TopmastsMay 2012 No. 2 The Quarterly Newsletter of The Society for Nautical Research

Chairman’s Column organizations, and will reside in a more Members will be aware from the press and from favourable tax regime. Clearly we can expect material on the Society’s website that at the end to see more commercial fund-raising activities of March ownership of HMS Victory passed in the ship when she is not being used by the from the MoD to the National Museum of the . Royal Navy (NMRN) together with a grant The new ownership arrangements and the of £25 million from the MoD and a further consequent shift in responsibility for the main­ £25 million endowment from the Gosling tenance and upkeep of Victory are clearly the Foundation. The agreement between the MoD most significant change in status of the ship and the NMRN states that ship will continue to since the 1920s. That was also a time of financial be used by the Royal Navy and will continue stringency within government and even then to be a ship in commission with a commanding the Admiralty were reluctant to spend more officer and be the of the Second Sea than the very minimum to preserve and Lord for the present, and flagship of the First maintain the ship in No. 2 Dock in Sea Lord from September this year. The future where she has resided ever since. Consequently support of HMS Victory has been the subject it fell to the Society to lead the fund-raising of debate within the MoD for some years and, efforts to restore the ship and the Society following a presentation by the MoD study continues to be responsible for administering team to Council in October 2008, the Society the Save the Victory Fund (STVF) monies wrote to the MoD re-emphasising the Society’s remaining from the original fundraising efforts. historic involvement and giving views on the The current arrangements for the way ahead. With the increasing pressure on maintenance of HMS Victory rest in a five- government finances last year the decision was year contract with BAE Systems with project made within MoD to transfer the ship to the control being conducted by a MoD team at NMRN. The trustees of the NMRN conducted Abbey Wood, Bristol. MoD will continue due diligence over the transfer at the beginning to provide project management of the main­ of this year, and although the Society was not tenance contract for a further two years, by party to the transfer discussions or decisions, which time the NMRN will itself establish a given the Society’s historic involvement I was project management capability. kept informed of developments by the director In the 1920s the Admiralty established of the NMRN. the Victory Advisory Technical Committee As part of the new arrangements, a separate (VATC), under a chairman provided by the charitable trust has been established for HMS Society, to give independent advice on the Victory. Clearly the new trust will need to restoration and maintenance of the ship. Since generate monies for the future upkeep of the the founding of the VATC, the Society has ship both from income from the endowments played a major role in providing members with and from future fundraising. The ship will specialist knowledge and experience to serve be able to seek Heritage Lottery Fund grants on this committee. The future of the VATC and raise money from other grant-giving is currently under debate and the Society will

Title image: ‘Sixty Degrees South’ by John Everett (BHC2451) © National , , UK ISSN 2049-6796 Topmasts no. 2, May 2012

