Nowhere in the world is it possible to see such an intact naval dockyard for the building and maintenance of the ships of the sailing navy as at Chatham. This book, edited by Neil Cossons, Jonathan Coad, Andrew Lambert, Paul Hudson and Paul Jardine - all experts in their fields - brings together their combined knowledge to tell the dockyard's history, from Elizabethan origins to fleet base and shipbuilding yard, from sail to steel to submarines. They set out the extraordinary scale of the legacy and the challenges of the future once the yard closed in the 1980s. This is a story of the creation of the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust and the management of an outstanding historic asset for the benefit of the public. Profusely illustrated, it is the first authoritative account of how Chatham's dockyard was saved for the nation and managed for nearly forty years to exemplary standards.

Founded in 1570, Chatham Dockyard quickly became one of the most important naval yards for the repair and building of warships, maintaining a pre-eminent position for the next 400 years. Located on the River Medway, in all, the yard was responsible for the construction of over 500 warships, these ranging from simple naval pinnaces through to first-rates that fought at Trafalgar, and concluding with the hunter-killer submarines of the nuclear age. In this detailed new history of the yard from experienced local and maritime author Philip MacDougall, particular attention is given to the final two hundred years of the yard's history, the artisans and labourers who worked there and the changing methods used in the construction of some of the finest warships to enter naval service. Coinciding with the dockyard's seeking status as a World Heritage site, this fascinating history places Chatham firmly in its overall historical context.

Based on extensive research, The Naval History of Wales tells a compelling story that spans nearly 2,000 years, from the Romans to the present. Many Welsh men and women have served in the Royal Navy and the navies of other countries. Welshmen played major parts in voyages of exploration, in the navy's suppression of the slave trade, and in naval warfare from the Viking era to the Spanish Armada, in the American Civil War, both world wars and the Falklands War. Comprehensive, enlightening, and provocative, The Naval History of Wales also explodes many myths about Welsh history, naval historian J.D. Davies arguing that most Welshmen in the sailing navy were volunteers and that, relative to the size of national populations, proportionately more Welsh seamen than English fought at Trafalgar. Written in vivid detail, this volume is one that no maritime or Welsh historian can do without.

Merab Eliza Hartfield might be practically penniless amid all the elegance of Georgian Bath, but she certainly does not intend to submit to the outrageous conditions of her grandfather's will by marrying the rude and overbearing Rowland Sandiford.

A beautifully illustrated history of the early ship models of the Royal Navy that are prized today as works of art. From about the middle of the seventeenth century, the Royal Navy’s administrators began to commission models of their ships that were accurately detailed and, for the first time, systematically to scale. These developed a recognized style, which included features like the unplanked lower hull with a simplified pattern of framing that emphasized the shape of the underwater body. Exquisitely crafted, these were always rare and highly prized objects—indeed, Samuel Pepys expressed a profound desire to own one, and today they are widely regarded as the acme of the ship modeler’s art. Today, examples are the highlights of collections across the world, valued both as art objects and as potential historical evidence on matters of ship design. However, it was only recently that researchers began to investigate the circumstances of their construction, their function, and the identities of those who made them. This book, by two curators who have worked on the world’s largest collection of these models at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, summarizes the current state of knowledge, outlines important discoveries, and applies this newfound understanding to many of the finest models in the collection. As befits its subject, Navy Board Ship Models is visually striking, with numerous color photographs that make it as attractive as it is informative to anyone with an interest in modelmaking or historic ships.

The wives and female guests of commissioned officers often went to sea in the sailing ships of Britain’s Royal Navy in the 18th and 19th centuries, but there were other women on board as well, rarely mentioned in print. Suzanne Stark thoroughly investigates the custom of allowing prostitutes to live with the crews of warships in port. She provides some judicious answers to questions about what led so many women to such an appalling fate and why the Royal Navy unofficially condoned the practice. She also offers some revealing firsthand accounts of the wives of warrant officers and seamen who spent years at sea living—and fighting—beside their men without pay or even food rations, and of the women in male disguise who served as seamen or marines. This lively history draws on primary sources and so gives an authentic view of life on board the ships of Britain’s old sailing navy and the social context of the period that served to limit roles open to lower-class women.

AWARDED THE ANDERSON MEDAL 2020 Inspired by the recent discovery of mathematically calculated digital plans for a fourth-rate ship by the Deptford master shipwright, John Shish, The Master Shipwright's Secrets is an illustrated history of Restoration shipbuilding focused on the Tyger, one of the smaller but powerful two-deck warships of the period. It examines the proceedings of King Charles II in deciding the types of ship he wanted and his relationship with his master shipwrights. This fascinating book reveals the many secrets of Charles II's shipwrights through an analysis of John Shish's plans for the Tyger, revealing innovative practical calculations which differ significantly from the few contemporary treatises on the subject and the complicated process of constructing the moulds necessary to make the ship's frame. All the other duties performed by the master shipwrights, such as repairing ships, controlling their men and keeping up with the latest inventions are also discussed in detail. The Master Shipwright's Secrets is replete with beautiful and detailed illustrations of the construction of the Tyger and explores both its complicated history and its complex rebuilding, complete with deck plans, internal sections, and large-scale external shaded drawings. The title also explores associated ships, including another fourth-rate ship, the Mordaunt, which was purchased into the Navy at the time and underwent a dimensional survey by John Shish. A rare contemporary section drawing of another fourth-rate English ship and constructional drawings of Shish's later fourth-rate ship, St Albans, are also included.

By the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the seven home dockyards of the British Royal Navy employed a workforce of nearly 16,000 men and some women. From 1815-1865 the make-up of those workforces changed with metal working skills replacing wood working skills as dockyards fully harnessed the use of steam and made the conversion from constructing ships of timber to those of iron. The impact on industrial relations and on the environment of the yards was enormous.Concentrating on the naval yard at Chatham, the book examines how the day-to-day running of a major centre of industrial production changed during this period of transition.