Members' publications

Books, papers, articles written by our members. This page lists those works which have been brought to our attention. There are certainly many more that could be mentioned if their authors could let us us know. Contact either the Internet Co-ordinator or Soundings Editor

Jack Tar: Life in Nelson's Navy

By Roy and Lesley Adkins

This book was published in hardcover by Little, Brown in 2008 (ISBN 978-1-4087-0054-9, price £20, 429 pages). A paperback version with the revised title of 'Jack Tar: the extraordinary lives of ordinary seamen in Nelson's navy' is also available (Abacus; ISBN 978-0-349-12034-8). The aim of the book was to give a voice to the forgotten men of the lower deck - the seamen and marines, and even some women and children. Personal letters, diaries and a whole host of other types of manuscripts and little-known publications are used to build up the story of what life was like. The book is divided into themes, such as 'Into battle', 'A wife in every port' and 'At leisure', and it covers the period from 1771, when Nelson joined the Royal Navy, to 1815, a decade after his death and the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the war with America.

Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle

By Roy Adkins

This book was published in hardcover by Little, Brown in 2004, and in paperback by Abacus in 2005 (ISBN 0-349-11632-6, price £8.99, 392 pages). It tells the story of the build-up to the Battle of Trafalgar, the battle itself, and the devastating storm that occurred afterwards, concentrating to a large degree on the experiences of the ordinary seamen. In the US, the book is called "Nelson's Trafalgar" and is published in hardcover and paperback by Penguin. The book is available in the UK and US through most bookstores and Amazon.

A large-print version called *Nelson's Trafalgar* can also be borrowed from public libraries, and there are also Japanese and Spanish translations!

The War for All the Oceans: From Nelson at the Nile to Napoleon at Waterloo

By Roy and Lesley Adkins

This book was published in hardcover by Little, Brown in 2006 (ISBN 0-316-72837-3, price £20, 534 pages) and in paperback by Abacus in 2007 (ISBN 978-0-349-11916-8, price £10.99). It recounts many of the events of the war at sea in Napoleonic times, from the Battle of the Nile right up to the end of the war with the United States, including the fate of British POWs held in France and foreign seamen held in Britain. There are many West Country stories, such as the wreck of the frigate Anson, the press-gang murder at Portland and the Dartmoor Massacre. The book has the same title in the US, but is published there by Penguin. There is also an unabridged audio version, produced in the US by Tantor and read by Patrick Lawlor. The book and audio version are available through most bookstores and Amazon.

Wrecks and Rescues around Padstow's Doom Bar

By Brian French

This is a comprehensive coverage of Padstow's notorious land mark, tracing its influence on the town and its people. Padstow's beautiful sands have been the burial ground of over 600 ships, both steam and sail over the centuries. The book is divided into three main sections; the Doom Bar story; newspaper reports and articles over the period; a catalogue of all the ships recorded wrecked in Padstow Harbour limits from 1600 to the present.
The narrative covers the 'Mermaid myths'; Shifting Sands - the changing shape of the Doom Bar; Wrecks and Wrecking; Gig Rescues; The Rocket Brigades; Stepper Point Pilots and the work of the Harbour Association; Padstow Lifeboats; Poems of the Doom Bar; Honouring the Dead. Illustrated throughout with charts and both archive and new photographs.

Price £8.95 ISBN 0 946143 31 7 from Lodenek Press, 1 Fernleigh Cotts, Probus, Cornwall,TR 2 4PY phone 01726 883564

Books

By Charmian Astbury

The Story of the Dido C (Pub. 2002) ISBN 0 9539640 1 9

The Ketch Ceres 1811-1936 (Pub. 2004) ISBN 0 9539640 2 7

The Agnes, the Clara May and the Traly (Pub. 2007) ISBN 978-0-9539640-3-1

All available at £4.50

Plymouth's other Fleet - The Merchant Shipping Registers of the Port of Plymouth 1814 - 1876

By Gary Hicks

A CD containing transcripts of the registers of 1800 vessels registered at Plymouth with added material relating to the vessels builders, owners and eventual fate. Whether the vessel was built in a small Westcountry port or in the great industrial centres of the north east of England, in Scotland or in Maritime Canada, if she was registered at Plymouth in the period, her details are here - barges, fishing boats, coasters, Mediterranean traders or emigrant vessels to Canada, USA, Australia or New Zealand. Additional information, or orders, direct from the author gary.hicks@blueyonder.co.uk (10 Sarum Close, Hartley Vale Plymouth PL3 5SH) cost £18, p&p £2 UK or £3 overseas - cheques payable to G.E. Hicks or payment via Paypal.