continue to press for it, or any successor body, Editorial to retain the independence enjoyed by the VATC over the years and which has proved to I hope that the new digital format of the SNR be so valuable since the 1920s. newsletter has been to your liking. I have had The Society has a long-standing historic only positive feed back which I hope signifies involve­ment and therefore a close interest in the that people are generally satisfied with the future of HMS Victory, as has been recognized change. It certainly offers significant cost in the MoD News Release of 6 March 2012 savings, especially now that UK postal rates are about the new arrangements. The procedures due to increase considerably during the next few whereby the STVF, administered by the Society, weeks. My thanks to Dr Paula Turner and Paul has provided significant annual commitments to Hughes, who set and post the text contributions further the restoration and educational aspects of from SRN members and others that go into the the ship will remain, and appropriate members newsletter. who are ably equipped to assist the curator I am pleased to have had some positive will continue to provide the best historical responses from overseas contributors for this perspective on the presentation of the ship. issue, including some very interesting features Members will be aware that in 1992/93 the from The Netherlands, the USA and Australia. Society gave to HMS Victory a working cutter I am very grateful to Commodore Gerard Acda, built from 1805 plans held in the National our correspondent in The Netherlands for the Maritime Museum. Each year the Society introduction to Mrs Kathrin Orth. She has been provides a volunteer crew and over the years the a member of the SNR since 1998 and a member cutter has appeared at regattas and other water- of the board of the German Society for Maritime borne events representing the Royal Navy, and Naval History (Deutsche Gesellschaft für HMS Victory and the Society. The NMRN Schiffahrts- und Marinegeschichte e. V.). She intends that the cutter should be on the water also is a naval historian, living in Hamburg. She this year as usual. The planned programme has kindly offered to be our correspondent in includes two high-profile events: attendance at Germany. Her e-mail address is kath_orth@ the Diamond Jubilee event on the Thames and a hotmail.com role in connection with the Olympics. Please note that Topmasts is issued quarterly Although, as a of this historic change, in February, May, August and September. Any the MOD is no longer owner of the ship, and contributions, copy or notices should be sent no longer responsible for her upkeep and main­ to me at [email protected] by the first tenance, HMS Victory will continue to be at week of the previous month to ensure being the heart of the fighting ethos and values of the published. Royal Navy, and the Society will continue to Barry Coombs have a part to play in her future. Sir Kenneth Eaton News Annual General Meeting of The Society The Annual General Meeting of the Society will be held on Saturday 16 June 2012. The agenda and papers will be included, as usual, with the May issue of The Mariner’s Mirror. After the AGM it will be possible for members and their guests to tour HMS Victory until about 6.45 p.m. and then for a limited number to dine on board.

2 Topmasts no. 2, May 2012. The Future of HMS Victory Captain Matthews Flinders Bicentenary 2014 Our Chairman has reported that HMS Victory’s Update from Peter Ashley long-term future has been assured by an agreement between MoD and the National The disappointing dearth of strong support Museum of the Royal Navy. A Portsmouth for this proposed venture leaves me with little newspaper report of 29 February can be seen option but to abandon it. The Flinders family here: http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/local/ descendants are less than enthusiastic which I modtogivehmsvictorytomuseum13572322 find surprising? I had hoped that the Britain In 2008 MoD started a review of the future Australia Society would have been prepared to management of HMS Victory to which the take a stronger lead. I have already done most of Society contributed fully. In September 2009 the preliminary legwork and would be prepared the First Sea Lord and the Minister for Defence to continue to do so – but as a private individual Equipment and Support announced that I will not always have sufficient clout to achieve while MoD should continue to assume full what is required to meet the target. Aside from responsibility for the operation, maintenance any fund-raising, I would have liked to have and repair of the ship, the National Museum of seen Britain Australia Society convene a small the Royal Navy would assume responsibility committee. which they would chair, inviting for the delivery of heritage and visitor services someone from the High Commission and myself onboard Victory with effect from 1 April 2010. and John Flinders. This way I wouldn’t be a When commenting to MoD at the time one-man band but would be able to call upon of the 2008 review The Society suggested the experience and advice (and guidance) of the that consideration should be given to the committee. This small committee could discuss National Museum of the Royal Navy taking and explore ways of fund-raising without responsibility for HMS Victory provided that committing anyone group. If then the venture the museum was properly funded to look after became too difficult, for any reason, it would be her. halted by agreement within the committee. In recent weeks there have been a number of My aim has always been to raise the profile confidential discussions in which the Society’s of Captain Matthew Flinders within the UK: Chairman has been kept aware of developments he is a national hero in Australia, which he concerning the possible transfer of HMS Victory named, but he was an Englishman who should to the Museum on terms that would ensure that now be allowed to take his place in the maritime she remained in commission and a flag ship Pantheon alongside Drake, Cook, Bligh, but that she also would benefit from access Dampier, Franklin, et al. to a wider range of Heritage Funds than the MoD can offer – thus ensuring the continued The Fenland Lighter Project conservation and display of this iconic ship. Liberty, Equality . . . and C. of E. Sermons Provided that adequate funding is forthcoming for the ship the Society will Pierre-Edouard Plucket was a notable privateer- welcome this change in responsibility. captain during the French Revolutionary Wars, The Society, for many years, has provided who has figured in this column from time to the chairman of the Victory Advisory Technical time. He also held a commission in the French Committee whose responsibility it is to advise navy and, in due course, wrote a volume of MoD about Victory’s conservation needs. The memoirs which has appeared in a number of Society’s chairmanship and the role of the VATC editions. Of particular regional interest is his will continue. chapter on his life as a prisoner-on-parole at Peterborough, following capture by HMS Vestal in 1797. In the main, he evidently got on well with the city’s inhabitants, but he protested about some sermons preached in local churches. These, he indicated, had been most unfair to the French people of that period.

