In this lively book, Alan L. Karras traces the history of smuggling around the world and explores all aspects of this pervasive and enduring crime. Through a compelling set of cases drawn from a rich array of historical and contemporary sources, Karras shows how smuggling of every conceivable...  more

In this lively book, Alan L. Karras traces the history of smuggling around the world and explores all aspects of this pervasive and enduring crime. Through a compelling set of cases drawn from a rich array of historical and contemporary sources, Karras shows how smuggling of every conceivable good has flourished in every place, at every time. Significantly, Karras draws a clear distinction between smugglers and their more popular criminal cousins, pirates, who operated in the open with a type of violence that was nearly always shunned by smugglers. Explaining the divergence between the two groups, the book illustrates both crossovers and differences. At the same time, states and empires tolerated smuggling since eliminating smuggling was a sure route to a disgruntled and disorderly citizenry, and governments required order to remain in power. As a result, smuggling allowed individuals to negotiate an unstated social contract that minimized the role of government in their lives. Thus, Karras provocatively argues that smuggling was, and is, tightly woven into an uneasy relationship among governments, taxation, citizenship, and corruption. Bringing smugglers and smuggling to life, this book provides a fascinating exploration for all readers interested in crime and corruption throughout modern history.

The first oceangoing yacht ever built in America, Cleopatra?s Barge, endured many incarnations over her eight-year life, from Mediterranean pleasure cruiser to a Hawaiian king?s personal yacht. The famed ship, at times also a Christian missionary transport, pirate ship, getaway vehicle,...  more

The first oceangoing yacht ever built in America, Cleopatra?s Barge, endured many incarnations over her eight-year life, from Mediterranean pleasure cruiser to a Hawaiian king?s personal yacht. The famed ship, at times also a Christian missionary transport, pirate ship, getaway vehicle, instrument of diplomacy, and racing yacht, wrecked on a reef in Hanalei Bay on April 6, 1824. Obtaining the first underwater archaeological permits ever issued by the state of Hawai?i, a team of divers from the Smithsonian Institution located, surveyed, and excavated the wrecked ship from 1995 to 2000. The 1,250 lots of artifacts from the shipwreck represent the only known material culture from the reign of King Kamehameha II (Liholiho), shedding light on the little-documented transitional period from Old Hawai?i to foreign influence and culture. Although Liholiho ruled Hawai?i for only a few short years, his abolition of taboos and admission of the Boston Christian missionaries into his kingdom planted the seeds for profound changes in Hawaiian culture. Richly illustrated, Shipwrecked in Paradise tells the story of the ship?s life in Hawai?i, from her 1820 sale to Liholiho to her discovery and excavation.

While fighting on land continues to hold center stage, recently much more attention has been focused on the Civil War at sea. And for good reason. Naval operations decided the outcome of the war as the North exploited its significant naval and maritime advantage to turn the war on land in its...  more

While fighting on land continues to hold center stage, recently much more attention has been focused on the Civil War at sea. And for good reason. Naval operations decided the outcome of the war as the North exploited its significant naval and maritime advantage to turn the war on land in its favor.p In A Short History of the Civil War at Sea, Spencer C. Tucker, eminent naval and military historian and endowed chair at the Virginia Military Institute, provides a concise and lively overview of the blue water Civil War, or fighting on the seas and attacks directed from the sea. This volume covers the drama of significant naval battles, like the first clash of ironclads at Hampton Roads, the Union capture of New Orleans, fierce action in the Charleston Harbor, and the Battle of Mobile Bay.p A Short History of the Civil War at Sea also discusses important themes, like the technological revolution in naval warfare; the impact of naval operations on U.S. and Confederate foreign relations; the Confederate use of torpedoes, submarines, and commerce raiders; and the Union's successful strategy of blockade.p The struggle at sea might not have been as bloody as the fighting on land, but it was every bit as interesting and included a colorful cast of characters, like David G. Farragut, the North's highest ranking and most accomplished naval officer, and Confederate naval officer, commerce raider, and Rebel Seadog Raphael Semmes. And the advances of naval technology during the Civil War are fascinating-from the use of new Dahlgren guns to the design and redesign of the ironclads to the extensive use of mines and the development of submarines.p Prof. Tucker covers it all in this new book, and his knowledge and skills as a storyteller shine. A Short History of the Civil War at Sea will entertain and inform students, scholars, and Civil War enthusiasts.

When Frank J. Merli died in December 2000, he left many manuscripts related to Great Britain and the American Civil War. At the request of Merli’s widow, David M. Fahey has edited this volume for publication. It offers a spirited critique of the way historians have presented the...  more

When Frank J. Merli died in December 2000, he left many manuscripts related to Great Britain and the American Civil War. At the request of Merli’s widow, David M. Fahey has edited this volume for publication. It offers a spirited critique of the way historians have presented the international dimension of the American Civil War.  The book offers a fresh account of the escape of the CSS Alabama from British territorial waters in 1862, the decision of its captain, Raphael Semmes, to fight a Union gunboat off the coast of France in 1864, and the curious story of a British-built Chinese flotilla that could have become a small Confederate fleet had negotiations with the Chinese not broken down. The book will appeal to naval and diplomatic historians and to all Civil War buffs.

Colorful and exciting, Sir Walter Ralegh became a favorite of Queen Elizabeth. This world-famous explorer conceived and organized the colonizing expeditions to America; introduced potatoes and tobacco to England, and ended up in the Tower, following his secret wedding to Bess Throckmorton where...  more

Colorful and exciting, Sir Walter Ralegh became a favorite of Queen Elizabeth. This world-famous explorer conceived and organized the colonizing expeditions to America; introduced potatoes and tobacco to England, and ended up in the Tower, following his secret wedding to Bess Throckmorton where he was executed. Along with his more well-known exploits, this insightful study--the first based on an accurate chronology of Ralegh's own writings--offers startling disclosures about his other love affairs, an illegitimate child, and a failed suicide attempt.

The tragic fate of the lost Franklin expedition (1845-48) is a well-known part of exploration history, but there has always been a gap in the story - a personal account that begs to be told. In "As Affecting the Fate of My Absent Husband", Erika Behrisch Elce has collected the poignant letters...  more

The tragic fate of the lost Franklin expedition (1845-48) is a well-known part of exploration history, but there has always been a gap in the story - a personal account that begs to be told. In "As Affecting the Fate of My Absent Husband", Erika Behrisch Elce has collected the poignant letters of Sir John Franklin's wife, Jane, which provide a vital new perspective on the tragedy. From her optimistic requests to whaling ships to her persistent demands for Admiralty aid, Lady Franklin played a crucial role in the search for her husband. Her correspondence with British prime ministers, Members of Parliament, lords of the Admiralty, and a US President presents a private, domestic side to a national tragedy and sheds new light on what Sir John Franklin's disappearance meant to England, its public, and its sense of itself as an imperial power. With comprehensive annotations, a descriptive timeline, and an introduction that outlines the significance of Lady Franklin's contribution to the 'Arctic debate', "As Affecting the Fate of My Absent Husband" is a convincing portrait of the surprisingly disruptive effects - on both the public consciousness and the government bureaucracy - of a single, eloquent, voice of dissent. "As Affecting the Fate of My Absent Husband" is essential reading not only for anyone interested in Victorian adventure and the Arctic but as an introduction to one of the most fascinating women of the nineteenth century.

Francis Crozier was a major figure in the epic quests of nineteenth-century Polar exploration - navigating the North West Passage, reaching the North Pole and mapping Antartica. His remarkable story embraces six daring voyages to the world's most hostile regions and extraordinary feats of...  more

Francis Crozier was a major figure in the epic quests of nineteenth-century Polar exploration - navigating the North West Passage, reaching the North Pole and mapping Antartica. His remarkable story embraces six daring voyages to the world's most hostile regions and extraordinary feats of endurance, tragedy, and failed romance. The groundbreaking expeditions with legendary explorers like Parry, Ross and Franklin lifted the veil from the frozen wastes and were crucial to the exploits of Amundsen, Scott, and Shackleton. Crozier's personal tragedy was an unhappy love affair with Franklin's niece which drove him back to the ice one last time as second-in-command on Franklin's North West Pasage expedition in 1845. All 129 men vanished on the ice. Crozier took command when the ships were crushed and the expedition was on the brink of disaster. For several years Crozier led a couragous battle trying to lead his men to safety. According to legend, Crozier was the last to die- the last man standing. But Crozier never received recognition for his great feats and became another of exploration's Irish unsung heroes. With illustrations, maps, and photos.