Brunel's Hidden Kingdom

By Geoffrey Tudor

This is an account of Brunel's 'hideout' in the West Country at Watcombe Park, Torquay and in particular his role as researcher as well as designer of the Admiralty Experiment Tank at Torquay - the prototype of all model testing tanks throughout the world - along with his son Henry's work with Froude at the tank.
To reserve a copy please send a cheque for £21.50 (includes p&p)to: H.Hillard, Birchwood, Cockhaven Rd., Bishopsteignton, Teignmouth, Devon, TQ1 9RQ (This is a £2 concession on rrp, so orders should be marked South West Maritime History Society and be sent by 31 October 2007.)

John Davis - Master Navigator, 1543-1605

By Dartmouth History Research Group

Price £3.00 + p & p. Copies can be obtained via the Dartmouth History Research Group , Dartmouth Museum or some local bookshops.
Published by Dartmouth History Research Group

Holman's: A Family Business of Shipbuilders, Shipowners and Insurers from 1832

By David Clement

Published by the Topsham Museum Society, 25 The Strand, Topsham, Exeter, England EX 3 0AX ,ISBN 0 9524591 2 4.
Price £12.00. cheques should be made payable to Topsham Museum Trading Ltd.

Books

By Mike Smylie

The Herring Fishers and other Vignettes (a book of poetry in 1996).

The Herring Fishers of Wales (Carreg Gwalch, 1998).

Traditional Fishing Boats of Britain and Ireland (1999).

Kipperman & the Red Herring (self, 1999).

Anglesey and Its Coastal Tradition (Carreg Gwalch, 2000).

Herring - A History of the Silver Darlings (Tempus, 2004).

Working the Welsh Coast (Tempus, 2005).

The World's First Great Ocean Liner: a select bibliography of the ss Great Britain 1834-1970

By Jean C Young

Published 2002. 154p.; illus. 09526323 1 4.

Available from: Mrs. Jean C. Young, 4 Cabot Rise, Portishead, North Somerset, BS20 6NX. E-mail: jean@marm.org.uk Price £9.50 to include post and packing.

This bibliography contains items specifically about the Great Britain from her design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel up to her return home to Bristol in 1970. It is based on material gathered by the ss Great Britain Trust to discover the history of the ship and to aid the restoration and interpretation.The work brings together for the first time all of the key sources for the ship. It includes primary and secondary sources, a list of the major printed works about the ship, her life at sea and the complexities of her salvage and return to Bristol. It includes 1034 entries of references to the ship researched from many sources in the UK, USA and Australia, with locations. There is an extensive index to allow effective access to the material. The collection of eighty shipboard diaries, newspapers written on board, menus, testimonials etc. is an unparalleled resource, a mine of information about the ship herself, life on board and sailing and steaming procedures.

Up the Creek

By Tony James

The author's adventures at home and abroad in an astonishing variety of small craft.
ISBN 0-9547062-707. Published by Seafarer Books, 102 Redwald Road, Rendlesham, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 1TE. Price £9.95 plus £1.05 p&p

Northeast Passage to Muscovy: Stephen Borough and the Early English Explorations

By Dr Kit Mayers

An enthralling book on early exploration and the hitherto underrated role played by a Devon man, Stephen Borough.
Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2005. Hardback 242 pages. Price £20.

Books

By John Pollock

Falmouth For Instructions. The Story of Falmouth in the Great War, 1914-1919, by John Pollock, published by the author, 'Penray', Perranwell Station, Truro TR3 7PF, ISBN: 0-9540810-3-X. 2004. Price £8-99 to include p&p.

The Kings of Stratton. pub: J.B. Pollock, Penray, Perranwell Station, Truro, TR3 7PF. 2001. ISBN: 0-99540810-0-5. price £5.99

A Very Cornish Practice. pub. (as above). 2001. ISBN: 0-9540810-1-3. price £6.99

Doox - A Soldier of the Great War and His Legacy. pub. (as above). 2005. ISBN: 0-9540810-4-8. Price £3.99
A Short History of St. Piran's Church, Perranarworthal. Pub: RHU Christian Publications, The Vicarage, Stithians, Cornwall. 2003. ISBN: 0-9540810-2-1. Price £2.50

Books

By Richard Clammer

Cosens of Weymouth 1918-1996, Twelveheads Press, PO Box 59, Chacewater, Truro, Cornwall TR4 8ZJ ISBN 0 906294 47 9 Price £29.00

Cosens of Weymouth 1840-1918, Black Dwarf Publications, Black Dwarf Lightmoor, 120 Farmers Close, Witney, Oxfordshire OX28 1NR. ISBN 1 903599 14 8. Price £29.95.

