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Thank you Bryan and Jill

Seamanship in the Age of Sail: An Account of the Shiphandling of the Sailing Man-Of-War 1600-1860, Based on Contemporary Sources

by John Harland (no photo)

Synopsis:

Numerous successful reprints of contemporary works on rigging and seamanship indicate the breadth of interest in the lost art of handling square-rigged ships. Model makers, marine painters, and enthusiasts need to know not only how the ships were rigged but how much sail was set in each condition of wind and sea, how the various maneuvers were carried out, and the intricacies of operations like reefing sails or catting an anchor.

John Harland has provided what is undeniably the most thorough book on handling square-rigged ships. Because of his facility in a remarkable range of languages, Harland has been able to study virtually every manual published over the past four centuries on the subject. As a result, he is able to present for the first time a proper historical development of seamanship among the major navies of the world."

British Napoleonic Ship-of-the-Line

by Angus Konstam

Synopsis:

The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars encompassed a period when rival European fleets vied for naval supremacy, and naval tactics were evolving. The British Royal Navy emerged triumphant as the leading world sea power, and the epitome of Britannic naval strength was the Ship-of-the-Line. These 'wooden walls' were more than merely floating gun batteries: they contained a crew of up to 800 men, and often had to remain at sea for extended periods. This book offers detailed coverage of the complex vessels that were the largest man-made structures produced in the pre-Industrial era.

Rebels Under Sail: The American Navy During the Revolution

by William M. Fowler Jr. (no photo)

Synopsis:

lmost as soon as the smoke had settled at Lexington and Concord, the American Revolution was being fought on the sea as well as the land. A fragile and disunited coalition of thirteen colonies, embarking on a war with a great naval power, began to build a navy for the "preservation of the lives, liberty and property of the good people of these Colonies". Rebels Under Sail provides a vivid and authoritative history of how the new American nation set about its task.

Here is the ditty - The Wooden Walls of England:

The Wooden Walls of England.
Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (25 June 1773).

by Henry Green

When Britain on her sea-girt shore,
Her white-rob'd Druids erst address'd;
What Aid (she cry'd) shall I implore,
What best defense, by numbers press'd?
"Tho' hostile nations round thee rise,
(The mystic Oracles reply'd)
And view thine isle with envious eyes,
Their threats defy, their rage deride,
Nor fear Invasions from your adverse Gauls:
Britain's best bulwarks are her WOODEN WALLS.

"Thine Oaks descending to the main,
With floating forts shall stem the tides,
Asserting Britain's wat'ry reign
Where'er her thundering Navy rides:
Nor less to peaceful arts inclin'd,
Where Commerce opens all her stores,
In social bands will league mankind,
And join the sea-divided shores:
Spread then thy sails where Naval Glory calls:
Britain's best bulwarks are her WOODEN WALLS.

Hail, happy isle! what tho' the vales
No vine-impurpled tribute yield,
Nor fann'd with odour-breathing gales,
Nor crops spontaneous glad the field:
Yet Liberty rewards the toil
Of Industry, to labour prone,
Who jocund ploughs the grateful soil,
And reaps the harvest she has sown.
While other realms tyrannic sway inthralls,
Britain's best bulwarks are her WOODEN WALLS."

Thus spake the bearded Seers of yore,
In visions wrapt of Britain's fame
Ere yet Iberia felt her pow'r,
Or Gallia trembled at her name.
O! that my muse inspir'd could sing
The praises to her Heroes due,
Would heaven-born genius imp her wing,
Pleas'd, she'd the glorious theme pursue!
Then should my verse record great GEORGE'S reign,
Who stretch'd from Pole to Pole his wide domain.

Note:

Four Prior stanzas, the lines shortened by a foot in a lyric variation of this popular form. Green's poem became very popular after it was set by the composer Thomas Arne, with a different conclusion: "Ere yet Columbus dar'd t' explore | New regions rising from the main; | From sea to sea, from shore to shore, | Bear then, ye winds, the solemn strain! | This sacred truth, an awe-struck world appals, | Britain's best bulwarks are her Wooden Walls" Universal Magazine 70 (June 1782) 322. Perhaps the stanza was selected in deference to Ramillies, the name of Green's ship and the subject of Matthew Prior's poem.

Headnote: "The following was presented to the King at his Levee on Monday, by the Author. The Wooden Walls of England, an Ode, by Henry Green, Purser of his Majesty's Ship Ramillies."

Link:

Source: English Poetry 1579-1830: Spenser and the Tradition

More:
History of the Royal Navy - Wooden Walls (1600-1805)
Link:

Source: Youtube