Some Goode Bookes, Reviewed

I have been acquiring bookes for mine own research, and I thought I would take a moment herein to review them for the Edification of the Guild and whomever may read this.

greendot.gif (987 bytes)Founded upon the Seas : A Narrative of Some English Maritime and Overseas Enterprises
greendot.gif (987 bytes)A Regiment for the Sea and Other Writings on Navigation
greendot.gif (987 bytes)The Book of Old Ships : From Egyptian Galleys to Clipper Ships
greendot.gif (987 bytes)The Rigging of Ships in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast 1600-1720
greendot.gif (987 bytes)The Complete Rigger's Apprentice : Tools and Techniques for Modern and Traditional Rigging
greendot.gif (987 bytes)Latitude Hooks and Azimuth Rings: How to Build and Use 18 Traditional Navigational Instruments
greendot.gif (987 bytes)The Marlinspike Sailor
greendot.gif (987 bytes)Spain's Men of the Sea : Daily Life on the Indies Fleets in the Sixteenth Century
greendot.gif (987 bytes)The Voyages and works of John Davis, the navigator
greendot.gif (987 bytes)Discovery : Exploration through the Centuries
greendot.gif (987 bytes)The Rutters of the Sea; The sailing directions of Pierre Garcie
greendot.gif (987 bytes)Ships' Bilge Pumps : A History of Their Development, 1500-1900
greendot.gif (987 bytes)The Adventure of Sail
greendot.gif (987 bytes)Man of War: A History of the Combat Vessel


The Reviews:

Title: Founded upon the Seas : A Narrative of Some English Maritime and Overseas Enterprises During the Period 1550 to 1616
Author: Walter Oakeshott
Publisher: Ayer Co
ISBN: 0836972333
Availability: Out of print, but I got a copy from Amazon's OOP search engine
URL: Amazon Book Search - Founded Upon the Seas
Review:   grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)
This is an excellent beginner's book, with some wonderful stories of some of the Early English Naval operations, covering many aspects the Armada, and that wars in the Indies. I regard the title as being somewhat misleading, since there aren't as much original quotations of text as one would think from the title. It is therefore not a good "Source book", but, overall, not too bad a resource to get a good general idea of the historical events that occurred in this time frame, regarding English Naval history. Especially useful is the author's ability to faithfully paint the complicated political landscape of Elizabethan England. Get this book as a starting point for researching this very fascinating period of British history.

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Title: A Regiment for the Sea and Other Writings on Navigation by William Borne of Gronesend, a Gunner (Hakluyt Society Works Ser .: No 2 Vol 121)
Author: E. G. R. Taylor (Editor)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0811504077
Availability: Out of print for 38 years! But I got one through the Used book searcher at Amazon.
URL: Available, Possibly, at Amazon.com
Review: grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)
Outstanding!!
This actually a reprinting (with intelligent and well founded commentary before each facsimile) of three workes by Bourne published by the Haklyut society (An English society dedicated to not letting nautical writings become lost for ever):
the "Almanack and Prognostications for Three Yeeres", Published in 1571, and including the "Rules of Navigation"the "Regiment for the Sea", published in 1574, and expanede in 1580 (the compiler wisely includes the full text of the First publication and then appends only the additional information form the 1580 edition) , which is a gold mine of information on period cosmology, Period navigational techniques, the use of period instruments, and lots of other stuff, including how to derive the tides form the phases and declinations of the moon.and the "Almanack and Prognostications for .X. Yeeres", published in 1581, shortly before his death which is also useful fo rthe including of one of the earliest printed tables of solar declinations for each day in the whole calendar, with times for the suns rising and setting, a table most useful to sailors, as you can bet. Added for good measure is an excerpt of some tables from a work by John Dee, called the Canon Gubernauticus.
A good book to have for reference for anybody interested in the artes of the navigator, though it may be hard to follow, if the reader is not familiar with the early modern English writing and language conventions. It is not impossible to figure out, though since the language is very close to modern. Also a problem with bournes writings are the ways he concatenated formula after formula in his work, which make it necessary to read this with a heavy investment of attention, which also makes for very tiring reading.

