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Home , Deptford Dockyard, National Historic Fleet

TopmastsAugust 2012 No. 3 The Quarterly Newsletter of The Society for Nautical Research

Chairman’s Column in 1911, as well as tracking down previous The 2012 Victory Medal owners and surviving descendants from the builder’s family from whom he could acquire When the late Austin Farrar conceived the idea direct knowledge, documentary and pictorial of the Society’s Victory Medal in the 1990s it information. He also spent many hours with was intended as recognition of the contribution the descendants of Lewis Alexander (the pilot that individual members of the who commissioned Kindly Light), learning Dockyard staff had made to the continuing about her working life and the way she would restoration and conservation work on HMS have been handled. Victory. In the Society’s centenary year Malcolm’s attention to detail has ensured Council decided that the terms for the award complete authenticity in the project, with of the medal would be altered so that it could Kindly Light now painted in her original build recognise the skilled and invaluable work that colour scheme, original accommodation layout, people put into the conservation of other ships, and pilot deck fittings, incorporating great and small. The winner of the Victory parts traced from other vessels or replicated Medal this year was Malcolm Mckeand and the from surviving drawings or descriptions. medal was presented to Malcolm immediately Malcolm also took the challenging decision not prior to our dinner on board HMS Victory to install an engine so that the vessel will be following the AGM on the 16 June. operated completely traditionally. The lack of A piano engineer who travels the world an engine places great demands on both crew caring for concert pianos in major concert and skipper, especially when manoeuvring halls and opera houses, Malcolm has dedicated in confined waters or sailing in difficult 18 years of his life to masterminding the conditions, but is the only way to achieve a real reconstruction of the Channel Pilot understanding of the qualities and handling Cutter Kindly Light. He funded the work characteristics of these striking vessels. solely through his own earnings with no Kindly Light is a National Historic Fleet external grant aid. After considerable and vessel and was considered to be the fastest rigorous enquiries, he identified in and most successful of the one hundred and Falmouth as the best place to locate the project, sixty or so pilot cutters working in the Bristol under the skilled craftsmanship of boat builders Channel immediately prior to the First World David Walkey. However, with Malcolm’s War. She was re-launched in October 2011 and job based in and the rebuild budget a dedication ceremony was held to mark the dependant on his earnings, he spent much of occasion of her 100th birthday at the National the 18 years travelling back and forth between Maritime Museum . the two places. Malcolm has demonstrated a consummate In order to achieve the highest possible level passion for this type of vessel, and for of authenticity Malcolm carried out extensive promoting a real understanding and and dedicated research into Kindly Light’s appreciation of them in a wider context. He was history, visiting where she was built instrumental in setting up the Bristol Channel

Title image: ‘Sixty Degrees South’ by John Everett (BHC2451) © , , UK ISSN 2049-6796

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Pilot Cutters Association and has created an On the subject of , Helena Russell invaluable archive of all associated material has contributed an article on progress towards from his own research. In an age when there are the restoration of Deptford’s former Royal enormous pressures, Malcolm has been rock Dockyard and the warship Lenox. In a later steady in holding to the challenging standards issue, there will be a report on the launch of he set for himself in this project. By doing so he the restored Hermione (the boat project which has given the opportunity for the boatbuilding inspired the Lenox) which was launched last fraternity to experience at first hand the weekend in the French town of La Rochelle. extensive reconstruction of a Bristol Channel Last, may I commend to you, the calendar and pilot cutter to original specifications, thereby Christmas card from the National Museum of extending both national knowledge and skills. the , details of which are shown later in this issue. As always they are excellent value Admiral Sir Kenneth Eaton and there is a discount for SNR members. If you have any information that would be Editorial of interest to other members, please send it to me by email with any photographs and text to It was a pleasure to catch up with so many [email protected] members at the AGM and to hear the reports of the various sub-committees. Barry Coombs The new look digital newsletter Topmasts has received a compliment from Randy Mafit News who is the North American Secretary of the Caird Library 1805 Club and co-editor of Kedge Anchor, their splendid quarterly magazine. He writes to say Eleanor Gawne, head of archive and library at ‘Congratulations on the new electronic format the Royal Museums Greenwich, has written to for the SNR newsletter. VERY nice looking and say that the Caird Library will be closed from with all of its advantages over the print edition. Monday 2 July to Tuesday 4 September 2012 We are considering similar delivery of The inclusive owing to the preparations and hosting Kedge Anchor in an electronic version for all the of the London 2012 Olympic Games Equestrian reasons you outlined in issue no. 1 of Topmasts. and Modern Pentathlon events. For further It also makes SNR developments and news more information, please see the notice on the website accessible.’ at http://www.rmg.co.uk/researchers/library/ Please note that this issue contains visiting/caird-library-temporary-closure-due- information on the closure of the Caird Library to-olympics. The archive and library staff and restricted hours at the National Maritime apologize for the inconvenience caused to users; Museum during the Olympics. The SNR they will be using the closure period to re-house website also carries information on these topics. offsite collections to bring them onsite, and to During the games the NMM link is http:// reorganize stores to make future retrievals more www.rmg.co.uk/visit/latest-info/london-2012- efficient. olympic-games/ for up-to-date news. Flinders Bi-Centenary The is now open on Mondays as well as Tuesdays to Sundays from 10.00 to Peter Ashley reports that there have been no 17.00 as previously announced. There was a further developments on his venture to have very interesting exhibition table on the Cutty some sort of plaque/stone erected in London Sark restoration at the AGM provided by to mark the death of Matthew Flinders and Colin Burring, who is a freelance lecturer and a the publication of his work A Voyage to Terra specialist guide for the Cutty Sark, who really Australis in July 2014. Discussions are ongoing knows his stuff. If you would like to make use with the British Australia Society. Any further of his services, you can call him on 01322 220520 progress will be reported in later issues of or write to him at 8, Marcus Road, Deptford, Topmasts. DA1 3JX.

