Reviews are edited by Jonathan Seagrave. If you have a publication that you would like to be reviewed, please get in touch with Jonathan editor.bookreviews@swmaritime.org.uk
Roy Schneider edits George Tobin’s log and images to tell the story of the second, successful expedition, that Bligh lead to Tahiti to secure bread fruit plants for the West Indies plantations.
The British Civil Wars at Sea, 1638-53 Richard J. Blakemore and Elaine Murphy, published by the Boydell Press. 225 pp.H/C RRP £70 Amazon £54.56. Ebook £24.99 Studies of the British Civil Wars often overlook the role of the navies, while the few that focus on the maritime conflict were written more than 35 years ago. … Read more
Whittles publishing £17.99. 145 pp. numerous b & w photos. I elected to review this as it seemed an interesting change from the many accounts of combat vessels in WW2. Flipping through after it arrived, I saw mention of Turmoil and Flying Enterprise, which took me back to the tender age of six, the first … Read more
Mainline & Maritime Ltd. £22.95 Compiled by Mike Tedstone from the archives of the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society. 95 pages. (£5 for every book sold will be donated to support Waverley and Kingswear Castle). The introduction of the book briefly discusses the origins and early history of the White Funnel fleet of paddle steamers of … Read more
Paul Upton. Self-Published, 2018. £6.00, colour and b & w illustrations, 64 pages Thomas Chidgey was a self-taught marine artist in addition to being a master mariner and was one of a number of ‘pierhead painters’ in the nineteenth century. Thomas painted prolifically and quickly, often completing ships’ portraits whilst the ‘sitter’ was in port … Read more
Seaforth Publishing, 2022, £30.00 (hardback) The drama, daring and, in the case of the doomed Franklin expedition, the horror of the historical quest for the North West Passage has generated decades of earnest research and passionate debate. Many publications have flowed from the magnetic focus on the topic, including James Delgado’s ‘Across the Top of … Read more
pp. 245, b&w photos. Pen and Sword £25.00 The Arctic convoys have been the subject of numerous books and controversies, especially PQ17. This book by retired civil servant William Smith, presents a brief overview of the political background to the convoys, then a brief dispassionate account of each convoy, in date order, organised into successive … Read more
When War Came to the Dart. Hilary Sunman and Gail Ham. Published by the Dartmouth History Research Group. Paperback (A5), 284 pages, including 30 pages of illustrations, 31 maps and tables. To buy @ £10.00, please contact DHRG by email at enquiries@dartmouthhistory.org.uk When War Came to the Dart When War Came to the Dart tells … Read more
Square Rigger Sunset is now available! It is extensively documented from primary sources as well as the established literature, and is backed by the Schedules, the detailed biographies of every one of the 440 four-masted square riggers that form the subject of the book (these are available separately on a 16 gb memory stick). Extensively … Read more
The Most Highly Decorated Midshipman in the Second World War. G S (Mick) Stoke MBE, DSC, RN. By Jeremy Stoke, Pen & Sword Maritime, hardback, 265 pages, 2022, £25. (ISBN 978 1 39907 136 9). This is not a book about famous ships, explorers, battles or well-known heroes! It is, however, the story of an … Read more
A while back I enjoyed and reviewed Mary Jones’ account of Admiral John Marx (SWS 70), so I thought I’d tackle this new biography of Wemyss too, another little known but significant figure. He was very much of the same period, and the account begins in the same way, time at Britannia, then the unchallenged … Read more
David Fletcher. 2022. Pub: Mainline and Maritime, ISBN 9 781900 340977, £18.95 This book has at least one photograph of a vessel on every page; all of them are visiting Teignmouth, just leaving the port or are ‘parked’ in Lyme Bay. The photographs are presented in date order, commencing in 1993, and just under half … Read more
Douglas Yates A.R.C.A. Published by Proteus Print. 128 pp, 8 x 12 ins, £18.99, available from Harbour Bookshop, Kingsbridge and Douglas Yates’ website (see below) 70 archive photos, and 18 coloured architectural drawings of key vessels and numerous illustrations of local life and stories, all by the author. This book is the culmination of 30 … Read more
By Paul Barnett. Published December 2019 by the author for the “Friends of Purton”. This fascinating book and guide tells the story of the large number of coastal ships and canal lighters that have been “hulked” at a number of designated places along on the banks of the river Severn from Sharpness, Purton, Lydney and … Read more
By Graham Smith, 172 pp., published 1989. Countryside books. Out of print but several copies available from Amazon for around £3-4. This short book details the many strands of smuggling in the Bristol Channel, including references to smuggling elsewhere and a brief introduction to earlier times. The earliest smuggling was outbound, to avoid the export … Read more
The Shetland ‘Bus’ – transporting secret agents across the North Sea in WW2. By Stephen Wynn, Pen & Sword Military, hardback, 204 pages, 2021, £19.99 (ISBN 978 1 52673 535 5) This is a book written by a retired police officer with a long standing military family history. The information is gleaned from newspaper reports, … Read more
Translated by Garry Bannister and David Sowby, Kindle £2.99 (NB there are other translations, but it seems they have been bowdlerised; this one is unabridged). This memoir of the harsh life in the remote Blasket islands, off the Dingle peninsula of west Ireland, brings home the extreme poverty of life there at the end of … Read more
This is a complete list of book reviews in South West Soundings from 1998 to 2022. You can use this list to identify the issue of Soundings where the review features, and then (if you are a member) find the relevant issue in the Soundings Archive.