In 1845, Sir John Franklin and his men set out to �penetrate the icy fastness of the north, and to circumnavigate America.? And then they disappeared. The truth about what happened to Franklin?s ill-fated Arctic expedition was shrouded in mystery for more than a century. Then, in 1984, Owen...  more

In 1845, Sir John Franklin and his men set out to �penetrate the icy fastness of the north, and to circumnavigate America.? And then they disappeared. The truth about what happened to Franklin?s ill-fated Arctic expedition was shrouded in mystery for more than a century. Then, in 1984, Owen Beattie and his team exhumed two crew members from a burial site in the North for forensic evidence, to shocking results. But the most startling discovery didn?t come until 2014, when a team commissioned by the Canadian government uncovered one of the lost ships: Erebus.

Official publication of the National Maritime Museum's "Ships, Clocks and Stars" exhibition. 300 years ago, amidst growing frustration from the naval community and pressure from the increasing importance of international trade, the British government passed the 1714 Longitude Act. It was an...  more

Official publication of the National Maritime Museum's "Ships, Clocks and Stars" exhibition. 300 years ago, amidst growing frustration from the naval community and pressure from the increasing importance of international trade, the British government passed the 1714 Longitude Act. It was an attempt to solve one of the most pressing problems of the age: how to determine a ship's longitude (east-west position) at sea. With life-changing rewards on offer, the challenge captured the imaginations and talents of astronomers, skilled craftsmen, politicians, seamen and satirists. This beautifully illustrated book is a detailed account of these stories, and how the longitude problem was solved. Highlights of the book include: * Foreword by the fifteenth Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees. * Specially commissioned photographs from the National Maritime Museum's archive. * A new description of the collaborations and conflicts in a tale of technical creativity, scientific innovation and hard commercialism. From the same publisher as Dava Sobel's Longitude, Finding Longitude tells a new story of one of the great achievements of the Georgian age, and how it changed our understanding of the world.

With American independence came the freedom to sail anywhere in the world under a new flag. During the years between the Treaty of Paris and the Treaty of Wangxi, Americans first voyaged past the Cape of Good Hope, reaching the ports of Algiers and the bazaars of Arabia, the markets of India and...  more

With American independence came the freedom to sail anywhere in the world under a new flag. During the years between the Treaty of Paris and the Treaty of Wangxi, Americans first voyaged past the Cape of Good Hope, reaching the ports of Algiers and the bazaars of Arabia, the markets of India and the beaches of Sumatra, the villages of Cochin, China, and the factories of Canton. Their South Seas voyages of commerce and discovery introduced the infant nation to the world and the world to what the Chinese, Turks, and others dubbed the "new people."Drawing on private journals, letters, ships? logs, memoirs, and newspaper accounts, Dane A. Morrison's True Yankees traces America?s earliest encounters on a global stage through the exhilarating experiences of five Yankee seafarers. Merchant Samuel Shaw spent a decade scouring the marts of China and India for goods that would captivate the imaginations of his countrymen. Mariner Amasa Delano toured much of the Pacific hunting seals. Explorer Edmund Fanning circumnavigated the globe, touching at various Pacific and Indian Ocean ports of call. In 1829, twenty-year-old Harriett Low reluctantly accompanied her merchant uncle and ailing aunt to Macao, where she recorded trenchant observations of expatriate life. And sea captain Robert Bennet Forbes?s last sojourn in Canton coincided with the eruption of the First Opium War. How did these bold voyagers approach and do business with the people in the region, whose physical appearance, practices, and culture seemed so strange? And how did native men and women?not to mention the European traders who were in direct competition with the Americans?regard these upstarts who had fought off British rule? The accounts of these adventurous travelers reveal how they and hundreds of other mariners and expatriates influenced the ways in which Americans defined themselves, thereby creating a genuinely brash national character?the "true Yankee." Readers who love history and stories of exploration on the high seas will devour this gripping tale.

Ice Ghosts weaves together the epic story of the Lost Franklin Expedition of 1845?whose two ships and crew of 129 were lost to the Arctic ice?with the modern tale of the scientists, divers, and local Inuit behind the incredible discovery of the flagship's wreck in 2014.Paul Watson, a Pulitzer...  more

Ice Ghosts weaves together the epic story of the Lost Franklin Expedition of 1845?whose two ships and crew of 129 were lost to the Arctic ice?with the modern tale of the scientists, divers, and local Inuit behind the incredible discovery of the flagship's wreck in 2014.Paul Watson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who was on the icebreaker that led the discovery expedition, tells a fast-paced historical adventure story: Sir John Franklin and the crew of the HMS Erebus and Terror setting off in search of the fabled Northwest Passage, the hazards they encountered, the reasons they were forced to abandon ship hundreds of miles from the nearest outpost of Western civilization, and the decades of searching that turned up only rumors of cannibalism and a few scattered papers and bones?until a combination of faith in Inuit lore and the latest science yielded a discovery for the ages.

The remarkable story of the mission that inspired a nation to donate massive relief to Ireland during the potato famine and began America's tradition of providing humanitarian aid around the world More than 5,000 ships left Ireland during the great potato famine in the late 1840s,...  more

The remarkable story of the mission that inspired a nation to donate massive relief to Ireland during the potato famine and began America's tradition of providing humanitarian aid around the world More than 5,000 ships left Ireland during the great potato famine in the late 1840s, transporting the starving and the destitute away from their stricken homeland. The first vessel to sail in the other direction, to help the millions unable to escape, was the USS Jamestown, a converted warship, which left Boston in March 1847 loaded with precious food for Ireland. In an unprecedented move by Congress, the warship had been placed in civilian hands, stripped of its guns, and committed to the peaceful delivery of food, clothing, and supplies in a mission that would launch America’s first full-blown humanitarian relief effort. Captain Robert Bennet Forbes and the crew of the USS Jamestown embarked on a voyage that began a massive eighteen-month demonstration of soaring goodwill against the backdrop of unfathomable despair―one nation’s struggle to survive, and another’s effort to provide a lifeline. The Jamestown mission captured hearts and minds on both sides of the Atlantic, of the wealthy and the hardscrabble poor, of poets and politicians. Forbes’ undertaking inspired a nationwide outpouring of relief that was unprecedented in size and scope, the first instance of an entire nation extending a hand to a foreign neighbor for purely humanitarian reasons. It showed the world that national generosity and brotherhood were not signs of weakness, but displays of quiet strength and moral certitude. In Voyage of Mercy, Stephen Puleo tells the incredible story of the famine, the Jamestown voyage, and the commitment of thousands of ordinary Americans to offer relief to Ireland, a groundswell that provided the collaborative blueprint for future relief efforts, and established the United States as the leader in international aid. The USS Jamestown’s heroic voyage showed how the ramifications of a single decision can be measured not in days, but in decades.

"Where the Sea Breaks Its Back" is the story of the remarkable life of Georg Wilhelm Steller (1709-1742), one of Europe's foremost naturalists and the first to document the unique wildlife of the Alaskan coast. It is also the account of Vitus Bering's tragic last voyage across the uncharted...  more

"Where the Sea Breaks Its Back" is the story of the remarkable life of Georg Wilhelm Steller (1709-1742), one of Europe's foremost naturalists and the first to document the unique wildlife of the Alaskan coast. It is also the account of Vitus Bering's tragic last voyage across the uncharted North Pacific to "agunalaksh", the original Aleut word for "the shores where the sea breaks its back." In the course of that journey, Steller made his valuable discoveries and suffered, along with Bering and the crew of the ill-fated brig St. Peter, some of the most grueling experiences in the history of Arctic exploration. In the history of maritime discovery, few voyages can match the obstacles, hardships and success of Bering's Second Expedition in 1741, that initial crossing of the North Pacific. While "Where the Sea Breaks Its Back" tells the heroic and tragic story of that momentous expedition, the book's hero is not Vitus Bering, the commander who died at the moment before success, but Georg Wilhelm Steller, the brilliant German-born scientist, naturalist, botanist and physician who accompanied Bering. Author Corey Ford has created an immensely moving and personal tribute to the memory of Steller.