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Although memoirs always require a measure Republic decided to pressure King Charles II of of caution, much of Plucket’s Peterborough England, in order to speed up the negotiations. comment is supported by independent sources. The Dutch fleet therefore sailed to Chatham, In that regard, it is now planned to search a where the English fleet was anchored, sunk range of ecclesiastical material of the 1790s, several ships and took the Royal Charles, the to see if it bears out Plucket’s complaint. The pride of the English fleet, to the Republic as Fenland Lighter Project is grateful to Canon J. booty. Higham (Chancellor of Peterborough Cathedral Soon after, in 1673, the Royal Charles was until his retirement) for valuable advice on sold for scrap, and at the end of the nineteenth documentaion at this preliminary stage: and also century, the navy gave the stern carvings to to Mrs C. Keating for her good offices regarding the Rijksmuseum, where it has been on public the Cathedral Library. display ever since. When the main building Visit the Fenland Lighter Project website for of the Rijksmuseum reopens in spring 2013, more details. the stern carvings will be displayed in the H. J. K. Jenkins seventeenth century maritime gallery. For more information contact Boris de Munnick +31 Overseas News (0)20 6747171 [email protected] Maritime Masterpiece Temporarily Returned to England by the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Update on Australian Maritime and Naval Historical Activities On 15 March 2012 the Rijksmuseum handed over a unique loan to the National Maritime The Australian maritime and naval historical Museum in London. After 345 years, the ‘stern scene is an active one. carvings decoration’ of the flagship theRoyal The Frank Broeze Memorial Book Prize Charles has been returned to England. In June for 2011 was awarded in December to Ian 1667 the wooden decoration (3 m wide and 2 m McCalman for Darwin’s Armada: How tall, weighing 750 kg) was taken in triumph to four yoyagers to Australia won the battle for the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands evolution and changed the world. Professor by Dutch maritime hero Michiel de Ruyter. McCalman followed the award ceremony with The piece will be one of the highlights of the the 2011 Vaughan Evans Memorial Lecture, Royal River. Power, Pageantry and the Thames ‘Lost in the Labyrinth: Re-enacting and Re- exhibition opening on 27 April. thinking James Cook’s Endeavour Voyage HRH Willem Alexander, Prince of Orange, through the Great Barrier Reef’. Both ceremony was present on the patrol vessel Holland of and lecture were conducted at the Western the Royal Netherlands Navy when the ‘stern Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle, one carvings’ (the richly decorated stern of the ship) of the centres of maritime historical activity in was hoisted on board. The Holland is the first Australia. vessel of the Holland class, a series of four patrol Western Australia’s enthusiasm for maritime vessels in the Royal Netherlands Navy fleet. history has recently been confirmed by the Both the Prince of Orange and HRH Prince State Government’s decision to sponsor the Michael of Kent were present at the official replica of the Dutch East India Company’s ship loan ceremony in London. General Director of Dufyken for a voyage from Sydney and display the Rijksmuseum Wim Pijbes handed over the in Western Australia for the next ten years. This stern carvings to Kevin Fewster, director of the will provide a centerpiece to mark the 400th National Maritime Museum. anniversary in 2016 of Dirk Hartog’s landing In 1667 the stern carvings, which until now on Dirk Hartog Island in Shark Bay. Other have been displayed in the Philips Wing of the activities in WA have included the excavation, Rijksmuseum, were seized from the English in a joint project between the City of Bunbury in a spectacular fashion by Michiel de Ruyter. and the Museum of Western Australia, of the At the time, the Dutch were at war with the wrecks of three mid-nineteenth century vessels English and although peace talks had begun, the run ashore at Bunbury and hitherto hidden