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0486273326.01.MZZZZZZZ.gif (8257 bytes) Title: The Book of Old Ships : From Egyptian Galleys to Clipper Ships (Dover Pictorial Archive)
Author: by Henry B. Culver, Gordon Grant (Illustrator)
Publisher: Dover Pubns
ISBN: 0486273326
Availability: In Print
URL: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0486273326/
Review: grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)
A bunch of contemporary line drawings (one per ship) with a relatively laymanic description of the ship type loaded with sweeping generalizations, and not a few inaccuracies. For instance, the entire Medieval period after the Viking period is labled "the Medieval Ship", and a the illustration is an early hulk. The entire Hanseatic League, and all the Mediterranean, is utterly ignored! 

The pictures, however are rather well done, and show some attention to rigging details. 

This book also has a number of interesting side illustrations, such as a very good illustration of a whipstaff in use.  Marginally worth the money. see if you can find it in a used bookstore first.

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Title: The Rigging of Ships in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast 1600-1720
Author: R. C. Anderson
Publisher: Dover Pubns
ISBN: 048627960X
Availability: In Print!!
URL: At amazon.com
Review: grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)
Loved it.
This is book is a wealth of information on the construction of ships from just after period.
Formatted and written primarily for ship moddelers, the author gives a wealth of information from period engravings, construction notes and other sources, which served me as the primary valuation of this book. Things like the thature and shape of mastheads, the evolution of jeers, the placement and angles of masts, chains, and other hardware, as well as the reeving and arrangement of elements of standing and running Rigging. Since the rigging elements are handled piecemeal, the learning these ropes are never overwhelming. Also given are rigging plans with identifying keys from several engravings. A Fabulous book to have in ones library.

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0070648409.01.MZZZZZZZ.gif (14364 bytes) Title: The Complete Rigger's Apprentice : Tools and Techniques for Modern and Traditional Rigging
Author: by Brion Toss, Des Pawson, Larry Pardey
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
ISBN: 0070648409
Availability: In Print
URL: At Amazon
Review: grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)
This is an eminently worthwhile book on actual rigging techniques and methods, writen by one of the formost riggers of our age.
Use this book to learn how to actually MAKE what you learnt to layout in other books.
Brian Toss is a veritable GOD of rigging. Read this book.
You wont regret it
A "must have"

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0070211205.01.MZZZZZZZ.gif (12495 bytes) Title: Latitude Hooks and Azimuth Rings: How to Build and Use 18 Traditional Navigational Instruments
Author: Dennis Fisher
Publisher:
ISBN: 0070211205
Availability: in Print
URL: At amazon
Review: grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)
A most excellent book, and well worth the investment, if you have any interest in the basics and principles of Nautical Instrumentation.
The reproductions are designed first and formost to work and work correctly. Several of the instruments you will make with this book will differ slightly in form and material but not in function from period instruments, so, if you are going to uase this book to learn about these instruments, this is an excellent book. If, however you are intrested in reproducing actual period instruments, this book is a great starting point, but it is not enough and it is not to be considered adequate documentation for an A&S project.

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0070592187.01.MZZZZZZZ.gif (15863 bytes) Title: The Marlinspike Sailor
Author: Harvey Garrett Smith
Publisher: International Marine Publishing
ISBN: 0070592187
Availability: In Print
URL: At Amazon.com
Review: grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)
Very vell illustrated and with easy to follow directions, this book is a great source for a sampling of Knots and Ropecraft. What this booke lacks in Depth of coverage it more than makes up for in accessablilty. I frequently find myself referring to this book to clarify the instructions in other books.
Get it, it is worth the price, by a long shot.

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Title: Spain's Men of the Sea : Daily Life on the Indies Fleets in the Sixteenth Century
Author: Pablo E. Perez-Mallaina, Carla Rahn Phillips, Translator
Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr
ISBN: 0801857465
Availability: In Print
URL: At amazon.com
Review: grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)
A fabulous source book
This book contains TONS of information on many topics reagrding the everyday life of Sailors in the Sixteenth century, from clothing to contraband to payment to punishment.  
The more I read it, the more stuff I find.
>>HIGHLY recommended<<.

