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Drawing on an impressive range of archival material, this monograph delves into the careers of two businessmen who worked for Nordic chartered monopoly trading companies to illuminate individual entrepreneurship in the context of seventeenth-century long-distance trade. The study spans the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, examining global entanglements through personal interactions and daily trading activities between Europeans, Asian merchants and African brokers. It makes an important contributi...

The second half of the eighteenth century saw dramatic improvements in the health of the Royal Navy and, as a result, an enhanced capacity to fight and to successfully impose tight blockades. The menace of scurvy was tamed through improved diet and the use of citrus juice; and smallpox stopped in its tracks by a prompt programme of vaccination following the findings of Edward Jenner. The causes of typhus and malaria remained a mystery, but strides were made in containing these diseases by develo...

Lighthouses have always unsettled and attracted in equal measure, highlighting the triumphs and failures in humanity's battle with the forces of nature. Taking as its heroes the lighthouses themselves, Sentinels of the Sea describes the engineering genius that allowed their construction on even the smallest of rock outcrops and the innovations that made the lights so powerful and reliable. Intricate, elegant architectural plans and elevations, and evocative period drawings and photographs show...

The image of the pirate never fails to capture the imagination. The cut-throat sea robbers of history who plundered richly laden merchant ships are legendary. The likes of Blackbeard, Captain Kidd and Henry Morgan are romanticised and celebrated in popular culture. But fiction has taken the place of fact. Piracy was more brutal and rebellious than some of the best artistic depictions let on and in reality, few know the truth about this ruthless trade. What is the difference between a buccaneer...

"In the first-ever Seven Seas history of the world's female buccaneers, Pirate Women : The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas tells the story of women, both real and legendary, who through the ages sailed alongside--and sometimes in command of--their male counterparts. These women came from all walks of life but had one thing in common: a desire for freedom. History has largely ignored these female swashbucklers, until now. Here are their stories, from ancient Norse...

With its incessant fogs and infamously craggy coast, Maine has long been a bane of mariners. Scores of vessels and countless lives have been lost on its rocky shores. Taryn Plumb explores the tragic history of shipwrecks in Maine, focusing on a dozen or so of the most interesting and weaving in tales of pirates, lost treasure, violent storms, and other disasters. Maine's role in shipbuilding is legendary, and the history of vessels meeting their demise here is equally compelling.

A meticulously researched account of how the US Navy evolved between the War of 1812 and the Civil War. The 1830s is an overlooked period in American naval history and is usually overshadowed by the more dramatic War of 1812 and the Civil War. Nevertheless, the personnel, operations, technologies, policies, and vision of the Navy of that era, which was emerging from the “Age of Sail,” are important components of its evolution, setting it on the long path to its status as a global maritime power...

A selection from the papers of the commander in chief of the Mediterranean station, Sir Edward Codrington, which shows the British government’s determined policy following on from the bombardment of Algiers to try to end attacks on trade in that sea. The target on this occasion was ‘privateers’ operating out of the impoverished Aegean islands whose inhabitants had long used these methods to sustain their economies and who were exploiting the opportunities created by the Greek war of independenc...

The first modern study of the process of naval provisioning Explodes many myths about shipboard food and drink Written with the general reader in mind The prevailing image of food at sea in the age of sail features rotting meat and weevily biscuits, but this highly original book proves beyond doubt that this was never the norm. Building on much recent research Janet Macdonald shows how the sailor's official diet was better than he was likely to enjoy ashore, and of ample calorific value for hi...

_What Ship, Where Bound?_ takes its title from the familiar opening exchange of signals between passing ships, and celebrates the long history of visual communications at sea. It traces the visual language of signalling from the earliest naval banners or streamers used by the Byzantines in AD 900 through to morse signalling still used at sea today. The three sections, Flag Signalling, Semaphore, and Light Signalling each trace the development of the respective methods in meeting the needs of co...

Nor'easters, blizzards, and hurricanes. Spanish galleons, German U-boats, and presidential yachts. Pirates and privateers. The ephemeral and deadly nature of islands, dunes, inlets, and shoals. The history of the Delmarva Peninsula's Atlantic coast is rich with tales of fantasy and adventure, heroism and tragedy, greed and charity. Claiming more than 2,300 vessels since 1632, it rivals North Carolina's Outer Banks for the infamous title "The Graveyard of the Atlantic." Maritime historian Donald...

Surviving the "Essex" tells the captivating story of a ship's crew battered by whale attack, broken by four months at sea, and forced-out of necessity-to make meals of their fellow survivors. Exploring the Rashomon-like Essex accounts that complicate and even contradict first mate Owen Chase's narrative, David O. Dowling examines the vital role of point of view in shaping how an event is remembered and delves into the ordeal's submerged history-the survivors' lives, ambitions, and motives, thei...

The mass market edition of the New York Times Bestseller. This is the little-known story of how a newly independent nation was challenged by four Muslim powers and what happened when America's third president decided to stand up to intimidation.   When Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801, America was deeply in debt and needed its economy to grow quickly, but its merchant ships were under attack. Pirates from North Africa routinely captured American sailors and held them as slaves, demand...

"A riveting, terrifying, thrilling story of a netherworld that few people know about, and fewer will ever see . . . The soul of this book is as wild as the ocean itself." --Susan Casey, best-selling author of The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean An adrenaline-fueled tour of a vast, lawless and rampantly criminal world that few have ever seen: the high seas. There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. But perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the wo...

To mark the 300th anniversary of the publication of Robinson Crusoe, this book looks at some of the stories which inspired Daniel Defoe - stories of bravery, courage, determination and good fortune. It looks at Defoe's life and the monumental success of his novel - sometimes described as being the first in the English language. It also considers some of the reasons why people found themselves cast away - as a result of being wrecked, by being abandoned as a punishment, marooned by pirates - or e...

Winner of the Mountbatten Award for Best Book, 2018David Mearns has discovered some of the world's most fascinating and elusive shipwrecks. From the mighty battlecruiser HMS Hood to the crumbling wooden skeletons of Vasco da Gama's 16th century fleet, David has searched for and found dozens of sunken vessels in every ocean of the world.The Shipwreck Hunter is an account of David's most intriguing and fascinating finds. It details both the meticulous research and the mid-ocean stamina and courage...