Paddle Steamers, 1837-1914. B.T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1980. ISBN 0 7134 2331 5

Passenger Steamers of the River Dart & Kingsbridge Estuary (with Alan Kittridge). Twelveheads Press, Truro, 1987. ISBN 0 906294 13 4

The Thomas Kydd series of historical naval adventure fiction

By Julian Stockwin

Published by Hodder & Stoughton. To date ten titles have been released:

KYDD ISBN 0 340 794739 Price £12.99
ARTEMIS ISBN 0 340 79475 5 Price £12.99
SEAFLOWER ISBN 0 340 79477 1 Price £14.99
MUTINY ISBN 0 340 79479 8 Price £14.99
QUARTERDECK ISBN 0 340 83217 7 Price £16.99
TENACIOUS ISBN 0 340 83220 7 Price £16.99
COMMAND
ADMIRAL'S DAUGHTER
TREACHERY
INVASION
[The books are also available in paperback]

Also, published by Ebury Press
MARITIME MISCELLANY ISBN 978 009 193 066 0
A ditty bag of wonders from the golden age of sail.

Available through most book stores or Amazon.
See www.JulianStockwin.com

Some evidence for the Coastal Grain and Flour Trade in the West Country, 1770-1900

By Martin Bodman

Bristol Industrial Archaeology Society Journal, 35, 2003, 20-30. (copies at: Central Library, Bristol; Somerset Studies Library, Taunton; Science Museum Library, South Kensington, London)

Jane Slade of Polruan

By Helen Doe

The history of a Cornish shipbuilding family from 1830 to 1930, and the inspiration for Daphne du Maurier's first novel. Published by Truran 2002, 128 pp. Price £9.99. Available via Willow Books 01209 822011 or sales@willowbooks.co.uk

Maritime Activities Of The Somerset & Dorset Railway

By Chris Handley

This book traces the fortunes of the shipping fleet of cargo ketches, steam coasters and paddle steamers operated by the Somerset & Dorset Railway out of its harbour at Highbridge, pier at Burnham, wharf at Bridgwater and its abortive attempts to run a service from Poole to Cherbourg. The story includes full details of the harbour at Highbridge and the shipping that used it until closure in 1948.
Published by Millstream Books, 18 The Tyning, Widcombe, Bath BA2 6AL, 2001. Softback, 160 pages, fully illustrated, with over 130 photographs, maps, plans, posters and drawings. Price £13.95. ISBN 0 948975 63 6. Available from the publisher or may be ordered from any good bookseller.

Ships of North Cornwall

By John Bartlett

"A work founded on comprehensive and diligent research; a classic study of its type" - Maritime Heritage.
A sixteen page supplement to the book comprising corrections, additions and author?s drawings has been prepared. Tabb house, the publishers, are relaunching the book unchanged but with the supplement slipped in at the back.

If SWMHS members would like a copy of the supplement posted to them will they please send a cheque for £2 to Tabb House, 7, Church Street, Padstow, Cornwall, PL28 8BG, mentioning that they are members. The book itself (plus supplement) is now available for £37 to members. [£4.50 is added for postage and packing for non-members].

William Wey. An English Pilgrim to Compostella in 1456

By Francis Davey

Published by The Confraternity of St James, 27, Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8NY, in 2000. ISBN 1 870585 56 9. Price £5.50

Articles

By Francis Davey

1. Sons of Iniquity, pub. Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro, Cornwall, TR1 2SJ. (to be published in 2003).
   



2. Parsons and Pirates, Devon and Cornwall Notes & Queries. 3 Johnstone Drive, Broomhill, Tiverton, Devon, EX16 5BU. Vol. XXXVIII Part VI, Autumn 1999.
   



3. What Happened to the West Country Pilgrim Ships in 1451?. Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries, (To be published in two parts, Autumn 2002 and Spring 2003)
   



4. Pilgrims and Pirates: Boscastle to La Coruña. pub. CSJ Bulletin, September 1998, No. 65



5. More Pirates and Pilgrims: the Julian of Fowey. pub. CSJ Bulletin, March 1999, No.65.
   



6. The Nicholas of Saltash. pub. CSJ Bulletin, June 1999, No.66.



7. Landulph: Smugglers and Pilgrims. pub. CSJ Bulletin, March 2000, No.69.
   



8. Topsham to Compostella: Pilgrims and Pirates. pub. Topsham Times No.5. The Journal of the Topsham Museum Society, Topsham Museum, Exeter, EX3 0AX.
   

(Numbers 4 to 7 above have all appeared in the Quarterly Bulletin of the Confraternity of St James, 27, Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8NY)