In the spring of 1621, Plymouth Colony sent STEPHEN HOPKINS to make the first visit to Wampanoag sachem Massasoit to present a red horseman's coat as a gift and sign of friendship. For most ordinary Englishmen, venturing off into the depths of unexplored

Based on the author's exhaustive research, the incredible true story of the Greely Expedition, one of the most harrowing adventures in the annals of polar exploration. In July 1881, Lt. A.W. Greely and his crew of 24 scientists and explorers were bound for the last region unmarked on global...  more

Based on the author's exhaustive research, the incredible true story of the Greely Expedition, one of the most harrowing adventures in the annals of polar exploration. In July 1881, Lt. A.W. Greely and his crew of 24 scientists and explorers were bound for the last region unmarked on global maps. Their goal: Farthest North. What would follow was one of the most extraordinary and terrible voyages ever made. Greely and his men confronted every possible challenge-vicious wolves, sub-zero temperatures, and months of total darkness-as they set about exploring one of the most remote, unrelenting environments on the planet. In May 1882, they broke the 300-year-old record, and returned to camp to eagerly await the resupply ship scheduled to return at the end of the year. Only nothing came. 250 miles south, a wall of ice prevented any rescue from reaching them. Provisions thinned and a second winter descended. Back home, Greely's wife worked tirelessly against government resistance to rally a rescue mission.Months passed, and Greely made a drastic choice: he and his men loaded the remaining provisions and tools onto their five small boats, and pushed off into the treacherous waters. After just two weeks, dangerous floes surrounded them. Now new dangers awaited: insanity, threats of mutiny, and cannibalism. As food dwindled and the men weakened, Greely's expedition clung desperately to life.Labyrinth of Ice tells the true story of the heroic lives and deaths of these voyagers hell-bent on fame and fortune-at any cost-and how their journey changed the world.

By combining stunning cartography with engaging and authoritative text, The World Atlas of Pirates presents the story of piracy in a completely new way. Eighty maps plot the routes that pirates followed?whether crossing the world?s great oceans or pursuing their prey through creeks and bays....  more

By combining stunning cartography with engaging and authoritative text, The World Atlas of Pirates presents the story of piracy in a completely new way. Eighty maps plot the routes that pirates followed?whether crossing the world?s great oceans or pursuing their prey through creeks and bays. Colorful archive illustrations, including photographs and images from England's National Maritime Museum and other historic collections, bring the villains, their ships, and their victims to life. Lively, accessible text by pirate expert Angus Konstam explains how piracy grew and flourished from the early buccaneers to the rogues of popular legends, how it has been snuffed out, and how it has reared its head again with the machine-gun-toting pirates operating on today?s high seas.

William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918) is acknowledged as one of the undisputed masters of the sea story. There has never been a collection of his very best short stories offered to the trade. Hodgson's sea stories have unusual authenticity owing to his having spent a lot of time on merchant's...  more

William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918) is acknowledged as one of the undisputed masters of the sea story. There has never been a collection of his very best short stories offered to the trade. Hodgson's sea stories have unusual authenticity owing to his having spent a lot of time on merchant's ships-he left his family in 1890 at the age of thirteen to spend eight years at sea, where the experience of mistreatment, poor pay, and worse food was contrasted by Hodgson's immeasurable fascination with the sea. His obsession for the sea fills his writings. This volume collects the very best of Hodgson's sea stories-which has not been done before-with some of the most exciting and dramatic creatures of fantasy on the written page, exhibiting the sea in all her moods: wonder, mystery, beauty, and terror."This collection brings together the very best of his short stories, together with a sampling of his poetry. It includes a variety of his sea horrors along with two non-fantastic pieces: "On the Bridge," a journalistic story written immediately after the sinking of the Titanic which attempts to show some of the various factors which contributed to the tragedy, and the suspenseful nonfiction story "Through the Vortex of a Cyclone," which is based on Hodgson's own experiences at sea." – From the Introduction by Douglas A. Anderson"Among connoisseurs of fantasy fiction William Hope Hodgson deserves a high and permanent rank . . . Few can equal him in adumbrating the nearness of nameless forces and monstrous besieging entities through casual hints and significant details, or in conveying feelings of the spectral and abnormal." – H. P. Lovecraft"Among those fiction writers who have elected to deal with the shadowlandsand borderlands of human existence, William Hope Hodgson surely merits a place with the very few that inform their treatment of such themes with a sense of authenticity." – Clark Ashton Smith

Coriolano Cippico (1425?93) was a Dalmatian nobleman from Trogir (Trau in modern Croatia), then part of the Venetian empire. He was a landowner, civil servant, humanist and military commander. From 1470 to 1474 he served as galley captain for a Venetian naval expedition in the eastern...  more

Coriolano Cippico (1425?93) was a Dalmatian nobleman from Trogir (Trau in modern Croatia), then part of the Venetian empire. He was a landowner, civil servant, humanist and military commander. From 1470 to 1474 he served as galley captain for a Venetian naval expedition in the eastern Mediterranean under the command of the future doge of Venice, Pietro Mocenigo. Cippico wrote ?The Deeds of Commander Pietro Mocenigo? in 1474/75. Its three books describe the campaign as Mocenigo?s fleet engaged in a systematic depredation of the western Anatolian shoreline, helped suppress a political coup in Cyprus and seal the Venetian hold of the island, supported the Venetian diplomatic outreach to the lords of Karaman, the chief Ottoman adversaries in Anatolia, and provided crucial relief to the Venetian-held Albanian stronghold of Skodra (Scutari) besieged by Ottoman troops. Composed in an elegant humanist latin, ?The Deeds? offers a sophisticated eyewitness account of the Christian?Ottoman confrontation in the late fifteenth century. Besides its classicizing overtones, ?The Deeds? also makes astute and perceptive observations on the entangled relationship between Venice and the East. The brutality of war, the constant traffic in slaves and booty and the almost casual destruction of the ancient remains of Asia Minor form the backdrop to the expert diplomacy, crusade rhetoric, humanist discourse and cultural claims of the Venetian Republic. Cippico uses the language and tropes of the classical past, while the realities of combat and reprisal that he narrates give vivid testimony to the destruction of the last traces of that antiquity. Cippico provides one of the best narratives of how the empire of the Most Serene Republic actually worked. The present edition is the first English translation of ?The Deeds,? one of the finest pieces of Renaissance history writing, often and widely reprinted and much appreciated in its time but undeservedly forgotten until recently. Paperback, 148 pages. Introduction, notes, bibliography. 20 illustrations, 3 maps.

This is the first study in depth of the Royal Navy's vital, but largely ignored small craft. In the age of sail they were built in huge numbers and in far greater variety than the more regulated major warships, so they present a particular challenge to any historian attempting a coherent design...  more

This is the first study in depth of the Royal Navy's vital, but largely ignored small craft. In the age of sail they were built in huge numbers and in far greater variety than the more regulated major warships, so they present a particular challenge to any historian attempting a coherent design history. However, for the first time this book charts the development of the ancillary types, variously described in the 17th century as sloops, ketches, brigantines, advice boats and even yachts, as they coalesce into the single 18th-century category of Sloop of War. In this era they were generally two-masted, although they set a bewildering variety of sail plans from them. The author traces their origins to open boats, like those carried by Basque whalers, shows how developments in Europe influenced English craft, and homes in on the relationship between rigs, hull-form and the duties they were designed to undertake. Visual documentation is scanty, but this book draws together a unique collection of rare and unseen images, coupled with the author's own reconstructions in line drawings and watercolour sketches to provide the most convincing depictions of the appearance of these vessels. By tackling some of the most obscure questions about the early history of small-boat rigs, the book adds a dimension that will be of interest to historians of coastal sail and practical yachtsman, as well as warship enthusiasts.