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Title: The Voyages and works of John Davis, the navigator
Author: A.H. Markham
Publisher:
ISBN:
Availability: Way WAY out of print
URL: At the amazon.com used book searcher
Review: grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)
Originally Published by the Hakluyt Society of Cambridge in 1880, and this, like all of their books, is a paragon of scholarship and well founded research.
An excellent book, containing an extrordinary amount of original text, much of it by John Davis's own hand. A significant amount is drawn from ships logs and final reports of John Davis's many voyages,  to the East Indies, and his several attempts at the Northwest passage.
These logs and stories are truly fascinating reading. I read the entire book in just a couple of days. I could not put it down. Just extraordinary.
Includes "The worldes hydrographical Discription" (1595), "The seamans secrets" (1607), a list of works on navigation available before and during the reign of Elizabeth, and her letters patent to Adrian Gilbert and others for the exploration of a North-West Passage.

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Title: Discovery : Exploration through the Centuries
Author: Eric Flaum
Publisher: Published 1990 by Gallery Books
ISBN: 0831723815
Availability: out of print - -I got mine from a tag sale
URL: available through Amazon.com Used book searcher
Review: grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)
A terrific "Coffee Table" book, very large, and lavishly illustrated.
If your loved ones ever question why you are building an armillary sphere in your basement, and a hand copying a 16th century rutter, and have the skeleton of a miniature galleon in your back yard, give them this book to leaf through, and see if they don't join you!! This book comes closest to capturing the excitement of simple discovery of terra incognita, and the overall force of history that drives exploration. Other books may better capture the hot and close engagements of the battles at sea, but this book really captures the reasons man decided to sail over the "rim of the world"
I loved it.

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Title: The Rutters of the Sea; The sailing directions of Pierre Garcie
Author: Dee Waters
Publisher: Yale University Press 1967
ISBN: ???
Availability: ???
URL: ???
Review: grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)
Found it in the Stratford Library the other night, and still picking my way through it!
Primary Documentation is so hard to come by for our work, so when I found this in the library the other night, I had to restrain myself from whooping out loud!!
Here are actual photostats of original printed rutters from the early 1500's! Along with useful commentary and insight from a noted Maritime Historian.
Alas, most of the rutters are in French, but a few are in early modern English.
(I'll need to pick my way through these carefully, the language and typfaces are very difficult, so a transcription and translation may be very slow in forthcoming, but, I'll try to essay it, for the sake of the Guild)

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Title: Ships' Bilge Pumps : A History of Their Development, 1500-1900 (Studies in Nautical Archaeology, No 2)
Author: Thomas J. Oertling
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 0890967229
Availability: in print
URL: available from Amazon.
Review: grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)
A nice little monograph on perhaps the most necessary ( excepting the hull ) and most overlooked part of any ship.
"All Wooden Ships Leak" begins the text...
The author details construction, types and historical examples of pumps, along with the dangers arising from or around the operation of them. the author uses lots of examples from shipwrecks of period craft, and delineates when the major developments occurred. this is a good book for documetation for an A&S Entry of a pump or pump housing, or some similar project

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Title: The Adventure of Sail
Author: Captain Donald Macintyre, RN
Publisher: Ferndale Editions, London - 1979
ISBN: ???
Availability: Available from the Barns & Noble OOP Searcher
URL:
Review: grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)
A huge, beautiful book loaded with reprinted texts and tons of illustrations from many period sources and I can't say enough about it!
If you can get this, get it.

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Title: Man of War: A History of the Combat Vessel
Author: Captain Donald Macintyre, RN
Publisher: Tre Trycare, Sweden - 1971
ISBN: ??
Availability: I could only find this in the library, though it may be possible to find it in a used book store.
BN has several in the OOP/Used books
It'll be a bargain if you find for less than $60 US...
URL:
Review: grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)grnball.gif (965 bytes)
An extraordinary book, loaded with great text and wonderful illustrations, and some reconstructions of Warships through the years.
The two main areas of concentration by the author seem to be Classical and Post-Napoleonic, with Medieval and Rennaissance ships given a fairly light treatment ( a light treatment by this author is still an extrardinary discussion, with all sorts of great details, like tables of ordinance form several eras, and even an early 18th century cannon firing drill. This book is definitely worth looking for.

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