4 Topmasts no. 2, May 2012. under a car-park. Two have been identified as further news item. On opening them you will the American whalers Samuel Wright and North find that they are in Dutch but a ‘Translate’ America, while material from the third is being button at the top of the site will give you a examined. choice of languages. The Australian National Maritime Museum http://www.hetscheepvaartmuseum.nl/ in Sydney also continues a substantial program themuseum/news|45 of events in an increasingly successful effort to span the maritime domain as a whole. One There’s also this news item: of the most unusual of its exhibitions, due http://www.hetscheepvaartmuseum.nl/ to open in April and run until October, will themuseum/news|42 be ‘Fish in Australian art’ which sets out to provide a view of the subject from indigenous The main website can be accessed at www. rock art thousands of years old, to the latest hetscheepvartmuseum.nl It all looks splendid. contemporary works. The Royal Australian Navy has just Events completed the celebrations which marked the The Wellington Trust: centenary of its gaining the title of RAN in The Merchant Navy in the Falklands Campaign 1911(which replaced that of the Commonwealth Naval Forces which had been in existence since To mark the 30th anniversary of the Falklands 1901) and is preparing to celebrate the centenary conflict in 1982, the first exhibition to be of the arrival of the Fleet Unit led by the battle organized by the Wellington Trust is to be held cruiser Australia in October 1913. This will on HQS Wellington at Temple Stairs,on the be marked by an international fleet review in Victoria Embankment in London WC2R 2PN, Sydney and a series of associated events to opposite Temple Tube Station. The ship will be publicise what in many ways was the true birth open to the public on each Sunday and Monday of the Australian Navy as a modern fighting from 1 April until 28 May. The entrance charge force. Preparations are also underway to mark is £3 and under 16s are free. the centenary of the Great War and for the Although many books have been written RAN this will include appropriate recognition, about the war not many are concerned with in cooperation with the German Navy, in how the supplies arrived from 8,000 miles away. particular of the action between the cruisers Over 70 Merchant Navy ships took part and, as HMAS Sydney and SMS Emden off the Cocos Admiral West said, ‘Quite simply, without the Islands in November 1914. It is hoped that some Merchant Navy the operation could not have of these events will have the active involvement happened . . .’ of the ‘Emden Family’, the German association Photographs, documents, books, flags and of the descendants of the crew of the original other memorabilia have been collected for the Emden, who were given the right to add the exhibition, the vast majority will have never ship’s name to their family names. The current been seen before. For further details contact Emden may well be available to take part in the [email protected] . 2013 fleet review. Rear-Admiral James Goldrick The Annual E G R Taylor Lecture 11 October 2012 at 6.30 p.m. Further news on Het Scheepvaartmuseum, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Amsterdam Gore, London, SW7 2AR Topmasts 1 brought belated news of the reopening of the above from Commodore Flourishing Fantasies of the Arctic: From Acda. Since then, Reinier Spreen, the webmaster ‘Pygmies’ to the Vinland Map of the museum has very kindly collated news items about the Netherlands Naval Museum E. G. R. Taylor took a strong interest in how and has sent me links to this website and a the Europeans of antiquity and the Middle Ages

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conceived of the Arctic. A number of notions have influenced cosmographic, anthropological, The Tentth Annuall Oxfford Navall Sympossiium Friiday 11tth and Satturday 12tth May 2012 geographical and cartographical thinking for several centuries, right up to our own time; “The Naval War of 1812” from Ptolemy to Adam of Bremen and Saxo

