Naval History

The Outlaws of the Atlantic is one of the most popular publications on the naval history touching so dramatic world of the maritime adventures. Written by the award-winning naval historian, the book literally turns the marine industry upside down - it shows the history from the viewpoint of commoners - pirates, sailors, slaves and other outlaws of the sea from late XVII to the early XIX century.

With a keen eye for these characters, the author shows how the maritime actors shaped the history. The reader will know how merchant sailors organize, inspired and maintained the democratic structures both outside and within the laws at the time. It all resulted in the book exploring the maritime history "from below". According to the readers review, this book is really awesome and containing huge number of information that would be very difficult in other ones. A great reading for all people interested in naval history and very informative source from a very well known and world respected historian.

The readers will definitely enjoy the background history of the present volume providing them with the detailed information on how the merchant seafarers used to organize, inspire and maintain the democratic structures within and also outside the laws for more than three centuries. In fact, this volume presents an excellent collection of the specific historical papers.

All historians who have been involved in the researches of the Mediterranean has paid particular attention to the historical period between 1450 and 1700, and there was a good reason for that. In the early modern centuries, navigators adopted the small vessels and sailing techniques in use at those times to change the whole character of maritime trade together with the naval warfare.

The changes occurred in the competitions marking the Mediterranean seafaring have been considered equally important. After centuries of dominating of the Orthodox Christian and Latin powers in the region, the subsequent rise of the Empire of Ottomans did lead to the great clash between two most powerful human civilizations, namely Christian and Muslim. Subject struggle involved a whole set of religious, cultural, political and commercial aspects, with the diverse people of the Mediterranean region being the major players at first...

The historical overview presented in this publication will trace all the associated developments, mainly relying on the historical scholarship focusing on the early modern period of Mediterranean region. The list of topics covered by the author includes the navies and the Mediterranean in different historical periods including the early modern period mentioned above, era of the world wars, and others; note that the contemporary issues of the maritime strategy and policy in the region have also been addressed in detail.

This remarkably detailed book is a very good source of information to be used for the naval history enthusiasts who will definitely enjoy the story of one of the most famous Naval Officers in the whole history who served in the Submarine Service. The author of this publication has a life-long interest in the naval history and particularly the VC, standing for the Victoria Cross award - he spent much time with the British Royal Navy and either wrote or contributed in a number of maritime publications - he was quite fortunate to be given an opportunity to research the naval life of Rear Admiral Godfrey Place VC - in the present volume he starts as the Lieutenant in command of X7 submarine.

The content of this interesting publication written by Paul Watkins is supplemented with the thirty-six black and white photos placed together somewhere in the middle part of this book. The author offers its readers a truly great story of this remarkable Naval Officer. It shall be taken into account that the content of this volume has been prepared mainly on the basis of the relevant information taken from the sources not published earlier, and the list of references includes the author's personal recollections on the attack done on the Tirpitz and also in prison.

Another publication covering the naval warfare of the past times. All readers with the interest in the history will find the answers to the most common questions, they will get to know hot the medieval navies were organized and how the rulers used them. The publication gives readers a real wealth of relevant information addressing both tactics and strategy of the fleets of those times and also the extent to which people managed to understand, explore and exploit the possibilities of sea.

The present interesting and fascinating account was prepared to bring to life all difficulties and dangers of the seafaring of medieval times. Particularly, the author of the book reveals the exploits of France, England and Italian city states, examining why there the naval battles took place, and how they were fought. The readers will find the information about the logistical back up required to maintain a navy fleet and the battles from the North Sea to the Mediterranean.

The book is really excellent taking into account the quality and depth of the performed analysis and coverage of the documents, it is considered a good reading companion for every naval historian and maritime archaeologist. A book is full of very illustrative examples showing how the warships were deployed and depicting the uses and limitations of the sea power of medieval period.

Really worthwhile volume that should definitely be read by all people with the serious interest in the Greek trade and economy of the ancient time. The book has been deservedly treated as a very important and valuable contribution to the understanding oh the maritime trade activities of those times. The content of the publication is well-balanced and sensible.