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Topmasts 3.indd 2 30/07/2012 12:56 Topmasts no. 3, August 2012. ‘The Boat Project’: Collective Spirit The (1545), Invincible (1758) and Victory (1765) Sail Again! Perhaps it is stretching a point to say that Mary Rose (1545), Invincible (1758) and Victory (1765) have sailed again at over 20 knots, but this has been achieved through participation in one of 12 art projects commissioned for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Over the past year at Thornham Marina at Emsworth, West Sussex, ‘The Boat Project’ built Collective Spirit from 1,221 pieces of donated wood. She was officially launched on Monday 7 May 2012 after carrying out sea trials off Hayling Island where she achieved a speed of over 20 knots. The 30-foot 2-tonne day boat was built to a twenty-first-century design using ‘ultra- light racing machine’ techniques. The planing hull was constructed from western red cedar strips using ‘edge-glued strip planking’ coated either side by a thin layer of glass fibre. Her lifting keel had a similar design to those used in the ocean-going Volvo ; and her sail configuration was designed with furling gears for the jib and mainsail for easy operation. To accommodate the 1,221 donated wood pieces, half were made into 10 mm veneers to cover the vessels sides while the remainder were crafted into the internal structure of the hull. Pieces of oak from Victory (1765) and Warrior (1860) were incorporated in the bottom of the boat increasing her displacement by a further 10 kg. To qualify, each piece of donated wood had to have an interesting or historical provenance. These provenances varied from a piece of 3–4,000-year-old Irish ‘bog’ wood to twentieth- century objects. Besides timber from Victory (1765) and Warrior (1860) already mentioned, pieces came from 146 other vessels including the Mary Rose (1545) and Invincible (1758). Other well-known vessels were: Sir Alec Rose’s Lively Lady, SS Great Britain, paddle steamer Medway Queen – who made seven crossings to the beaches at Dunkirk (1940) and rescued 7,000 troops – Sir Robin Knox-Johnson’s Suhaili that completed the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world in 1968–9, former Prime Minister Sir Ted Heath’s ill-fated yacht Morning Cloud III (after she foundered off Top, Caption required please Brighton a piece of wreckage came ashore with Below: Michael Austen’s photograph of Collective Spirit sailing half her name on it, Morning) and Peter Goss’s off Hayling Island

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revolutionary ‘wave piercing’ 120-foot, 70-foot beam racing catamaran Team Phillips that broke up in heavy seas. In all there were 63 known kinds of wood donated, each with their own fascinating stories. Away from the sea Lady Pippa Blake’s miniature carving of an Easter Island statue was one of her treasured possessions from a brief visit when sailing with her famous husband Sir Peter; and a piece of boxwood planted in 1166 AD. The one exception to wood came from outer space, namely a piece of metal from NASA’s Skylab. Launch of the Lenox built at Deptford for Charles II The donors’ stories can be found in the project’s book: The Lone Twin Boat Project, ISBN 978- owns the 16Ha site, submitted 0-9567592-2-1, price £24.99, which lists all an outline planning application for the site to the names of the 1,221 contributors and tells Lewisham Council last year. But the proposed the full story behind the idea to conceive this masterplan layout for the site made scant remarkable project. reference to the former dockyard, and it drew a John M. Bingeman large number of objections from local residents, community groups and heritage bodies before being withdrawn. Restoration of the warship Lenox The Lenox Project proposes to build a replica A proposal to build an exact replica of the seventeeth-century warship at the very site on Restoration warship Lenox is one of several which the original ship was constructed. As community-led projects being put forward well as offering a direct reference to the heritage for consideration in redevelopment plans for of the site, the proposal is intended to bring the former Deptford dockyard in south east economic, educational, social, heritage and London. cultural benefits to a deprived part of London’s The Lenox Project CIC was formed last inner city. year by a group of local residents in Deptford, The project will see the construction and who were concerned that a redevelopment launch of an exact replica of the Lenox, which masterplan for the former King’s Yard would was built in Deptford Dockyard in 1678. obliterate any sign of the site’s heritage. Historian and maritime artist Richard Endsor, Developer Hutchison Whampoa, which whose book The Restoration Warship is a

