Search results for ""Author Peter Goodwin""

When she was launched in 1765, HMS Victory was the ultimate warship of the Georgian era. As Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, she has since become inextricably linked to the memory of Britain's greatest naval hero. The Victory was built in the 18th century, with an expected life span of less than two decades, so the fact that she survives today – over 250 years later – is remarkable., Published with the cooperation of the Royal Navy this book takes readers onboard Nelson's Victory to examine the innermost workings of this maritime icon – from stem to stem, above and below decks., Author: Peter Goodwin was a marine engineer in the Royal Navy in both surface ships and nuclear submarines until 1991 when he was appointed the first Keeper and Curator of HMS Victory. He has a life-long interest in 18th century ship construction and is widely acknowledged as a leading authority on the sailing man-of-war. In this capacity he was the advisor for the film 'Master and Commander' and the BBCTV series 'Persuasion'., Icon titles were originally published in the classic, larger manual size and have now been produced in a smaller format containing the same information.

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In the summer of 1773 the 14-year old Horatio Nelson took part in an expedition to the Arctic, which came close to ending his naval career before it had begun. The expedition was to find a navigable northern passage between the Atlantic and Pacific, and was supported by the Royal Society and King George III. Two bomb vessels HMS Racehorse and Carcass were fitted out and strengthened under the command of Captain Hon. Constantine Phipps. It was an extremely cold Arctic summer and the ships became locked in ice far from Spitzbergen and were unable to cut their way out until days later when the wind changed and the ice broke up. The ships were extricated and returned home. On the trip, the young Nelson had command of one of the smaller boats of the ships, a four-oared cutter manned by twelve seamen. In this he helped to save the crew of a boat belonging to the Racehorse from an attack by a herd of enraged walruses. He also had a more famous encounter with a polar bear, while attempting to obtain a bearskin as a present for his father, an exploit that later became part of the Nelson legend. Drawing on the ship's journals and expedition commander Phipps' journal from the National Archives, the book creates a picture of the expedition and life on board. Using the ships' muster books it also details the ship's crews giving the different roles and ranks in the ships. The book is illustrated using some of the ship's drawings and charts and pictures of many objects used on the ship, while a navigational chart of the route taken has been created from the logbooks. The book also looks at the overall concept of naval exploration as set in train by Joseph Banks and the Royal Society. The fact that the expedition failed as a result of poor planning with potentially tragic results demonstrates the difficulties and uncertainties of such an expedition. It also looks at a great naval commander at the earliest stage of his career and considers how the experience might have shaped his later career and attitudes. Other great captains and voyages are discussed alongside Nelson, including Captain Cook and his exploration of the south seas and the later ill-fated northern journeys of Franklin and Shackleton.

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A history of life on board HMS Victory, the world's most famous warship. This addition to the best-selling Conway pocket-book range explores Admiral Nelson’s fully preserved flagship HMS Victory, the most tangible symbol of the Royal Navy’s greatest battle off Cape Trafalgar on October 21st 1805. Peter Goodwin, the leading historian of the sailing man-of-war, explains the workings of the only surviving ‘line of battle’ ship of the Napoleonic Wars. And, as Victory was engaged in battle for only two per cent of her active service, the book also provides a glimpse into life and work at sea during the other ninety-eight per cent of the time. Drawing from a selection of contemporary documents and records, Goodwin explains the day-to-day running of a three-decker Georgian warship: victualling, organisation, discipline, domestic arrangements and medical care. He answers questions such as: ‘What types of wood were used in building Victory?’; ‘What was her longest voyage?’; ‘How many shots were fired from her guns at Trafalgar?’; ‘How many boats did Victory carry?’; ‘What was prize money?’; ‘What was grog?’; ‘When did her career as a fighting ship end?’, and ‘How many people visit Victory each year?’ Illustrated with black and white diagrams of the ship and maps, this is a full history of the world's most famous warship in a highly accessible pocket-book format.

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