Grammaticus, there was no shortage of fanciful Friiday 11tth May 11::00 tto 17::00:: ideas. Those ideas were picked up, passed along Sttudy Day att Chessapeake Miillll and Musseum off tthe Royall Navy,, Porttssmoutth and enlarged upon by subsequent generations, and combined to form concepts of a dark, Satturday 12tth May 10::00 tto 17::30 ((wiitth llunccheon)):: Sympossiium Confference att Stt Anne’’ss Collllege,, Oxfford inhospitable Far North populated by two- “The Naval War of 1812” legged creatures one would not wish to meet and featuring icy seas teeming with monsters. Paperss on tthe navall and amphiibiiouss acttiionss durriing tthe confflliictt bettween There were also ‘Pygmies’ of a very particular Greaatt Briittaiin and tthe Uniitted Sttattess off Ameriica sort, and Taylor provided the key to their role 1812 -- 1815

in early Arctic history and cartography when Saatturrdaayy 1122tth Maayy:: 1199::3300 ttoo 2222::3300:: she translated and annotated what remained Thee Syympoossiium Diinneerr aatt tthee Coottsswoolld Loodgee Hootteell,,, Oxxffoorrd Drreessss:: IInffoorrmaall of a letter from Mercator to John Dee which Forr iinfforrmattiion aboutt tthee Sympossiium and Bookiing plleeassee eemaiill:: concerned the Inventio fortunata. She also had [email protected]

astute and early suspicions about Yale’s ‘Vinland Thhee Annnnuuaalll Oxxffoorrdd Naavvaalll SSyymppoossiiiaa aarree oorrggaanniiisseedd bbyy tthhee Map’ – the delectable controversy with which Brriiittaannnniiiaa Naavvaalll Reesseeaarrcchh Assssoocciiiaattiiioonn

the lecture concludes. “Action between USS Constitution and HMS Guerriere, August 1812” (detail), Michel Felice Corne 1814, US Naval Academy Museum Kirsten Andresen Seaver is an historian of early North Atlantic exploration and The Tenth Annual Oxford Naval Symposium colonization, with special focus on mediaeval The Naval War of 1812 Norse Greenland and early maps. A Norwegian native and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Field Study Day, Friday 11 May 11.00–17.00 Society, she was educated in Norway and the Chesapeake Mill, Wickham and Museum of the US. Besides producing a number of English- Royal Navy, Portsmouth language books and articles drawing on her research, she has lectured internationally and A guided tour of the mill by BNRA shipwright published four historical novels in her native John Diestler Chesapeake’s Graveyard? – there’s tongue. She and her historian husband live life in these old timbers yet!’a in Palo Alto, California, but make frequent research visits to London. Mathew Sheldon discusses the museum’s collections relating to this conflict. ‘What’s left Timetable of the War of 1812?’ 17.30 Kensington Gore Doors Open 17.30–18.30 Hall – cash bar The opportunity to see HMS Victory ‘in 18.30–19.30 Education Centre – lecture ordinary’, marking 200 years since the end of 19.30–21.30 Supper her active service in 1812. (Supper tickets available at £25 from RGS Events, tel. 020 7591 3100. Please apply with 18.30 Evening rendezvous at ‘The Jolly Sailor’ stamped addressed envelope) on the Hamble River, Bursledon.

Future E G R Taylor lecture dates: Symposium, Saturday 12 May 9.00–17.30 2013 10 October Hakluyt Society St Anne’s College, Oxford, with buffet luncheon 2014 9 October Institute of Navigation and refreshments 2015 8 October RGS 2016 13 October SNR The Naval War of 1812 Further information from styacke@blueyonder. Papers examining aspects of the war between co.uk , Canada and the USA.

6 Topmasts no. 2, May 2012.

Christopher Dale Taking Detroit The 3rd annual Dr Alan Flanders The Battle of Craney Alan Viilliiers Island Memoriial Lecture Justin Reay ‘By the Rockets Red Glare’: Under the auspices of the Society for Nautical Research, The Naval Review and the siege of Fort McHenry, Baltimore the Britannia Naval Research Association 1814 with the support of the Hudson Trust

Barbie Thompson Plymouth and ‘The Naval War of 1812 Dartmoor’s role in the War of 1812 in International Perspective’ Dr Dan Nolan What became of the USS Professor John B. Hattendorf Essex, Capt. David Porter’s famous ship? United States Naval War College

John Foreman Samuel Leech and the The event will begin with a short lecture: Macedonian ‘Preserving HMS Victory’ given by Andrew Baines, Keeper and Curator, HMS Victory John Diestler A Falmouth Shipwright’s and the screening of “The Voyage of the Mayflower II” a film made by Alan Villiers Influence on the Naval Architecture of St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford an Emerging Naval Power Wednesday 26th September 2012