Shipwrights working on Hermione at La Rochelle Hermione replica under construction

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and the reinstatement or marking of the seven slipways and dockyard entrances that were present in the river wall of the site. There is more information at these websites: www.buildthelenox.org www.richardendsor.co.uk www.deptfordis.org.uk

The National Museum of the Royal Navy

HMS Victory Calendar and Christmas Cards This year sees the first-ever production of the official HMS Victory calendar, along with a Lenox under sail brand-new design of Christmas card, full of the requisite snow. comprehensive history of the Lenox, is part of The calendar is A3 in size, set portrait style, the group. His painstaking research into the with space to write one’s appointments. We have thoroughly documented history of the ship, been very fortunate to have some wonderful which was the first of Charles II’s ‘thirty ships’ images to draw upon, and the quality of the building programme, will enable the new vessel to be an exact replica. Through collaboration with local and national stakeholders, the Lenox Project will offer training, education and apprenticeship opportunities in a variety of transferable skills ranging from marine skills and computer-aided manufacturing to tourism and hospitality. Following its launch, the vessel’s continued presence in the reconstructed Great Basin in front of the listed Olympia Building will make it a focal point for the Convoys Wharf development, attract sustainable tourism, and help create footfall to support businesses both HMS Victory on the National Museum of the Royal Navy in the new development and in the marine Christmas card, 2012 enterprise zone. The idea was inspired by the Hermione fabulous product really needs to be seen to be Project in La Rochelle, France, which has been believed. under construction since 1997 and has brought The Christmas card is of a single design, a extensive regeneration benefits to the town. picture of HMS Victory in the snow taken at Deptford’s proximity to Greenwich, the dawn, and viewed across the Starboard Arena, Cutty Sark and the National Maritime Museum by the museum’s very own head technician, would enable the project to attract large Bryn Jenkins. numbers of tourists and would contribute to its The cards are available now in packs of 10 @ success. £5.99 per pack, and the calendars @ £12.50 each The Lenox Project is one of several from the National Museum of the Royal Navy community-led proposals which are being Shop, 02392 727590, or www.rnmuseumshop. promoted by local group Deptford Is. Other co.uk ideas include the recreation of the gardens of The standard SNR discount of 10 per cent ’s manor house, , part applies, making each pack of cards £5.39, and of which used to be on the Convoys Wharf site, each calendar £11.25.

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The cover and sample months from the HMS Victory calendar

All Christmas card mail orders incur an additional £2.20 postage and packing per initial pack, and £1.25 per pack thereafter. Calendars incur an additional £3.00 postage and packing each, and £1.75 per calendar thereafter. Should you wish to avoid postage costs, just let us know and we will happily reserve either cards or calendars for you to collect and purchase at your leisure. Cheques should be made payable to ‘Royal Naval Museum Shop’. Mail order applications should be sent to The Royal Naval Museum Shop, No. 11 Store, Main Rd, HM Naval Base, Portsmouth, Hants. PO1 3NH. These items are all produced by the National Museum of the Royal Navy, and therefore all profits go directly back to fund the museum, as it works towards the preservation and promotion of naval heritage. The museum trusts that you will find this a venture well worth supporting.