Pack your cutlass and blunderbuss--it's time to go a-pirating! The Invisible Hook takes readers inside the wily world of late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century pirates. With swashbuckling irreverence and devilish wit, Peter Leeson uncovers the hidden economics behind pirates' notorious,...  more

Pack your cutlass and blunderbuss--it's time to go a-pirating! The Invisible Hook takes readers inside the wily world of late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century pirates. With swashbuckling irreverence and devilish wit, Peter Leeson uncovers the hidden economics behind pirates' notorious, entertaining, and sometimes downright shocking behavior. Why did pirates fly flags of Skull & Bones? Why did they create a "pirate code"? Were pirates really ferocious madmen? And what made them so successful? The Invisible Hook uses economics to examine these and other infamous aspects of piracy. Leeson argues that the pirate customs we know and love resulted from pirates responding rationally to prevailing economic conditions in the pursuit of profits. The Invisible Hook looks at legendary pirate captains like Blackbeard, Black Bart Roberts, and Calico Jack Rackam, and shows how pirates' search for plunder led them to pioneer remarkable and forward-thinking practices. Pirates understood the advantages of constitutional democracy--a model they adopted more than fifty years before the United States did so. Pirates also initiated an early system of workers' compensation, regulated drinking and smoking, and in some cases practiced racial tolerance and equality. Leeson contends that pirates exemplified the virtues of vice--their self-seeking interests generated socially desirable effects and their greedy criminality secured social order. Pirates proved that anarchy could be organized. Revealing the democratic and economic forces propelling history's most colorful criminals, The Invisible Hook establishes pirates' trailblazing relevance to the contemporary world.

Personal accounts by Native Americans from 1790 to the present. Includes bibliographical references (p. 286-289) and index. Table of Contents: Family ? Land and its resources ? Language ? Native education ? Traditional storytelling ? Traditions ? Worship ? Discrimination.

It is widely accepted that the Stuart kings, Charles II and James II, had an interest in the navy and the sea. Nonetheless, the major naval developments during their reigns?developments that effectively turned the Royal Navy into a permanent, professional fighting force?have traditionally been...  more

It is widely accepted that the Stuart kings, Charles II and James II, had an interest in the navy and the sea. Nonetheless, the major naval developments during their reigns?developments that effectively turned the Royal Navy into a permanent, professional fighting force?have traditionally been attributed to Samuel Pepys.Kings of the Sea presents a provocative new theory: that the creation of the proper ?Royal Navy? was, in fact, due principally to the Stuart brothers. J. David Davies demonstrates that Charles?s Stuart predecessors were more directly involved in naval matters than has usually been allowed and proves that Charles?s and James?s command of ship design and other technical matters went well beyond the bounds of dilettante enthusiasm.

In the summer of 1627, Barbary corsairs raided Iceland, killing dozens of people and abducing close to four hundred to sell into slavery in North Africa. Among those taken were the Lutheran minister Reverend Olafur Egilsson. Reverend Olafur (born in the same year as William Shakespeare and...  more

In the summer of 1627, Barbary corsairs raided Iceland, killing dozens of people and abducing close to four hundred to sell into slavery in North Africa. Among those taken were the Lutheran minister Reverend Olafur Egilsson. Reverend Olafur (born in the same year as William Shakespeare and Galileo Galilei) wrote The Travels to chronicle his experiences both as a captive in Algiers and as a travler across Europe (he journeyed alone from Algiers to Cophenhagen in an attempt to raise funds to ransom the captives that remained in the Barbary States). He was a keen observer, and the narrative is filled with a wealth of detail - social, political, economic, religious - about both the Maghreb and Europe. It is also a moving story on the human level: we witness a man enduring great personal tragedy and struggling to reconcile such calamity with his understanding of God. The Travels is the first -ever English translation of the Icelandic texts. Until now, the corsair raid on Iceland has remained largely unknown in the English speaking world. To give a clearer sense of the extraordinary events connected with that raid, this edition of The Travels includes not only Reverend Olafur's first-person narrative but also a wealth of contemporary letters describing both the events of the raid itself and the conditions in North Africa under which the enslaved Icelanders lived. The book has Appendices containing background information on the cities of Algiers and Sale in the seventeenth century, on Iceland in the seventeenth century, on the manuscripts accessed for the translation, and on the book's early modern European context. The combination of Reverend Olafur's narrative, the letters, and the material in the Appendices provides a first-hand, in-depth view of early seventeenth-century Europe and the Maghreb equaled by few other works dealing with the period. We are pleased to offer it to the wider audience that an English edition allows.

For a century, the history of the novel has been written in terms of nations and territories: the English novel, the French novel, the American novel. But what if novels were viewed in terms of the seas that unite these different lands? Examining works across two centuries, The Novel and the Sea...  more

For a century, the history of the novel has been written in terms of nations and territories: the English novel, the French novel, the American novel. But what if novels were viewed in terms of the seas that unite these different lands? Examining works across two centuries, The Novel and the Sea recounts the novel's rise, told from the perspective of the ship's deck and the allure of the oceans in the modern cultural imagination. Margaret Cohen moors the novel to overseas exploration and work at sea, framing its emergence as a transatlantic history, steeped in the adventures and risks of the maritime frontier.Cohen explores how Robinson Crusoe competed with the best-selling nautical literature of the time by dramatizing remarkable conditions, from the wonders of unknown lands to storms, shipwrecks, and pirates. She considers James Fenimore Cooper's refashioning of the adventure novel in postcolonial America, and a change in literary poetics toward new frontiers and to the maritime labor and technology of the nineteenth century. Cohen shows how Jules Verne reworked adventures at sea into science fiction; how Melville, Hugo, and Conrad navigated the foggy waters of language and thought; and how detective and spy fiction built on sea fiction's problem-solving devices. She also discusses the transformation of the ocean from a theater of skilled work to an environment of pristine nature and the sublime.A significant literary history, The Novel and the Sea challenges readers to rethink their land-locked assumptions about the novel.

The true story of the most notorious crime in American nautical history -- a uniquely grotesque triple murder -- and the long journey to truth. The Herbert Fuller, a three-masted sailing ship loaded with New England lumber, left Boston bound for Buenos Aires on July 8, 1896 with twelve...  more

The true story of the most notorious crime in American nautical history -- a uniquely grotesque triple murder -- and the long journey to truth. The Herbert Fuller, a three-masted sailing ship loaded with New England lumber, left Boston bound for Buenos Aires on July 8, 1896 with twelve people on board: captain and owner Charles Nash, his wife and childhood sweetheart Laura, two mates, the "mulatto" steward, six crewmen, and one passenger. Just before 2 A.M. on the sixth day at sea, the captain, his wife, and the second mate were slaughtered in their individual bunkrooms with the ship's axe, seven or eight blows apiece. Laura Nash was found with her thin nightgown pushed above her hips, her head and upper body smashed and deformed. Incredibly, no one saw or heard the killings . . . except the killer.   After a harrowing voyage back to port for the survivors, the killer among them, it didn't take long for Boston's legal system to convict the first mate, a naturalized American of mixed blood from St. Kitts. But another man on board, a twenty-year-old Harvard passenger from a proper family, had his own dark secrets. Who was the real killer, and what became of these two men?   Not a Gentleman's Work is the story of the fates of two vastly different men whose lives intersected briefly on one horrific voyage at sea -- a story that reverberates with universal themes: inescapable terror, coerced confession, capital punishment, justice obscured by privilege, perseverance, redemption, and death by tortured soul

Now in paperback from scholar Carol Delaney: ?a welcome reappraisal of Columbus and his legacy? (Kirkus Reviews).The dominant understanding of Christopher Columbus holds him responsible for almost everything that went wrong in the New World. Here, finally, is a book that will radically change...  more

Now in paperback from scholar Carol Delaney: ?a welcome reappraisal of Columbus and his legacy? (Kirkus Reviews).The dominant understanding of Christopher Columbus holds him responsible for almost everything that went wrong in the New World. Here, finally, is a book that will radically change our interpretation of the man and his mission. Carol Delaney claims that the true motivation for Columbus?s voyages is very different from what is commonly accepted. Rather than an avaricious glory hunter, Delaney reveals Columbus as a man of deep passion, patience, and religious conviction: He believed that he was destined to play a decisive role in the retaking of Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire.���� Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem recounts the drama of the four voyages, bringing the trials of ocean navigation vividly to life and showing Columbus for the master navigator that he was. Putting Columbus back into the context of his times, rather than viewing him through the prism of present-day perspectives on colonial conquests, Delaney shows him to have been neither a greedy imperialist nor a quixotic adventurer, as he has lately been depicted, but a man driven by an abiding religious passion.

