Roger Marsh Review: British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714 – 1792 – Historic Naval Fiction

We previously reviewed Rif Winfields volume covering the period 1603 to 1714, published in the excellent series from Seaforth Publishing which details every single known British ship in service with the Royal Navy from 1603 to 1817, built, purchased or taken. As we said of the first volume, nothing quite like them exists.

The volume we are looking at this time is, chronologically, the second in the series as well as the second of them written by the author, covering the period from the accession in 1714 of King George I, shortly before the setting up of the first formal Establishment of 1719, through to 1792 under George III, the year before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War. This time scale covers all the major naval wars of the eighteenth century except for the last one, taking us through an era when Britain consolidated her dominant position at sea and also became a major imperial power, in spite of the loss of her American colonies founded in the previous century.

via Roger Marsh Review: British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714 – 1792 – Historic Naval Fiction.

Roger Marsh Review: British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603 – 1714 – Historic Naval Fiction

Another volume in the excellent series of maritime books steadily being built up by Seaforth Publishing under the longestablished editorial team of Robert Gardiner and Julian Mannering, this impressive recent publication is one of three consecutive works by the wellknown Rif Winfield (perhaps known to readers as the author of such classic studies as The 50-gun Ship [1993], based on HMS Leopard — a lovely ship, even if one somewhat unpalatable both to US readers and to Patrick O’Brian’s Captain Jack Aubrey!)

The study reviewed here takes us from the end of the reign of Elizabeth I and the accession of James I in 1603, to the death of Queen Anne and the start of the Georgian era in 1714. The second volume in the series will take us from 1714 through to 1792, just before the outbreak of war, and the third right through the Great French Wars from 1793 until 1817, just after the end of the Napoléonic Wars with France and the War of 1812 against the USA, both of which conflicts drew to a close in 1815. Both of these consecutive volumes by Rif Winfield are to be reviewed here later.

Read More Roger Marsh Review: British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603 – 1714 – Historic Naval Fiction.

Alaric Bond C S Forester Society Article – Historic Naval Fiction

The C S Forester Society produces a regular magazine for it’s members, Reflections. The June 2012 issue has an interesting article by author Alaric Bond in which he discusses the Hornblower series, his writing, and how it has been influenced by Forester’s work

The article has been reproduced, with permission, on his own website alaricbond.com.

Read More Alaric Bond C S Forester Society Article – Historic Naval Fiction.

Review: The Power and the Glory by William C. Hammond – Historic Naval Fiction

In the third instalment of the Cutler Family Chronicles the action moves to the Quasi War with France and find Lt. Richard Cutler serving on the first frigates of the young nations new navy USS Constellation and USS Constitution during the major actions of the campaign.

At the same time the ever expanding Cutler family is again used to explore the political and family relationships between America and England. Not many years before the two countries had fought one another as America struggled for independence with France aiding them. Now old friendships are reforming and after France starts to attack American trading vessels England and America find a common interest bringing them together over French colonial rule in Haiti.

As always the naval, family and political threads are woven together in an excellent well written and believable narrative by the author as he explores the early history of the young nation.

Read More Review: The Power and the Glory by William C. Hammond – Historic Naval Fiction.

Broadsides: Caricatures and the Navy 1756-1815 (PB) – Historic Naval Fiction

James Davey & Richard Johns have a new book available for pre-order in paperback, Broadsides: Caricatures and the Navy 1756-1815. It is will be released on 19 July 2012 in the UK and in October in the US.

Broadsides explores the political and cultural history of the Navy during the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries through contemporary caricature. This was a period of intense naval activity – encompassing the Seven Years War, the American War of Independence, the wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France, and the War of 1812.Naval caricatures were utilized by the press to comment on events, simultaneously reminding the British public of the immediacy of war, whilst satirizing the same Navy it was meant to be supporting.The thematic narrative explores topics from politics to invasion, whilst encompassing detailed analysis of the context and content of individual prints. It explores pivotal figures within the Navy and the feelings and apprehensions of the people back home and their perception of the former. The text, like the caricatures themselves, balances humor with the more serious nature of the content. The emergence of this popular new form of graphic satire culminated in the works of James Gillray and Thomas Rowlandson, both here well represented, but a mass of other contemporary illustration makes this work a hugely important source book for those with any interest in the wars and history of this era.

via Broadsides: Caricatures and the Navy 1756-1815 (PB) – Historic Naval Fiction.