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Topmasts 3.indd 6 30/07/2012 12:56 Topmasts no. 3, August 2012. The Fenland Lighter Project Events Memoirs, a Mock Funeral, and a Maritime An Exhibition to Commemorate Museum Operation Pedestal, the Convoy to Relieve Malta, August 1942 Remarks about Pierre-Edouard Plucket’s memoirs, in the May number, have evidently Following the successful Falklands Exhibition aroused interest: some further comment on this onboard HQS Wellington in April and May, notable privateer-captain seems justified in this the ship will host a display relating to the 1942 month’s FLP column. By way of background, relief of Malta, To launch the latest exhibition it should be kept in mind that the extensive which marks the 70th Anniversary of the Relief riverine trade of the old-time Fenland lighters of Malta, renowned maritime author, Richard was commercially bound up with seagoing Woodman, will give a talk and then officially traffic. In consequence, French privateering in open the Pedestal Exhibition onboard on British coastal waters could adversely affect Wednesday 15 August 2012. waterway commerce far inland. As with all memoirs, those of Captain Plucket 6.15 Reception with drinks should be approached with caution: a number 6.45 Talk by Richard Woodman of discrepancies and queries remain outstanding. 7.30 Exhibition opens However, regarding his time at Peterborough 7.45 Finger buffet and pay bar as a prisoner-on-parole, much of what he wrote is borne out by independent sources, although As there will be a number of specially invited it must be added that there are some very odd guests, please book in advance in good time as passages which cannot be supported in that way. we will have to limit numbers. The cost is £25 A striking instance involves his brief account for Wellington Trust Friends and £30 for non- of a drinking party with some Peterborians, members. This will apply to all attending the ending with a mock funeral in a churchyard. At evening, even if they are only able to come to first sight, that tale may seem most unlikely, but the talk. the 1790s were a heyday for the Gothic genre in English popular literature, complete with Information on the the Exhibition to Com- ghosts, cadavers, and an assortment of lurid memorate Operation Pedestal paraphernalia. Perhaps there was a link there By the middle of 1942, General Rommel and his with tipsy charades such as Plucket indicated. In Afrika Corps were at the gates of Alexandria any case, varied irregularities involving parole and the Suez Canal, preparing for the final prisoners were by no means uncommon. knock-out blow to the British Eighth Army. Originally published in 1843, in an edition of The plan then was to move onwards to sever just 200 copies, Plucket’s memoirs figured again Britain from its vital strategic oil fields in Persia in a noteworthy edition of 1956, prepared under and perhaps link with German forces to the the supervision of A. Mabille de Poncheville, north in the Soviet Union and Japanese forces of the Académie royale de Belgique. This same in the east. It was imperative that Rommel edition received favourable attention in vol. was held up until the Eighth Army could be 65 (1979) of the Mariner’s Mirror, p. 52. The massively reinforced and prepared. The tiny note concerned was written by H. Hazelhoff island of Malta alone stood astride Rommel’s Roelfzema, at that time director of Amsterdam’s sea supply route from Italy to North Africa important maritime museum – the development and only from Malta could the Royal Navy of which was recently discussed by Dr Gerard and RAF anti-ship aircraft, keep up M. W. Acda in Topmasts no. 1, p. 3. the vital continuous and damaging attacks on the Visit the Fenland Lighter Project website for German and Italian shipping attempting to keep more details. Rommel supplied. But due to massive German H. J. K. Jenkins Luftwaffe aircraft and deployments to the Mediterranean, Allied resupply ships became unable to force the passage to the

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island with ammunition, fuel and stores for the the Merchant Navy and sea trade among the garrison forces and the Maltese people. By July British public and young people in particular. the brave island was daily suffering violent and For further details contact: info@ heavy Axis air raids and was on the verge of thewellingtontrust.com or contact Alison starvation and no longer able to interfere with Harris, Business Manager HQS Wellington, Rommel’s supply convoys. Winston Churchill Temple Stairs, Victoria Embankment, London personally directed the Admiralty that Malta WC2R 2PN, tel. 0207 836 8179 had to be relieved at any cost. During the first week of August 1942 the merchant ships and escorts of Operation The Annual E G R Taylor Pedestal sailed from the Clyde for Grand Harbour, Valetta. On 8 August, the Malta relief Lecture convoy of thirteen of our fastest cargo ships and 11 October 2012 at 6.30 p.m. one large oil tanker, escorted by 56 warships Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington (battleships, aircraft carriers, , Gore, London, SW7 2AR and fleet auxiliaries), the most heavily defended convoy ever to leave UK shores, passed through Flourishing Fantasies of the Arctic: From ‘Pyg- the Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean. mies’ to the Vinland Map Air and submarine attacks began on 10 August Kirsten Andresen Seaver and the aircraft carrier Eagle was torpedoed and sunk, the Blue Funnel ship Deucalion bombed E. G. R. Taylor took a strong interest in how and subsequently abandoned the next day. the Europeans of antiquity and the Middle Ages Over the next four days, the convoy suffered conceived of the Arctic. A number of notions continuous attack; cruisers were torpedoed and have influenced cosmographic, anthropological, sunk; merchant ships were sunk, others were geographical and cartographical thinking for damaged and disabled. Of the 14 merchant several centuries, right up to our own time; ships, nine were sunk by enemy action or so from Ptolemy to Adam of Bremen and Saxo badly damaged that they had to be sunk by their Grammaticus, there was no shortage of fanciful own forces. However, despite the murderous ideas. Those ideas were picked up, passed along attacks, four cargo ships and the oil tanker Ohio and enlarged upon by subsequent generations, eventually made it through to Malta and were and combined to form concepts of a dark, able to discharge their cargoes, saving the island inhospitable Far North populated by two- from certain capitulation and, vitally, ensuring legged creatures one would not wish to meet that the Afrika Corp’s supply route would and featuring icy seas teeming with monsters. continue to be decimated. There were also ‘Pygmies’ of a very particular An exhibition to commemorate the part sort, and Taylor provided the key to their role played by the Merchant Navy in the relief of in early Arctic history and cartography when Malta, organized by the Wellington Trust, the she translated and annotated what remained charity which owns Wellington, will be open of a letter from Mercator to John Dee which to the public from 11.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. on concerned the Inventio fortunata. She also had Sundays and Mondays from 19 August to astute and early suspicions about Yale’s ‘Vinland 17 September. The individual ships will be Map’ – the delectable controversy with which covered in detail, as will some of the Merchant the lecture concludes. Navy personnel who were in those ships, Kirsten Andresen Seaver is an historian such as Captain Mason of Ohio, who of early North Atlantic exploration and was awarded the George Cross for his part in colonization, with special focus on mediaeval getting his ship into Malta. Original artefacts Norse Greenland and early maps. A Norwegian from Ohio will be on display. Entrance will native and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical cost £3 per person, with all proceeds going to Society, she was educated in Norway and the the Wellington Trust Education Fund for the US. Besides producing a number of English- furtherance of knowledge about the history of language books and articles drawing on her