The author is dealing directly with the subject and the introduction to the book has been mainly devoted to the point of organization and procedure. All of the passages and terms covered within this documents have been translated from Greek to English; however, when reproducing the original Greek the author has resorted to two scripts - ancient Greek and the one transliterated into English, with corresponding decisions being made depending on the nature of the particular passage.

The sections covering the abbreviations and providing the references to the Greek terms have also been provided. The books provide all required information on the classical exchange patterns and modes, juridical place and wealth of the maritime traders of the ancient times, as well as the official and unofficial attitudes towards the maritime traders and archaic exchange modes. There are several appendices with additional information. In short, a good one for naval historians and enthusiasts...

The people of Scotland have always been close to the sea. It is impossible to live more than 40 miles from salt water except on the heights of the Cairngorms. The sea forms most of the boundaries of Scotland, though these have not always been fixed - in the past the Western Isles have been ruled from Ireland and Norway, Orkney and Shetland by Norway. Sea transport has always had a vital role in holding the country together, across its innumerable rivers, channels and sounds.

It has also opened up the possibilities of international trade, allowing Scotland to develop relations with many places without going through its old rival, England. Nearly a third of Scotland's population lives in the four great cities, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen, all of which are seaports; though this was not achieved without some effort, for Edinburgh had to create a satellite port at Leith, while Glasgow used enormous resources in deepening the Clyde. The cultural difference between Edinburgh and Glasgow is great for two cities so close together.

This is partly explained by the fact that they face in different directions - Edinburgh towards England and the Continent, Glasgow towards Ireland, the Western Isles and America. Throughout the centuries Scotland has maintained independent relations with Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Ireland, France and North America. According to Professor Donaldson: "'From the Firth of Forth, Bremen and Bergen are no further away than Antwerp and Dieppe; from Aberdeen, the Kattegat is as near as the English Channel and the nearest continental country is Norway". Without the maritime dimension, England is seen as Scotland's only neighbour and that country seems to dominate Scotland's history.

This book attempts to take an overall view of Scottish maritime history, archaeology and building and monuments, uniting the different themes of passenger and cargo shipping, fishing, shipbuilding and naval history, each of which is well covered by its own specialists, with little reference to how it relates to the others. Because of pressures of space, it is regrettably not possible to do full justice to all aspects of the subject - yachting, the seaside, lifeboats and shipwrecks, for example, are barely mentioned...

In his interesting and useful work, Thomas Tartaron has presented a brand new and quite original reassessment of the shipping world at the times of the Mycenaean Greeks, and we now talking about the Late Bronze Age. By all accounts the seafarers did enjoy the marine connections with other peoples as distant as Sicily and Egypt. Such the long-distance relationships have been celebrated and subjected to numerous close studies.

By contrast, unfortunately, the live and vibrant worlds of local marine interaction as well as exploration of the seas have been mainly ignored. The author argues that subject local maritime networks presented in the forms of "small worlds" or "coastscapes" are in fact much more representative of the true content of life of Mycenaean. In this title, he is offering readers a complete template of methodological and also conceptual instruments to recover tha small worlds mentioned above together with the human communities that used to inhabit them.

He did a great job trying to combine the archaeological, geo-archaeological and also anthropological approaches with the network theory and ancient papers to demonstrate the application of that scheme in the numerous case studies. The publication presents absolutely new perspectives and challenges for all professionals and enthusiasts of archaeology interesting in maritime connectivity.

This book by Ronald Love is representing a remarkably useful survey of the European expansion and exploration that took place during the early modern historical period and thorough examination of this development. The text contained in this volume combines the factual historical information with the analysis and interpretation; as a result, the book become very informative, easy- and interesting to read.

Apart from the main text, there are lots of supplementary information included in the publication, for example biographical profiles, excerpts fro the important historical documents, and even the glossary. For sure, students and all people with the interest in the naval history will definitely find this book very useful when searching for the information or conducting researches on the maritime exploration.

The author has described the early Portuguese expeditions that were taken along the coast of Africa; in addition, he also addressed the discovery of Americas by Spanish mariners, exploration of the Pacific, and the expeditions made to search for a northern marine passage to China. The narrative chapters of the book will guide the readers from the exploration of Mongol Empire by Marco Polo to Magellan's travel around the globe and all other historically important events. This is a treasure for any naval history enthusiast.