South America and the Philippines. He was given command of six ships, the two deck ships of the line Centurion, Gloucester, Severn, Pearl and Wager and the war sloop Tryal along with crews totaling over two thousand men. The voyage was both a disaster and success. The Severn and Pearl were damaged attempting to pass the horn and ultimately gave up and returned to the Atlantic. Once in the Pacific, scurvy set in with each of the remaining ships losing sailors nearly every day. The Wager, damaged passing the horn and rapidly deprived of a serviceable crew by scurvy, ran aground and was lost. Only the Centurion, Gloucester and Tryal survived to pursue the mission and each was rapidly losing their crews. Months later, the three ships reached Juan Fernandez Island, by which time, the Centurion was down to 80 effectives from her normal 500 hand crew, the Gloucester had lost two thirds of her crew and the Tyral half. At Juan Fernandez, fresh food was found and after a period of recovery, the three ships set about their raiding tasks. After several months of raiding, Anson decided to take the Centurion and Gloucester (the book doesn’t report the fate of the Tyral) across the Pacific in pursuit of the Manila Galleon. Scurvy again met the voyagers in mid Pacific. Soon the death rate was running at five per day. In mid ocean, the state of the crews was so bad that both ships couldn’t be manned. The Gloucester was abandoned and burned. Anson eventually returned home with the Centurion and a crew of 200 (of the over two thousand he had sailed with.) Nonetheless, he had captured the galleon and was a hero. The Navy knew they could ill afford many such successes. Curing scurvy became a major task for the navy. There is not a single event that marks the cure of scurvy. The doctors of the day didn’t understand it and didn’t know of vitamins much less vitamin deficiency. As a result, the cure was repeatedly discovered only to be discounted and forgotten. The first hero of the book James Lind, a Scottish surgeon, discovers the cure while at sea on an extended cruise. Lind performs one of the first controlled medical experiments feeding carefully selected groups of sick sailors a variety of “cures” that ranged from drinking sea water, to cider, to rum, to oranges. Surprisingly those fed oranges rapidly recovered while the others lingered miserably in the disease (the supply of oranges being soon exhausted). For his labors, Lind was eventually made head of Britain’s largest naval hospital, but his discovery was never really implemented, oranges being both hard to come by and expensive food for sailors. The navy in fact continued to experiment with other useless treatments. The second hero of the book, Captain Cook, proved that scurvy could indeed be beaten by making all his cruises with virtually no scurvy. He attempted almost every cure, including oranges, and regularly stopped to replenish his supplies with fresh foods. Once again stealing defeat from success Cook’s use of fresh fruit and oranges was discounted as useful treatment. The final hero of the story, is Gilbert Blane. Blane was both a navy doctor, who also had to deal with scurvy and a peer. Blane did two things right. He read Lind’s research and he used his influence to convince the navy of the value of fresh fruit. The author goes on to ask a couple interesting questions. Given the fact that scurvy regularly cost the navy (all navies) about a third of their crews on long voyages, how would the war of American independence have come out if the British fleet had one third more healthy sailors to confront the French and Spanish fleets in the Chesapeake? The second question, how would Nelson have fared had scurvy’s cure not been found before he took on the French and Spanish fleets?. It would have forced him to do it with one third fewer sailors. Not a book for the squeamish, some of the descriptions of the disease are quite graphic, this book nonetheless adds interesting detail to the British navy’s ascendency to power in the 18th century.
------------Members' Signature------------
Fair - and in scale - seas to all.
Jim
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07-30-2010, 03:49 PM
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Arming the Fleet US Navy Ordnance in the Muzzle Loading Era
This illustrated study of U.S. Navy ordnance in the muzzle-loading era by Spencer Tucker is a comprehensive invaluable referance on the subject of U.S. Navy ordnance. It begins with a history of the use of guns at sea up to the time of the War of the American Revolution. Chapter 2 talks about gunnery practise of the 18th and 19th centuries Chapter 3 deals with the practise of cannon founding and discusses the principal foundries for the U.S. Navy. Chapters 4 to 7 discuss the development of ordnance and ship design as well as the armament of U.S. Navy vessels. The books appendices contain information on the nomenclature of guns, terms, and definitions, and U.S. Navy cannon contracts. This book by Spencer Tucker is the bible on U.S Navy ordnance during the 18th and 19th centuries. It's full of terms, diagrams, and photos. Well worth a place in anyone's reference library. It took awhile for me to find this book but it was worth the wait.
------------Members' Signature------------
Mike
Real ships are long and pointy, stay on top of the water, and don't allow airplanes to play on the roof!' |
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01-02-2011, 10:37 AM
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Re: UTwo Years before the MastU
I do not see this book listed among others on this site:Two Years before the Mast. A 20-year old college student in 1835 gets the measles and it affects his eyes; he cannot spend long hours reading. So, there goes school for a while. He signs up on a merchantman out of Boston, and sails round Cape Horn to work the coast of that foreign land: California. He is a common sailor. His diary of the two years he spent as a foremast jack has many detailed descriptions of the workings of a square-rigged vessel. It is also an amazing description of a land (coastal California) before it was radically and permanently changed with the discovery of gold in 1849. To better know what I'm doing as I rig my model ship, I have been trying to understand the handling of sails, blocks and tackles in the everyday act of sailing a square-rigger. This book gives as good an account of any that I have read.
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