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research, she has lectured internationally and King’s Seminar Series published four historical novels in her native British Commission for tongue. She and her historian husband live in Palo Alto, California, but make frequent Meetings take place on Thursdays at 17:15 in research visits to London. room K6.07, Department of War Studies, King’s College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS Timetable (6th Floor, Old Main Building), except for the 17.30 Kensington Gore Doors Open Proctor Memorial Lecture which will take 17.30–18.30 Hall – cash bar place at Lloyd’s Register, 71 Fenchurch Street, 18.30–19.30 Education Centre – lecture London EC3M 4BS. Admission to this lecture 19.30–21.30 Supper only is solely by ticket, available from Barbara (Supper tickets available at £25 from RGS Jones on [email protected] Events, tel. 020 7591 3100. Please apply with stamped addressed envelope) 11 October 2012 Dr Rogério Miguel Puga, FCSH, New Future E G R Taylor lecture dates: University of Lisbon, Representations of Macau 2013 10 October Hakluyt Society and Early Anglo-Sino-Portuguese Relations in 2014 9 October Institute of Navigation Peter Mundy’s Diary (1637) 2015 8 October RGS 25 October 2012 2016 13 October SNR Professor Andrea Broomfield, Johnson County Further information from styacke@blueyonder. Community College, The Strategic Use of Food co.uk and Dining aboard the Cunard and Collins Lines SNR (South) Programme 8 November 2012 Professor Peter Solar, Vesalius College, Vrije The Society for Naval Research (South) was Universiteit Brussel, Opening to the East: The founded in 1962 to promote the historical End of the Monopolies and Shipping between study of ships, seafaring and other maritime Europe and Asia, 1780–1830 subjects with particular reference to the south 22 November 2012 of England. There are meetings on the second Dr Sara Trevisan, University of Warwick, Trade, Saturday of each month from October to May. Empire and the Sea in Early Stuart Royal and Unless otherwise indicated, all meetings are held Civic Festivals in the Royal Naval Club & Royal Albert Yacht Club, 17 Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth, 6 December 2012 PO1 2NT, and commence at 2.00 p.m. Persons Proctor Memorial Lecture wishing to lunch with the Society in the Club Professor Steve Murdoch, University of beforehand should contact Roy Inkersole, tel. St Andrews, Breaching Neutrality: British +44 (0)2392 831387 at least 72 hours in advance. privateering and Swedish prizes, 1650–1713 New members are very welcome: email David 10 January 2013 Baynes or tel. +44 (0)2392 831461. Joshua Newton, University of Cambridge, War For up-to-the-minute news of SNR (South) and Trade in West Africa: Slavery, seapower and activities visit their new website www.snrsouth. the state, 1748–92 org.uk. New material or queries should be addressed to the webmaster Vicki Woodman at 24 January 2013 [email protected] Richard Dunley, King’s College London, Ships with Wheels: Sir John Fisher and strategic deterrence 1904–08 7 February 2013 Professor Sarah Palmer, Greenwich Maritime Institute, Running the : Interests and conflicts in the later twentieth century