A visionary exploration of the life and times of Joseph Conrad, his turbulent age of globalization and our own, from one of the most exciting young historians writing today Migration, terrorism, the tensions between global capitalism and nationalism, and a communications revolution: these...  more

A visionary exploration of the life and times of Joseph Conrad, his turbulent age of globalization and our own, from one of the most exciting young historians writing today Migration, terrorism, the tensions between global capitalism and nationalism, and a communications revolution: these forces shaped Joseph Conrad’s destiny at the dawn of the twentieth century. In this brilliant new interpretation of one of the great voices in modern literature, Maya Jasanoff reveals Conrad as a prophet of globalization. As an immigrant from Poland to England, and in travels from Malaya to Congo to the Caribbean, Conrad navigated an interconnected world, and captured it in a literary oeuvre of extraordinary depth. His life story delivers a history of globalization from the inside out, and reflects powerfully on the aspirations and challenges of the modern world.   Joseph Conrad was born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in 1857, to Polish parents in the Russian Empire. At sixteen he left the landlocked heart of Europe to become a sailor, and for the next twenty years travelled the world’s oceans before settling permanently in England as an author. He saw the surging, competitive "new imperialism" that planted a flag in almost every populated part of the globe. He got a close look, too, at the places “beyond the end of telegraph cables and mail-boat lines,” and the hypocrisy of the west’s most cherished ideals.   In a compelling blend of history, biography, and travelogue, Maya Jasanoff follows Conrad’s routes and the stories of his four greatest works—The Secret Agent, Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness, and Nostromo. Genre-bending, intellectually thrilling, and deeply humane, The Dawn Watch embarks on a spell-binding expedition into the dark heart of Conrad’s world—and through it to our own.

In 1177 B.C., marauding groups known only as the "Sea Peoples" invaded Egypt. The pharaoh's army and navy managed to defeat them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did most of the surrounding civilizations. After centuries of brilliance, the...  more

In 1177 B.C., marauding groups known only as the "Sea Peoples" invaded Egypt. The pharaoh's army and navy managed to defeat them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did most of the surrounding civilizations. After centuries of brilliance, the civilized world of the Bronze Age came to an abrupt and cataclysmic end. Kingdoms fell like dominoes over the course of just a few decades. No more Minoans or Mycenaeans. No more Trojans, Hittites, or Babylonians. The thriving economy and cultures of the late second millennium B.C., which had stretched from Greece to Egypt and Mesopotamia, suddenly ceased to exist, along with writing systems, technology, and monumental architecture. But the Sea Peoples alone could not have caused such widespread breakdown. How did it happen? In this major new account of the causes of this "First Dark Ages," Eric Cline tells the gripping story of how the end was brought about by multiple interconnected failures, ranging from invasion and revolt to earthquakes, drought, and the cutting of international trade routes. Bringing to life the vibrant multicultural world of these great civilizations, he draws a sweeping panorama of the empires and globalized peoples of the Late Bronze Age and shows that it was their very interdependence that hastened their dramatic collapse and ushered in a dark age that lasted centuries.A compelling combination of narrative and the latest scholarship, 1177 B.C. sheds new light on the complex ties that gave rise to, and ultimately destroyed, the flourishing civilizations of the Late Bronze Age--and that set the stage for the emergence of classical Greece.

Foghorns were very important along with the lights of lighthouses. Foghouses are all but forgotten and we need to remember foghorns and lights came as a package for lifesaving.

During the American Civil War, more than one hundred thousand men fought on ships at sea or on one of America?s great inland rivers. There were no large-scale fleet engagements, yet the navies, particularly the Union Navy, did much to define the character of the war and affect its length. The...  more

During the American Civil War, more than one hundred thousand men fought on ships at sea or on one of America?s great inland rivers. There were no large-scale fleet engagements, yet the navies, particularly the Union Navy, did much to define the character of the war and affect its length. The first hostile shots roared from rebel artillery at Charleston Harbor. Along the Mississippi River and other inland waterways across the South, Union gunboats were often the first to arrive in deadly enemy territory. In the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic seaboard, blockaders in blue floated within earshot of gray garrisons that guarded vital ports. And on the open seas, rebel raiders wreaked havoc on civilian shipping. In Faces of the Civil War Navies, renowned researcher and Civil War photograph collector Ronald S. Coddington focuses his considerable skills on the Union and Confederate navies. Using identifiable cartes de visite of common sailors on both sides of the war, many of them never before published, Coddington uncovers the personal histories of each individual who looked into the eye of the primitive camera. These unique narratives are drawn from military and pension records, letters, diaries, period newspapers, and other primary sources. In addition to presenting the personal stories of seventy-seven intrepid volunteers, Coddington also focuses on the momentous naval events that ushered in an era of ironclad ships and other technical innovations. The fourth volume in Coddington?s series on Civil War soldiers, this microhistory will appeal to anyone with an interest in the Civil War, social history, or photography. The narratives and photographs in Faces of the Civil War Navies shed new light on a lesser-known part of our American story. Taken collectively, these "snapshots" remind us that the history of war is not merely a chronicle of campaigns won and lost, it is the collective personal odysseys of thousands of individual life stories.

In 1872 the Mary Celeste was found sailing aimlessly in the Atlantic Ocean, her crew strangely and inexplicably missing. What happened to them has remained an enduring mystery of the sea. Mary Celeste quickly became the subject of stories that told of half-eaten meals, mugs of still-warm tea...  more

In 1872 the Mary Celeste was found sailing aimlessly in the Atlantic Ocean, her crew strangely and inexplicably missing. What happened to them has remained an enduring mystery of the sea. Mary Celeste quickly became the subject of stories that told of half-eaten meals, mugs of still-warm tea on the galley table, and the aroma of fresh tobacco smoke lingering in the captain’s cabin. Theories to account for the missing crew ranged from mutiny and murder to a giant octopus snatching the crew one by one from the deck, abduction by UFOs and the strange forces said to exist in the so-called Bermuda Triangle. In this gripping narrative, Paul Begg tells the story of the discovery of Mary Celeste, the people who vanished and the recent discovery of the wreckage. He investigates over a century’s worth of speculation and survivors’ tales, searching for the facts behind one of the world’s great mysteries. The book also features the full text of Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story and the transcript of the Gibraltar proceedings. New to this edition is a fascinating account of the filming of 'The Ghost Ship', a Hammer Films production of the mystery starring Bela Lugosi.

