Search results for ""author malcolm archibald""

Dundee, City of Discovery, is known around the world for its innovation, its jute and music, and its vibrant culture. But the critical role of the city's whaling fleet and the wealth it generated for Dundee for more than a century is less well known. Ancestors in the Arctic is a remarkable collection of photographs from the McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery and Museum, and tells the story of Dundee whaling and the men who sailed the frozen Arctic seas. This was a brutal, dangerous business which required the hardiest of men, prepared to head out to sea in all weathers and in terrible conditions in search of the elusive mammal and in the hope of a profit from whalebone, skins and the whale oil which was essential for the city's jute mills and factories. And as they sailed the dangerous Arctic waters, the ship's captains became well known - including Captain William Adams, who sailed farther north than any other Dundee whaling master and Captain Harry MacKay of Terra Nova and rescuer of the trapped Discovery in 1903. More numerous were the crewmen, the hardworking Dundonians who rowed the whaleboats and manned the ships, and many of whose descendants still live in Dundee. Ancestors in the Arctic tells their remarkable stories as they sailed north, traded with the Inuit and hunted whales across forbidding freezing seas.

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Nineteenth-century Dundee was a tough, unforgiving place. For many of its citizens, it was the survival of the fittest, and to survive they turned to crime. But what was it really like both for the criminals and the law-abiding citizens to live in the streets and closes of Dundee at that time? A Sink of Atrocity reveals the real Dundee of the nineteenth century and the ordinary and extraordinary crimes of the times. As well as the usual domestic violence, fights and petty thefts, the Peter Wallace gang plagued the city while Resurrectionists caused panic and alarm. There were also infamous murders and an astonishing variety of crimes by women, as well as highly unusual crimes such as the theft of a whale at sea. Against this tidal wave of crime stood men like Patrick Mackay and the city's other Messengers-at-Arms, responsible for apprehending criminals before the advent of the police. It was a tough job in a tough city, but the punishments were severe as the authorities fought hard to bring law and order to nineteenth-century Dundee.

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Hugging the coast and crammed between two rivers, Aberdeen grew up isolated from Scotland's other urban centres. Yet Aberdeen experienced its share of crime in the 19th century. The city was plagued by a plethora of prostitutes, ravaged by riots and aggravated by assaults. There were streets such as Shuttle Lane which respectable people were well advised not to enter; a military garrison that could be more trouble than it was worth and dead bodies buried behind a girl's school. Trying to keep the city under control were the Town Sergeants and an infant police force that, according to Superintendent George Cran, relied on the Spengie switch by day and the oaken staff by night. The surrounding countryside was every bit as rough. As if truculent fishermen and murderous railway navigators were not enough, there were also thimble riggers and the Cock o' the North to contend with, while both city and countryside were plagued by juvenile criminals. But overshadowing all, and bringing this part of Scotland on the map of international crime, were the fraudsters. The North East seemed to breed an extraordinary number of women who lived their lives by deceiving others.One such was Mrs Gordon Baillie from Peterhead, who fooled and beguiled people from Melbourne to New York, and her story is now revealed along with the other crimes of 19th century Aberdeen and the North East.

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There cannot be many cities where crime could mean anything from singing a seditious song to stealing a ship, but nineteenth-century Glasgow was a unique place with an amazing dynamism. Immigrants poured in from Ireland and the Highlands, while the factories, shipyards and mills buzzed with innovation. However, underneath the hustle and bustle was a different world, as an incredibly diverse criminal class worked for their own profit - with a total disregard for the law. The highways and byways were infested with robbers; garrotters jumped on the unwary; drunken brawls disfigured the evening streets; prostitutes lured foolish men into dark corners; conmen connived clever schemes; and murder was nearly commonplace. This was a dark and dangerous world, with a volatile population and the constant threat of riots. Holding back the tide of lawlessness was Britain's first professional police force, established in Glasgow in 1800. Their task of policing the city was daunting as they faced everything from petty crime to murder, the notorious Paisley Union Bank robbery to a string of jewellery thefts in the city centre. Glasgow: The Real Mean City is a fascinating account of the century-long struggle of the forces of law and order as they battled to bring peace to a troubled city.

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The Highlands and Islands of Scotland are full of iconic places, beautiful landscapes and flourishing wildlife, but its past has seen horrifying and brutal crime of all sorts. Life in the Highlands of the 19th century was not easy. The glens and moors were home to poachers and whisky smugglers, while the towns were often ready to explode into riot and disorder. Even the Hebridean seas had their dangers, while the Islands seethed with discontent. Whisky Wars looks behind the façade of romantic tartan and vast estates. As well as petty thefts and assaults, the Highlands had a coastal town where riots were endemic, an island rocked by a triple murder, a mob besieging Dornoch jail and religious troubles on the Black Isle. Add the thief who targeted tourist hotels and an Exciseman hanged for forgery, and a hidden history is unearthed in all its unique detail. A fascinating insight into life in the Highlands and Islands as the forces of law and order battled to bring peace to a troubled land.

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An introduction to the nautical history of the North Atlantic. For centuries the Atlantic hemmed Europe behind its storms and mysterious breadth. This was the ocean sea that extended to nowhere, or to the end of the world. Although there were legends of crossings by Celtic saints and Norse ocean farers, it took the vision of an Italian and the finance of a Spanish queen to shatter the shackles of superstition. Columbus was the catalyst who opened the door to the modern world. "Across the Pond" tells of the changing use of this ocean, from a barrier to a route to riches and a highway for trade. There are episodes of exploration and exploitation, there are fighting ships and fisheries, treasure and timber, and always the danger of the sea. There also slipped the slavers with their cargo of shame. This is an ocean that bred some of the world's hardiest mariners, famous men such as Cabot and Hudson and Vespucci, but also the nameless thousands who manned ships, the hard-used mariners from the Chesapeake, the Solway and Seville. Here was bred the down east Yankee, the Nova Scotian bluenose and the Scouser from Liverpool.

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