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21 February 2013 Maritime Studies, National Maritime Museum, David Chmiel, King’s College London, Do London SE10 9NF, tel. 020 8312 6716. fax 020 Emerging Economies Still Need navies? 8312 6592, email [email protected], website 7 March 2013 www.nmm.ac.uk Dr Helen Doe, University of Exeter, Marketing Abstracts available at nmm.ac.uk/researchers/ Mutuality: The twentieth-century expansion of conferences-and-seminars the British Mutual Marine Insurance Clubs Maritime History in the North 2 May 2013 Dr Marcus Faulkner, King’s College London, For some time a new initiative has been develop­ and Len Barnett, independent scholar, Learning ing to bring together those in the north with an to Use Signals Intelligence: The Royal Navy in interest in maritime history. The success of the the years 1914–15 Gold Medal Weekend aboard HMS Trincomalee 16 May 2013 in August 2011 attended by members of both Dr Richard Johns, National Maritime Museum, SNR and 1805 Club showed what is achievable The Nore Examined: J. M. W. Turner at the in the North. The intention is that the new mouth of the Thames after Trafalgar initiative will be affiliated to both the Society for 30 May 2013 Nautical Research and 1805 Club. Christopher Miller, University of , The An inaugural meeting facilitated by the Industrial Politics of Naval Rearmament on University of Salford will be held on Saturday Clydeside during the Interwar Period 8 September 2012. This seminar will consist of formal lectures with questions, a buffet lunch followed by an open forum to discuss form, The Seminar Programme is organised by the frequency and nature of future seminars and a British Commission for Maritime History, final round-up. with the generous assistance of the Society for This web page http//www.snr.org.uk/mirror/ Nautical Research, the Maritime Information calendar.htm will shortly bear the name of the Association, Lloyd’s Register and the actual venue at Salford and ongoing information. Department of War Studies, King’s College London. For further information contact Programme Dr Alan James, War Studies, King’s College 10.30 Welcome London, WC2R 2LS, email alan.2.james@ 11.00 The Chesapeake and the War of 1812 by kcl.ac.uk or Dr Richard Gorski, History, John Diestler University of Hull, HU6 7RX, email r.c.gorski@ 12.00 Roger Howden’s Sailing Directions by hull.ac.uk Captain Paul Hughes PhD 13.00 Buffet followed by discussions on future British Maritime History format 14.30 The Maritime Dimension of the Second Seminars 2012 World War: A new look by Professor Eric Grove PhD All seminars begin at 17.15 at the Institute of 15.30 Final round-up Historical Research, University of London, 16.00 Close Senate House, London WC1E 7HU. Each paper All are welcome. Email Mark Heapy mark. lasts approximately 45 minutes, followed by 15– [email protected] with your intention to 30 minutes of questions. There is no attendance attend charge and no need to book. Please note that the rooms used vary this year and are specifically listed on the programme for each date. Further information is available from the Research Administrator, Centre for Imperial and

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National Maritime Museum Please submit proposals of 300 words for Call for Papers individual papers, along with a short CV to [email protected] . Panel proposals are also Conference 25–27 July 2013 encouraged, though preference will be given to National Maritime Museum those that display disciplinary or chronological Navy and Nation 1688 to the Present diversity. We intend to publish a selection of papers as a volume of conference proceedings. From conflict, culture and science to society, Call for papers deadline: 14 September 2012. economics and politics, the Royal Navy’s Contact Sally Archer, Curatorial & Research relationship with Britain has always been Planner, Royal Museums Greenwich complex and reflexive. It has been the nation’s Greenwich, London SE10 9NF, direct line +44 primary arm of defence and the means by which (0) 208 312 6772 empire was expanded and sustained. In both peace and war, it has shaped and been shaped Hull University Conference by the powers of the British state. It has driven What Next for the Arctic: Interdisciplinary and responded to commercial, industrial and Conference on Maritime Governance in the technological forces. As an institution, it has Arctic defined and reflected not only the nature of Britishness, but its component notions of class, Arctic Governance is the subject of much race and gender. As a workplace, it has generated current debate. This debate will only gather lifestyles that mirror wider norms while also momentum as further oil and mineral diverging from them. discoveries are made in the region. In July 2013, and to coincide with the How will climate change affect energy opening of a new permanent gallery of British extraction, trade routes, fisheries, tourism and naval history, the National Maritime Museum security? What should governments be aware of will host a major conference addressing the when they are framing policy on this important interconnections between the Royal Navy and region? Britain from 1688 to the present day. Its aim is Drawing together speakers from a number to examine this naval and national relationship of disciplines across academia and beyond, from the broadest possible range of perspectives. including: research scientists, environmentalists, As such, the organizers welcome proposals from futurologists, energy industry analysts, security operational, administrative and technological scholars and policy makers, this conference history through to social, cultural and gender considers the issue of Arctic Governance in its history, and the histories of art, material culture broadest context. and literature. By these means, the conference We would be very pleased to hear from will endeavour to inter-relate the varied potential speakers interested in talking about approaches to the navy represented in recent Russian, EU or Chinese perspectives on the scholarship. Key themes will include: region as well as those who wish to offer papers on trade, sub-sea resources and freedom of • The navy and national or imperial identity navigation. Proposals should be sent to Dr • The aims, methods and consequences of Matthew Ford at the University of Hull (email naval warfare listed below) and be no longer than 250 words. • The navy and popular culture The Keynote Speaker is Pen Hadow, global • The naval hero explorer and environmental advisor. Other • The navy and technology participants include members of the Royal • The navy and issues of class, gender, race or Navy, the British Antarctic Survey, Greenpeace, age the International Maritime Organisation, the • The navy and politics, finance or the state UK Hydrographic Office and academics from • The navy and trade, commerce or industry Royal Holloway, the US Naval War College and • Social histories of the navy and of recruiting the University of Lapland Arctic Centre. • The navy in peacetime Conference dates are 13–14 September 2012