‘Troops ready for inspection, Sir!’ Registration from 12.30pm Lunch at 1.00pm Drill display by Soldiers of 1812 by arrangement Lectures begin promptly at 2.00pm with Cardiff Castle Museum of the Welsh Dinner 7.30pm (at a separate cost to be advised)

Soldier Ticket to include lunch and refreshments £25.00 Lectures only – no charge, entrance on application

‘Weapons of the last Sailing Naval War’ For more information please contact the AVML event Displays of artefacts and prints relating to the organisers at: [email protected] War of 1812 ‘The action of His Majesty’s JAVA with the United States Frigate CONSTITUTION’, Nicholas Pocock 1813

Tickets: Day Conference (including World Ship Society refreshments, lunch and wine) £39.00 34th Annual Naval Meeting Half day (including refreshments) £15.00 2 June 2012 Symposium dinner To be held in the Hawthorns, Woodland Road, Saturday 12 May 19.30–22.00 Bristol BS8 1UQ At the Cotswold Lodge Hotel, Oxford, prior booking required by 2 May Programme Dress informal, dinner ticket £25.00 (three- 10.30 Coffee course fixed menu and coffee) and cash bar 10.40 Welcome from Dr Richard Osborne 10.45 Fifth D. K. Brown Lecture All bookings and enquiries please to Dr Marcus Faulkner The Royal Navy BNRA Treasurer John Foreman Email : and the Battle of Britain – History Lost john.f.foreman@ntlworld Tel. 01235 210598 and Found followed by panel discussion 13.00 Lunch 13.45 Professor Andrew Lambert Scott Russell: Ships, Science and Scandal in the Age of Transition 14.45 Dr Jon Wise The RN and the Group Deployment Policy: Origins and Development 1962–97 15.45 Afternoon tea 16.00 Ben Newton The Attack on the French Fleet at Mers el Kebir, July 1940 17.00 Meeting ends

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All welcome. Entrance fee (includes morning and are specifically listed on the programme for coffee & afternoon tea) £16. Buffet lunch (must each date. be paid for 7 days in advance) £10. Further information is available from the Please make cheques payable to Dr R. H. Research Administrator, Centre for Imperial and Osborne and send them to 11 Beechwood Road, Maritime Studies, National Maritime Museum, Nailsea, Bristol BS48 2AF. London SE10 9NF, tel. 020 8312 6716. fax 020 Additional information at drosborne@ 8312 6592, email [email protected], website blueyonder or the website worldshipsociety.org www.nmm.ac.uk Abstracts available at nmm.ac.uk/researchers/ conferences-and-seminars SNR (South) Programme Maritime History in the North The Society for Naval Research (South) was founded in 1962 to promote the historical For some time a new initiative has been develop­ study of ships, seafaring and other maritime ing to bring together those in the north with an subjects with particular reference to the south interest in maritime history. The success of the of England. There are meetings on the second Gold Medal Weekend aboard HMS Trincomalee Saturday of each month from October to May. in August 2011 attended by members of both Unless otherwise indicated, all meetings are held SNR and 1805 Club showed what is achievable in the Royal Naval Club & Royal Albert Yacht in the North. The intention is that the new Club, 17 Pembroke Road, Old Portsmouth, initiative will be affiliated to both the Society for PO1 2NT, and commence at 2.00 p.m. Persons Nautical Research and 1805 Club. wishing to lunch with the Society in the Club An inaugural meeting facilitated by the beforehand should contact Roy Inkersole, tel. University of Salford will be held on Saturday +44 (0)2392 831387 at least 72 hours in advance. 8 September 2012. This seminar will consist of New members are very welcome: email David formal lectures with questions, a buffet lunch Baynes or tel. +44 (0)2392 831461. followed by an open forum to discuss form, For up-to-the-minute news of SNR (South) frequency and nature of future seminars and a activities visit their new website www.snrsouth. final round-up. org.uk. New material or queries should be This web page http//www.snr.org.uk/mirror/ addressed to the webmaster Vicki Woodman at calendar.htm will shortly bear the name of the [email protected] actual venue at Salford and ongoing information.