For three hundred years or more the Royal Navy really did ?Rule the Waves?, in the sense that during the numerous wars with our overseas enemies, British fleets and individual ships more often than not emerged victorious from combat. One French Admiral was to generously acknowledge that the...  more

For three hundred years or more the Royal Navy really did ?Rule the Waves?, in the sense that during the numerous wars with our overseas enemies, British fleets and individual ships more often than not emerged victorious from combat. One French Admiral was to generously acknowledge that the Royal Navy possessed, ?a tradition of victory.? And yet, in every other way, the waves were never ruled by any maritime power. Great fleets might wax and wane, ships grow ever more complex and powerful, but the sea, the eternally cruel sea, was always to have the final say. This book highlights a sample array of disasters, occurring when men-of-war faced the ultimate test of the elements and lost. Among such tragedies are the wrecking of the Coronation in 1691, the destruction of the Winchester in 1695 and the great storm of 1703, along with a host of shipwrecks on far-flung shores from New Zealand to Nova Scotia, and from Florida to South Africa. Some of the featured stories are already famous, like that of the Birkenhead. Others are lesser-known, like the sister cruisers Raleigh and Effingham, separated by many years. More recently, steam power replaced the uncertainties of sail, but even so losses continued, from little destroyers in both world wars (Narborough, Opal and Sturdy among them) through great battleships like Montagu. Even modern warships equipped with every modern navigational device come to grief; witness the strange affair of the frigate Nottingham, or the humiliating grounding of the nuclear 'wonder' submarine Astute on Skye in 2010. This unique book presents a fascinating insight into the malevolent power of the sea and storms over man?s creation and dominion, chronicling some of the most dramatic shipwrecks ever to have occurred in our seas.

Rough Account, Lieutenant Wm Bligh's Voyage in the Bounty's Launch from the Ship to Tofua & from Thence to Timor, 28 April to 14 June 1789 This account of William Bligh's epic open boat voyage to Timor after the mutiny on his ship HMS Bounty in April 1789 is based on his...  more

Rough Account, Lieutenant Wm Bligh's Voyage in the Bounty's Launch from the Ship to Tofua & from Thence to Timor, 28 April to 14 June 1789 This account of William Bligh's epic open boat voyage to Timor after the mutiny on his ship HMS Bounty in April 1789 is based on his notebook kept on that perilous journey in the ship's launch, which lasted till June of that year. The editor's 38 page introductory section is followed by his transcript of the notebook entries which were made daily (with the editor's notes), the next chapter relates to Bligh's navigational calculations from the notebook, then a bibliography and list of the Bounty mutineers with details of age, height, complexion , physical characteristics and marks, finally there is a facsimilie reproduction of the actual notebook and the mutineers' list.  Illustrations other than the facsimilie sections include colour art frontis of Bligh, toned fascimile of entry from Bounty's log on the day of the mutiny, double page colour art of Bligh and his supporters being set adrift from the Bounty, the ships launch at sea, fold-out plan of the ship's launch with verso map of its course spread over two fold-outs ( four panels), fold out print of two ships in Kupang, another fold out shows the landing of Bligh and company at Kupang, The introduction includes two photos of contemporary navigation instruments and document reproductions.

Harvested for food, harnessed for power, and home to more than 3,600 species of plants, fish, and animals, the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries have long been essential to the sustainability and survival of the region's populations. Historian William S. Dudley explores that history in an...  more

Harvested for food, harnessed for power, and home to more than 3,600 species of plants, fish, and animals, the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries have long been essential to the sustainability and survival of the region's populations. Historian William S. Dudley explores that history in an engaging and comprehensive account of Maryland's storied maritime heritage. Dudley paints a vivid picture of Maryland's maritime past in its broadest scope, exploring the complex and nuanced interactions of humans, land, and water through descriptions of shipbuilding, steam technology, agricultural pollution, commercial and passenger transportation, naval campaigns, watermen, crabbing, and oystering. He also discusses the evolution of recreational boating?yachting, cruising, and racing?and the role of underwater archaeology in uncovering the bay's shipwrecks. These interactions become chapters in the larger story of Maryland's waterways, a story that Dudley tells through insightful prose and stunning illustrations. This rich history of Maryland's waterways reveals how human enterprise has affected?and been affected by?the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. (2010)

?Superbly entertaining.??S. C. Gwynne, best-selling author of Empire of the Summer Moon October 1864. The confederate ironclad CSS Albemarle had sunk two federal warships and damaged seven others, taking control of the Roanoke River and threatening the Union blockade. Twenty-one-year-old navy...  more

?Superbly entertaining.??S. C. Gwynne, best-selling author of Empire of the Summer Moon October 1864. The confederate ironclad CSS Albemarle had sunk two federal warships and damaged seven others, taking control of the Roanoke River and threatening the Union blockade. Twenty-one-year-old navy lieutenant William Barker Cushing hatched a daring plan: to attack the fearsome warship with a few dozen men in two small wooden boats. What followed, the close-range torpedoing of the Albemarle and Cushing?s harrowing two-day escape downriver from vengeful Rebel posses, is one of the most dramatic individual exploits in American military history. Theodore Roosevelt said that Cushing ?comes next to Farragut on the hero roll of American naval history,? but most have never heard of him today. Tossed out of the Naval Academy for ?buffoonery,? Cushing proved himself a prodigy in behind-the-lines warfare. Given command of a small union ship, he performed daring, near-suicidal raids, ?cutting out? confederate ships and thwarting blockade runners. With higher commands and larger ships, Cushing?s exploits grow bolder, culminating in the sinking of the Albemarle.A thrilling narrative biography, steeped in the tactics, weaponry, and battle techniques of the Union Navy, Commander Will Cushing brings to life a compelling yet flawed figure. Along with his three brothers, including one who fell at Gettysburg, Cushing served with bravery and heroism. But he was irascible and complicated?a loveable rogue, prideful and impulsive, who nonetheless possessed a genius for combat.In telling Cushing?s story, Malanowski paints a vivid, memorable portrait of the army officials, engineers, and politicians scrambling to win the war. But he also goes deeper into the psychology of the daredevil soldier?and what this heroic and tragic figure, who died before his time, can tell us about the ways we remember the glories of war. 8 pages of illustrations

This book is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS series. The creators of this series are united by passion for literature and driven by the intention of making all public domain books available in printed format again - worldwide. At tredition we believe that a great book never goes out of style....  more

This book is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS series. The creators of this series are united by passion for literature and driven by the intention of making all public domain books available in printed format again - worldwide. At tredition we believe that a great book never goes out of style. Several mostly non-profit literature projects provide content to tredition. To support their good work, tredition donates a portion of the proceeds from each sold copy. As a reader of a TREDITION CLASSICS book, you support our mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion.

The author of two critically acclaimed books on Captain Cook, John Robson has now turned his attention to the decade leading up to Cook's famous 1768 expedition to the Pacific. This new book investigates why Cook was chosen to captain Endeavor and how he became uniquely qualified for the...  more

The author of two critically acclaimed books on Captain Cook, John Robson has now turned his attention to the decade leading up to Cook's famous 1768 expedition to the Pacific. This new book investigates why Cook was chosen to captain Endeavor and how he became uniquely qualified for the exacting tasks of exploration. Displaying much new research, it examines Cook's remarkable seamanship qualities and his surveying, astronomical, and cartographic skills, as well as his actions at the siege of Quebec. Cook scholars and armchair explorers alike will appreciate this important new study.

Pepys's Navy describes every aspect the English navy in the second half of the seventeenth century, from the time when the Fleet Royal was taken into Parliamentary control after the defeat of Charles I, until the accession of William and Mary in 1689 when the long period of war with the Dutch...  more

Pepys's Navy describes every aspect the English navy in the second half of the seventeenth century, from the time when the Fleet Royal was taken into Parliamentary control after the defeat of Charles I, until the accession of William and Mary in 1689 when the long period of war with the Dutch came to an end. This is a crucial era which witnessed the creation of a permanent naval service, in essence the birth of the Royal Navy. Every aspect of the navy is covered - naval administration, ship types and shipbuilding, naval recruitment and crews, seamanship and gunnery, shipboard life, dockyards and bases, the foreign navies of the period, and the three major wars which were fought against the Dutch in the Channel and the North Sea. Samuel Pepys, whose thirty years of service did so much to replace the ad hoc processes of the past with systems for construction and administration, is one of the most significant players, and the navy which was, by 1690, ready for the 100 years of global struggle with the French owed much to his tireless work.This is a hugely significant book for historians, naval enthusiasts and for all those with an interest in Pepys and this colourful era of the seventeenth century, and a new affordable paperback edition will be widely welcomed.