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(midday to mid-afternoon) at Hull History Websites of Interest Centre, cost: £100 Naval History and Family Research To book contact [email protected] To find out more about the programme or to Naval-History.Net has researched and published offer a paper contact [email protected] original data for 14 years, including Admiralty For updates visit http://www2.hull.ac.uk/fass/ War Diaries and Action Reports of World War 2. politics.aspx War Diaries from August 1939 to March 1942 are combined into a day-by-day account. April Books by Members 1942 into 1946 is covered by a growing number of War Diaries ranging from the Home and Robert M. Grogans To Auckland by the Ganges Mediterranean Fleets to the British Pacific Fleet. Whittles Publishing caithness, Scotland 2012, All can be found at http://www.naval-history. 160 pages, illustrated, softback ISBN 978- net/xDKWW2-3900Intro.htm. These include all 184995-043-5 £16.99 Dominion, United States and Allied Navy ships operating with the Royal Navy. This book deals with the voyage of journalist The Diaries make fascinating reading in David Buchanan in 1863. He travelled with their own right. They also provide detailed his family on the sailing ship Ganges to find movements of hundreds of ships and the men a new life in New Zealand. He kept a daily who sailed in them. To research ships and men, journal giving us a fascinating insight into his you can also use the search box in the top left- experiences aboard the vessel Ganges and life in hand side of http://www.naval-history.net/. New Zealand during those times. For more information about this excellent site please contact Gordon Smith MBA CEng, Naval-History.Net, 17 Norris Close, Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan CF64 2QW, UK, tel. 029- 20636953 or 07590 070038

Other news from the Internet The 3rd annual Alan Viilliiers Maritime archaeologists are conducting Memoriial Lecture Under the auspices of the Society for extensive underwater surveys in the Arabian Nautical Research, The Naval Review and Gulf off the northwest coast of Qatar. A the Britannia Naval Research Association with the support of the Hudson Trust team from University and the Qatar Museums Authority are searching ‘The Naval War of 1812 for shipwrecks from both the historic and in International Perspective’ prehistoric periods in waters that have been Professor John B. Hattendorf trading seaways for seven millenniums. See United States Naval War College the website: http://www.gulf-times.com/ The event will begin with a short lecture: ‘Preserving HMS Victory’ site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_ given by Andrew Baines, Keeper and Curator, HMS Victory no=511125&version=1&template_ and the screening of “The Voyage of the II” a film made by Alan Villiers id=57&parent_id=56

St Edmund Hall, University of Divers have found four ancient shipwrecks off Wednesday 26th September 2012 the tiny island of Zannone with their cargoes of Registration from 12.30pm Lunch at 1.00pm wine and oil intact. The vessels dating from the Lectures begin promptly at 2.00pm first century BC to the fifth–seventh centuries Dinner 7.30pm (at a separate cost to be advised) AD were found in waters 165 metres deep

Ticket to include lunch and refreshments £25.00 http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/ Lectures only – no charge, entrance on application Art/2010/Jul-27/119677-humans-long-gone-

For more information please contact the AVML event but-ancient-ghost-ships-still-protect-cargo. organisers at: [email protected] ashx#axzz1sUId3hih

‘The action of His Majesty’s JAVA with the United States Frigate CONSTITUTION’, Nicholas Pocock 1813

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New research on the Swedish vessel Vasa which Timeline Applications should be submitted sank on its maiden voyage in the seventeenth by 15 October 2012 using the Grant century has found specific flaws in the ship’s Applications Form on the HFF website (www. design which were the probable cause of her honorfrostfoundation.org). The outcome of the sinking. awards will be advised in December 2012 by http://www.pri.org/stories/science/swedish- email. Decisions on grant awards are final and preservationists-document-likely-cause-of- no feedback will be given on any applications. sinking-of-ancient-sailing-ship-8606.html Requirements Grantees will be required to provide a written report of their work and Scientists studying marine life in the Gulf of provide an accounting of expenses. All or part of Mexico have found a shipwreck believed to be grantees’ reports may be published on the HFF 200 years old. The area is scattered with cannon, website and possibly in future HFF newsletters. muskets, ceramic plate , glass bottles and a rare Future Grants It is expected there will be ship’s stove. There are three other sites in the another round of applications for grants to vicinity. be awarded in the financial year 2012–13. It is http://www.huffingtonpost. intended that there will be a regular operating com/2012/05/17/19th-century-shipwreck-gulf- cycle of grants awarded by the Foundation. mexico-200-year-old_n_1525084.html From time to time the HFF will consider urgent out of cycle applications on an A recent study has provided more information exceptional basis. on the beak like projection used to ram enemy Contact Please contact Mrs Joan Porter ships in the Punic Wars which was found off the MacIver, HFF Executive Director with any coast of Sicily in the area known as the Bay of enquiries at [email protected] or at 10, Carlton Pirates. House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH, UK http://phys.org/news/2012-06-secrets-bay- pirates-warship-sunk.html Fellowship Announcement From John B Hattendorf of the Naval War The Honor Frost Foundation College Newport Rhode Island USA In its first year of operation, the Honor The Edward S. Miller Research Fellowship in Frost Foundation is seeking to make awards Naval History. not exceeding in total £100,000 for marine The Naval War College Foundation intends to and maritime archaeology in the Eastern award one grant of $1,000 to the researcher with Mediterranean with an emphasis on Lebanon, the greatest need and can make the optimum Syria and Cyprus. use of the research materials for naval history Qualifications Grants are available to located in the Naval War College’s Archives, independent scholars, affiliated scholars and Naval Historical Collection, Naval War College institutions, and are intended to support or Museum, and Henry E. Eccles Library. Further facilitate research projects covering any period information on the manuscript and archival or aspect of maritime archaeology related to collections and copies of the registers for specific the above areas. In the present round it is likely collections are available on request from the that individual grants will not normally exceed Head, Naval Historical Collection, Naval War £10,000, which could be the total cost of a piece College. E-mail: [email protected] of work, a contribution to work already in There is also a convenient link to the guides and progress, or the cost of a pilot study that might registers for that collection available at www. in due course lead to a major research project. navaldocuments.org Grants are open to all scholars or institutions The recipient will be a Research Fellow in with preference to those working in the above the Naval War College’s Maritime History named areas. Applications from scholars based Department, which will provide administrative in the Eastern Mediterranean will be particularly support during the research visit. Submit welcome. detailed research proposal that includes a full