King’s Seminar Series Programme 10.30 Welcome This seminar programme can be found at the 11.00 The Chesapeake and the War of 1812 by British Commision for Maritime History John Diestler website. Meetings usually take place at 5.15 p.m. 12.00 Roger Howden’s Sailing Directions by on Thursdays at King’s College For details, Captain Paul Hughes PhD contact Barbara Jones on [email protected] 13.00 Buffet followed by discussions on future format British Maritime History 14.30 The Maritime Dimension of the Second World War: A new look by Professor Seminars 2011–12 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 lasts approximately 45 minutes, followed by 15– All are welcome. Email Mark Heapy mark. 30 minutes of questions. There is no attendance [email protected] with your intention to charge and no need to book. attend Please note that the rooms used vary this year

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Books by Members Dark Seas: The Battle for Cape Matapan is the first of four titles to be published from this Ray Solly Mariner’s Rest Whittles Publishng, series and will include an exclusive foreword Caithness, Scotland 2012, 224 pages, illustrated written by HRH Prince Philip, detailing his ISBN 978-184995-043-5 £16.99. personal experience of the battle for the very first time. Further information can be obtained This is the third book in the accounts of by email from [email protected] Jonathan Carridia’s career in the Merchant Navy dealing with the period at sea from the Naval-History.Net Admiralty War Diaries and 1950s to the 1970s, one of the golden ages of Action Reports on the web shipping including his time on board one of the supertankers. Previous books in the maritime The War Diaries from August 1939 to March trilogy by Ray Solly are Mariner’s Launch and 1942 are combined with other primary sources Mariner’s Voyage. [email protected] into a day-by-day account. The period April or by telephone (44) (0) 1593 731333. 1942 into 1946 is covered by a growing number of War Diaries ranging from the Home and Alan G. Jamieson Lords of the Sea: A history of Mediterranean Fleets to the British Pacific the Barbary Corsairs Reaktion Books London Fleet. The Diaries make fascinating reading 2012 304 pages illustrated ISBN 978-1861899- in their own right. They also provide detailed 071 £25. movements of hundreds of ships and the men Forming the vanguard of Ottoman expansion who sailed in them. All can be found at http:// in the sixteenth century, the Barbary corsairs www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-3900Intro. achieved their greatest success in the first half htm of the seventeenth century. Embracing new To research ships and men, you can also use maritime technology they were able to extend the search box in the top left hand side of www. their predatory Mediterranean activities into the naval-history.net. My thanks to Gordon Smith North Atlantic raiding as far as England, Ireland for this update. and Iceland. It was only in the nineteenth century that British and American naval action Requests finally suppressed them. The book is a detailed study of the 300 year existence of the Barbary Christopher Morgan-Jones is very anxious corsairs and concludes by comparing them with to locate a copy of the book La Lotta current activities of the Somali pirates. Antisommergibile by Vitalinao Rauber. If any member has a copy and would like to sell it, University of Plymouth Press Britannia Naval please contact him at cc.morgan.jones@gmail. Histories of World War II com In partnership with Britannia Royal Naval College, the University of Plymouth Press is Would the member of the Society who was to proud to be publishing a new series of naval receive back numbers of The Mariner’s Mirror history books, Britannia Naval Histories from Richard Unger please contact him directly of World War II, on 30 April 2012. Never ([email protected] or 3643 West 3rd Ave., previously published in this format, documents Vancouver, BC, Canada V6R 1M1) to confirm once stamped ‘secret’ have been sourced from delivery and also to receive some new additional Britannia Royal Naval College’s Library. These material not included in the initial shipment. include reports and plans drawn up by serving Royal Navy Officers during and immediately after World War II. The series also contains Websites of Interest Germany’s recorded view of action against the British, with Hitler’s comments, as they Brazilian divers have discovered the remains of a were typed and filed at the time: the Führer Spanish vessel that has lain off the coast of Santa Conferences. Catalina since 1583