The ancient evidence suggests that international commerce supplied Roman government with up to a third of the revenues that sustained their empire. In ancient times large fleets of Roman merchant ships set sail from Egypt on voyages across the Indian Ocean. They sailed from Roman ports on the...  more

The ancient evidence suggests that international commerce supplied Roman government with up to a third of the revenues that sustained their empire. In ancient times large fleets of Roman merchant ships set sail from Egypt on voyages across the Indian Ocean. They sailed from Roman ports on the Red Sea to distant kingdoms on the east coast of Africa and the seaboard off southern Arabia. Many continued their voyages across the ocean to trade with the rich kingdoms of ancient India. Freighters from the Roman Empire left with bullion and returned with cargo holds filled with valuable trade goods, including exotic African products, Arabian incense and eastern spices. This book examines Roman commerce with Indian kingdoms from the Indus region to the Tamil lands. It investigates contacts between the Roman Empire and powerful African kingdoms, including the Nilotic regime that ruled Meroe and the rising Axumite Realm. Further chapters explore Roman dealings with the Arab kingdoms of south Arabia, including the Saba-Himyarites and the Hadramaut Regime, which sent caravans along the incense trail to the ancient rock-carved city of Petra. The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean is the first book to bring these subjects together in a single comprehensive study that reveals Rome?s impact on the ancient world and explains how international trade funded the Legions that maintained imperial rule. It offers a new international perspective on the Roman Empire and its legacy for modern society.

Scotland's maritime heritage is a highly significant one, embracing as it does a quite outstanding contribution to Britain's development both as an empire and as the world's leading maritime power in the nineteenth century. Scottish engineering, ship owning and operating, as well as business...  more

Scotland's maritime heritage is a highly significant one, embracing as it does a quite outstanding contribution to Britain's development both as an empire and as the world's leading maritime power in the nineteenth century. Scottish engineering, ship owning and operating, as well as business and entrepreneurial skills, played a major part in the success of the Merchant Navy, while Scottish emigrants took skills to every corner of the world, creating trade and wealth both abroad and at home. In terms of engineering, 'Clyde-built' was the Kite Mark for the shipbuilding industry the world over. Scottish shipowners included household names such as Allan, Anchor, Donaldson and Henderson, while Scotsmen were instrumental in founding and, for much of the time, managing Cunard, British India, P & O, Orient, Glen and many other 'English' companies. The author tells an exhilarating story of energy and inventiveness, describing the remarkable navigational skills of the highlanders and the technological and business skills of the lowlanders, and relates the early development of the steamship, the impact of emigration, the involvement with exploration and the development of trade routes, and the final flowering of the world's last great iron sailing ships. And the evidence is still here, in the Cutty Sark, the Denny test tank at Helensburgh, and the Burrel Collection at Pollock, all reminders of a remarkable story.

Prior histories of the first Spanish mariners to circumnavigate the globe in the sixteenth century have focused on Ferdinand Magellan and the other illustrious leaders of these daring expeditions. Harry Kelsey?s masterfully researched study is the first to concentrate on the hitherto anonymous...  more

Prior histories of the first Spanish mariners to circumnavigate the globe in the sixteenth century have focused on Ferdinand Magellan and the other illustrious leaders of these daring expeditions. Harry Kelsey?s masterfully researched study is the first to concentrate on the hitherto anonymous sailors, slaves, adventurers, and soldiers who manned the ships. The author contends that these initial transglobal voyages occurred by chance, beginning with the launch of Magellan?s armada in 1519, when the crews dispatched by the king of Spain to claim the Spice Islands in the western Pacific were forced to seek a longer way home, resulting in bitter confrontations with rival Portuguese. Kelsey?s enthralling history, based on more than thirty years of research in European and American archives, offers fascinating stories of treachery, greed, murder, desertion, sickness, and starvation but also of courage, dogged persistence, leadership, and loyalty.

Lauded for his ability to tell compelling, true adventure stories, award-winning author Andrew C.A. Jampoler has turned his attention this time to a young American naval officer on a mission up the Congo River in May 1885. Lt. Emory Taunt was ordered to explore as much of the river as possible...  more

Lauded for his ability to tell compelling, true adventure stories, award-winning author Andrew C.A. Jampoler has turned his attention this time to a young American naval officer on a mission up the Congo River in May 1885. Lt. Emory Taunt was ordered to explore as much of the river as possible and report on opportunities for Americans in the potentially rich African marketplace. A little more than five years later, Taunt, 39, was buried near the place he had first come ashore in Africa. His personal demons and the Congo's lethal fevers had killed him. In 2011, to better understand what happened, Jampoler retraced Taunt's expedition in an outboard motorboat. Striking photographs from the author's trip are included to lend a visual dimension to the original journey. Readers join Taunt in his exploration of some 1400 miles of river and follow him on two additional assignments. A commercial venture to collect elephant ivory in the river's great basin and an appointment as the U.S. State Department's first resident diplomat in Boma, capital of King Leopold II's Congo Free State, are filled with promise. But instead of becoming rich and famous, he died alone, bankrupt, and disgraced. Jampoler's account of what went so dreadfully wrong is both thrilling and tragic. He provides not only a fascinating look at Taunt's brief and extraordinary life, but also a glimpse of the role the United States played in the birth of the Congo nation, and the increasingly awkward position Washington found itself as stories of atrocities against the natives began to leak out.

Young, beautiful, and connected by blood to the most powerful families in England, Bess Throckmorton had as much influence over Queen Elizabeth I as any woman in the realm—but she risked everything to marry the most charismatic man of the day. The secret marriage between Bess and the...  more

Young, beautiful, and connected by blood to the most powerful families in England, Bess Throckmorton had as much influence over Queen Elizabeth I as any woman in the realm—but she risked everything to marry the most charismatic man of the day. The secret marriage between Bess and the Queen’s beloved Sir Walter Ralegh cost both of them their fortunes, their freedom, and very nearly their lives. Yet it was Bess, resilient, passionate, and politically shrewd, who would live to restore their name and reclaim her political influence. In this dazzling biography, Bess Ralegh finally emerges from her husband’s shadow to stand as a complex, commanding figure in her own right.Writing with grace and drama, Anna Beer brings Bess to life as a woman, a wife and mother, an intimate friend of poets and courtiers, and a skilled political infighter in Europe’s most powerful and most dangerous court. The only daughter of an ambitious aristocratic family, Bess was thrust at a tender age into the very epicenter of royal power when her parents secured her the position of Elizabeth’s Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber. Bess proved to be a natural player on this stage of extravagant mythmaking and covert sexual politics, until she fell in love with the Queen’s Captain of the Guard, the handsome, virile, meteorically rising Ralegh. But their secret marriage, swiftly followed by the birth of their son, would have grave consequences for both of them.Brooking the Queen’s wrath and her husband’s refusal to acknowledge their marriage, Bess brilliantly stage-managed her social and political rehabilitation and emerged from prison as the leader of a brilliant, fast-living aristocratic set. She survived personal tragedy, the ruinous global voyages launched by her husband, and the vicious plots of high-placed enemies. Though Raleigh in the end fell afoul of court intrigue, Bess lived on into the reign of James I as a woman of hard-won wisdom and formidable power.With compelling historical insight, Anna Beer recreates here the vibrant pageant of Elizabethan England—the brilliant wit and vicious betrayals, the new discoveries and old rivalries, the violence and fierce sexuality of life at court. Peopled by poets and princes, spanning the reigns of two monarchs, moving between the palaces of London and the manor house outside the capital, My Just Desire is the portrait of a remarkable woman who lived at the center of an extraordinary time.