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statement of financial need and comprehensive Greenwich Maritime Institute, research plan for optimal use of Naval War University of Greenwich College materials, curriculum vitae, at least Located in the historic setting of the Old two letters of recommendation, and relevant Royal Naval College, the Greenwich Maritime background information to Miller Naval Institute offers a unique en­viron­ment for the History Fellowship Committee, Naval War study of maritime history, including an MA in College Foundation, 686 Cushing Road, Maritime History . For details email gmi@gre. Newport RI 02841-1207, by 1 September 2012. ac.uk or visit the Greenwich Maritime Institute For further information, contact the chair of the website. selection committee at john.hattendorf@usnwc. University of Hull edu Employees of the U.S. Naval War College or any agency of the U.S. Department of The University of Hull offers a BA course and Defense are not eligible for consideration; EEO/ MA and PhD programmes in maritime history. AA regulations apply. Contact Dr Richard Gorski or visit the website at the Department of History, Uni­versity of Hull. University Courses There is also a Diploma in Maritime History University, provided on a part-time basis over four years, School of Earth and Ocean Science with learning and teaching taking place entirely online. For further information email Michaela Dr Hance Smith and Dr David Jenkins are Barnard. supervising a course for students – The Regional University Development of Maritime Heritage in the . For further information Swansea University Arts and Human­ities contact Dr Hance Smith or visit the Cardiff department is offers an MA course in Maritime University website. and Imperial History. For further details please University of Exeter visit the Swansea University website or contact Dr Adam Mosley. The University of Exeter offers MA and PhD courses in maritime historical studies modern module explores European maritime expansion and the creation of commercial empires. See the website of the Centre for Maritime Historical Studies.

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New Members Mr J. W. Mann, Bracknell, Berkshire Major N. Middleton, Outwell, Norfolk and Reported Deaths Mr B. Miles BSc, MSc, Kentucky. USA 31 December 2011 – ??? 2012 Captain S. R. New MA, , Hampshire New members – individual Mr S. Ragnall, Altham, Lancashire Mr Philip Babb, Bromsgrove, London Mr T. Smith, Sydney, Australia Mr M. Barton, Southsea, Hampshire Dr. I. Speller, County Westmeath, Ireland Mr I. M. Bates, Queensland, Australia Dr P. J. Turner, West Yorkshire Mr L. Bertelsen, Texas, USA Mr A. T. E. Whitefield MA, LLb, Cromall, Mr J. S. Biddlecombe , Banbury, Oxfordshire Gloucestershire . Mr C. Boston, Wantage, Oxfordshire Mr J. Zeller, New Brunswick, Canada Mr A.F. Budd, Arnold, Nottingham Mrs I. Carding, Hook, Hampshire Reported deaths Mr. P. Carney, , E. Sussex Mr R Dalton, Hucclecote, Gloucestershire Mr B. Darnell MA, MSt, Oxford Mr R. W. Finch FRIBA, London Ensign H. Finne MC. USN, Virginia, USA Mr M. Gravener, Corby, Northamptonshire Mr V. Kirsanov MRIN, Astrakhan, Russia Mr R Heptinstall, Malvern, Worcestershire Mrs A. Leighton MA, MCSP, Milton Keynes Dr J. G. Lyons SMSA, FBCO, DO, PhD Mr C. Laverick DIPHE, LLb(Hons), LLM, Oregon, USA AMNI, Tyne & Wear Mr John Munday MA, FSA, Alresford, Mr J. M. MacAuley FSA, SCOT, Isle of Harris, Hampshire Outer Hebrides Mr Barrington Rosier MA, ,

The Editor of Topmasts would like to hear from anyone with news or notices that may be of interest to SNR members. Copy for the next issue should be submitted by 1 October 2012 though urgent or timely items may be accommodated later if required.

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