9 Topmasts no. 2, May 2012

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/ Fellowship Announcement lifestyle/2012/03/01/sixteenth-century- From John B Hattendorf of the Naval War shipwreck-discovered-by-brazil-team/ College Newport Rhode Island USA The restoration of King Khufu’s second solar The Edward S. Miller Research Fellowship in boat has been undertaken by a joint Japanese Naval History. and Egyptian scientific team at King Khufu’s The Naval War College Foundation intends to great pyramid. award one grant of $1,000 to the researcher with http://english.ahram.org.eg/ the greatest need and can make the optimum NewsContent/9/40/35047/Heritage/Ancient- use of the research materials for naval history /JapaneseEgyptian-team-starts-restoring- located in the Naval War College’s Archives, King-Khufus.aspx Naval Historical Collection, Naval War College Museum, and Henry E. Eccles Library. Further A 3,000-year-old-shipwreck shows that information on the manuscript and archival European trade was thriving in the Bronze Age. collections and copies of the registers for specific One of the world’s oldest shipwrecks, carrying collections are available on request from the copper and tin ingots, thought to date from Head, Naval Historical Collection, Naval War 900 bc has been discovered by divers off the College. E-mail: [email protected] coast of Salcombe in Devon. There is also a convenient link to the guides and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/ registers for that collection available at www. archaeology/7238663/3000-year-old-shipwreck- navaldocuments.org shows-European-trade-was-thriving-in-Bronze- The recipient will be a Research Fellow in Age.html the Naval War College’s Maritime History Department, which will provide administrative The Swedish vessel Vasa sank on her maiden support during the research visit. Submit voyage in 1628. Researchers in Stockholm have detailed research proposal that includes a full conducted a detailed examination of the ship and statement of financial need and comprehensive uncovered new clues as to why it sank. research plan for optimal use of Naval War http://www.pri.org/stories/science/swedish- College materials, curriculum vitae, at least preservationists-document-likely-cause-of- two letters of recommendation, and relevant sinking-of-ancient-sailing-ship-8606.html background information to Miller Naval History Fellowship Committee, Naval War College Foundation, 686 Cushing Road, An Australian student field trip from Flinders Newport RI 02841-1207, by 1 September 2012. University discovers shipwrecks in a Council For further information, contact the chair of the car park at Koombana Bay WA and more news selection committee at john.hattendorf@usnwc. of the Royal Charlotte the nineteenth-century edu Employees of the U.S. Naval War College troop carrier that sank off the Queensland coast or any agency of the U.S. Department of in 1825. Defense are not eligible for consideration; EEO/ http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/301708/20120221/ AA regulations apply. shipwreck-ship.htm

10 Topmasts no. 2, May 2012. University Courses New Members and Cardiff University, Reported Deaths School of Earth and Ocean Science We are sad to report the death of our Hon. Dr Hance Smith and Dr David Jenkins are Membership Secretary Peter Garvey on 13 supervising a course for students – The Regional March 2012. There is a notice in May’s Mariner’s Development of Maritime Heritage in the Mirror and a full obituary will appear in the . For further information August issue. The list of new members and contact Dr Hance Smith or visit the Cardiff reported deaths is hence suspended from this University website. issue of Topmasts. University of Exeter

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. Greenwich Maritime Institute, University of Greenwich

Located in the historic setting of the Old Royal Naval College, the Greenwich Maritime Institute offers a unique en­vironment­ for the study of maritime history, including an MA in Maritime History . For details email gmi@gre. ac.uk or visit the Greenwich Maritime Institute website. University of Hull

The University of Hull offers a BA course and MA and PhD programmes in maritime history. Contact Dr Richard Gorski or visit the website at the Department of History, Uni­versity of Hull. There is also a Diploma in Maritime History provided on a part-time basis over four years, with learning and teaching taking place entirely online. For further information email Michaela Barnard. Swansea University

Swansea University Arts and Humanities­ department is offers an MA course in Maritime and Imperial History. For further details please visit the Swansea University website or contact Dr Adam Mosley.

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 July 2012 though urgent or timely items may be accommodated later if required.

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