Polar explorers were the superstars of the �heroic age? of exploration, a period spanning the Victorian and Edwardian eras. In this engaging book, author Kari Herbert explores the unpredictable, often heartbreaking lives of seven remarkable women who married world-famous polar explorers. As the...  more

Polar explorers were the superstars of the �heroic age? of exploration, a period spanning the Victorian and Edwardian eras. In this engaging book, author Kari Herbert explores the unpredictable, often heartbreaking lives of seven remarkable women who married world-famous polar explorers. As the daughter of a pioneering polar explorer, Herbert brings a unique perspective to these stories of polar exploration. In her portraits of the gifted sculptor Kathleen Scott; eccentric traveller Jane Franklin; spirited poet Eleanor Anne Franklin; Jo Peary, the first white woman to travel and give birth in the High Arctic; talented and determined Emily Shackleton; Norwegian singer Eva Nansen; and her own mother, adventurer Marie Herbert, Karie Herbert blends deeply personal accounts of longing, betrayal, and hope with stories of peril and adventure. Herbert illuminates the essential role the women played in supporting, publicizing, defending, and even financing their husbands? expeditions. She follows these �polar wives? not only to the polar wastelands but through war�torn Macedonia, the lawless outback of Australia, and the plague�-riddled ancient cities of the Holy Land. With extracts from previously unpublished historic journals and letters, Polar Wives brings together for the first time, the compelling stories of seven adventurous women

Carsten Jensen?s debut novel has taken the world by storm. Already hailed in Europe as an instant classic, We, the Drowned is the story of the port town of Marstal, whose inhabitants have sailed the world?s oceans aboard freight ships for centuries. Spanning over a hundred years, from the...  more

Carsten Jensen?s debut novel has taken the world by storm. Already hailed in Europe as an instant classic, We, the Drowned is the story of the port town of Marstal, whose inhabitants have sailed the world?s oceans aboard freight ships for centuries. Spanning over a hundred years, from the mid-nineteenth century to the end of the Second World War, and from the barren rocks of Newfoundland to the lush plantations of Samoa, from the roughest bars in Tasmania, to the frozen coasts of northern Russia, We, the Drowned spins a magnificent tale of love, war, and adventure, a tale of the men who go to sea and the women they leave behind. Ships are wrecked at sea and blown up during wars, they are places of terror and violence, yet they continue to lure each generation of Marstal men?fathers and sons?away. Strong, resilient, women raise families alone and sometimes take history into their own hands. There are cannibals here, shrunken heads, prophetic dreams, forbidden passions, cowards, heroes, devastating tragedies, and miraculous survivals?everything that a town like Marstal has actually experienced, and that makes We, the Drowned an unforgettable novel, destined to take its place among the greatest seafaring literature.

For thousands of years, pirates have terrorized the ocean voyager and the coastal inhabitant, plundered ship and shore, and wrought havoc on the lives and livelihoods of rich and poor alike. Around these desperate men has grown a body of myths and legends�fascinating tales that today strongly...  more

For thousands of years, pirates have terrorized the ocean voyager and the coastal inhabitant, plundered ship and shore, and wrought havoc on the lives and livelihoods of rich and poor alike. Around these desperate men has grown a body of myths and legends�fascinating tales that today strongly influence our notions of pirates and piracy. Most of these myths derive from the pirates of the �Golden Age,? from roughly 1655 to 1725. This was the age of the Spanish Main, of Henry Morgan and Blackbeard, of Bartholomew Sharp and Bartholomew Roberts. The history of pirate myth is rich in action, at sea and ashore. However, the truth is far more interesting. In The Golden Age of Piracy, expert pirate historian Benerson Little debunks more than a dozen pirate myths that derive from this era�from the flying of the Jolly Roger to the burying of treasure, from walking the plank to the staging of epic sea battles�and shows that the truth is far more fascinating and disturbing than the romanticized legends. Among Little?s revelations are that pirates of the Golden Age never made their captives walk the plank and that they, instead, were subject to horrendous torture, such as being burned or hung by their arms. Likewise, epic sea battles involving pirates were fairly rare because most prey surrendered immediately. The stories are real and are drawn heavily from primary sources. Complementing them are colorful images of flags, ships, and buccaneers based on eyewitness accounts. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

A story of tragedy at sea where every desperate act meant life or death The small ship making the Liverpool-to-New York trip in the early months of 1856 carried mail, crates of dry goods, and more than one hundred passengers, mostly Irish emigrants. Suddenly an iceberg tore the ship asunder and...  more

A story of tragedy at sea where every desperate act meant life or death The small ship making the Liverpool-to-New York trip in the early months of 1856 carried mail, crates of dry goods, and more than one hundred passengers, mostly Irish emigrants. Suddenly an iceberg tore the ship asunder and five lifeboats were lowered. As four lifeboats drifted into the fog and icy water, never to be heard from again, the last boat wrenched away from the sinking ship with a few blankets, some water and biscuits, and thirteen souls. Only one would survive. This is his story. As they started their nine days adrift more than four hundred miles off Newfoundland, the castaways--an Irish couple and their two boys, an English woman and her daughter, newlyweds from Ireland, and several crewmen, including Thomas W. Nye from Fairhaven, Massachusetts--began fighting over food and water. One by one, though, day by day, they died. Some from exposure, others from madness and panic. In the end, only Nye and the ship's log survived. Using Nye's firsthand descriptions and later newspaper accounts, ship's logs, assorted diaries, and family archives, Brian Murphy chronicles the horrific nine days that thirteen people suffered adrift on the cold gray Atlantic. Adrift brings readers to the edge of human limits, where every frantic decision and desperate act is a potential life saver or life taker.

James Weddell (1787-1834) a self-taught navigator, started his sailing career aged 9 and later led several voyages towards the Antarctic. This book, first published in 1825, is his account of the voyage of the Jane, which went on a sealing trip to the Falklands and beyond, but turned back before...  more

James Weddell (1787-1834) a self-taught navigator, started his sailing career aged 9 and later led several voyages towards the Antarctic. This book, first published in 1825, is his account of the voyage of the Jane, which went on a sealing trip to the Falklands and beyond, but turned back before reaching Antarctica itself. It features detailed scientific measurements, careful observations of wildlife, and descriptions of the islands and coasts visited by the expedition, including an important early account of the South Shetlands. It also provides first hand insight into the hardships of a long and perilous voyage. Weddell speaks warmly of the Jane's crew, who withstood frostbite, reduced rations and frequent danger from icebergs. He also reports encounters with other ships, mutiny, scurvy and even the alleged sighting of a mermaid. His thoughtful approach to his mission makes this fascinating exploration narrative an especially valuable historical source.

During the nineteenth century it became increasingly common for merchant service masters to take their wives to sea. Among the first, and most accomplished literature about this subject, is Abby Jane Morrell's account of a voyage between 1829 and 1831 that took her from New England to the South...  more

During the nineteenth century it became increasingly common for merchant service masters to take their wives to sea. Among the first, and most accomplished literature about this subject, is Abby Jane Morrell's account of a voyage between 1829 and 1831 that took her from New England to the South Pacific. Apart from the descriptions of exotic places, much of the interest in this book is the traditional, centuries-old world of the sailor as seen through the eyes of a thoughtful and well-educated woman.

For nearly two hundred years huge wooden warships called “ships of the line” dominated war at sea and were thus instrumental in the European struggle for power and the spread of imperialism. Foremost among the great naval powers were Great Britain and France, whose advanced economies could...  more

For nearly two hundred years huge wooden warships called “ships of the line” dominated war at sea and were thus instrumental in the European struggle for power and the spread of imperialism. Foremost among the great naval powers were Great Britain and France, whose advanced economies could support large numbers of these expensive ships. This book, the first joint history of these great navies, offers a uniquely impartial and comprehensive picture of the two forces—their shipbuilding programs, naval campaigns, and battles, and their wartime strategies and diplomacy. Jonathan R. Dull is the author of two award-winning histories of the French navy. Bringing to bear years of study of war and diplomacy, his book conveys the fine details and the high drama of the age of grand and decisive naval conflict. Dull delves into the seven wars that Great Britain and France, often in alliance with lesser naval powers such as Spain and the Netherlands, fought between 1688 and 1815. Viewing war as most statesmen of the time saw it—as a contest of endurance—he also treats the tragic side of the Franco-British wars, which shattered the greater security and prosperity the two powers enjoyed during their brief period as allies. (20090923)

A biography of Francis Crozier whose 19th century search for the Northwest Passage lead him on a deadly expedition with Captain Franklin that ended in disaster.