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Acknowledgement

Andrew Lavoie, a student at MLitt University of St Andrews, prepared this online presentation during an internship at the Navy Department Library in 2015.

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The Royal Navy of Great Britain, 1485-1914

A Bibliography and Research Guide to Sources in the Navy Department Library

Compiled and organized by Andrew Lavoie, MLitt University of St Andrews, Intern Jan. 2015

Introduction: The Royal Navy. Perhaps the greatest navy in world history, the Royal Navy has been a symbol of the might of Great Britain for over two hundred years. The Royal Navy itself has a history and naval tradition that stretches back over six centuries, making it one of the oldest institutions currently in existence. It has been the inspiration for countless novels and the image of the Royal Navy is virtually synonymous with the Age of Sail. This document contains a selection of both primary and secondary source available for both the casual and serious researcher on the history of the Royal Navy from its medieval roots to the start of the First World War. The guide can also provide an idea of where new research into the Royal Navy can be done, information particularly useful to masters and doctoral candidates amongst others. It has been divided primarily by chronological period but also includes sections on various special topics that the discerning researcher might find useful regarding the Royal Navy. 

General Works: These cover multiple chronological periods, providing an overview of the Royal Navy across time. Included are both scholarly and popular works on the Royal Navy as well as collections of essays examining aspects of the Royal Navy throughout its history.

General History

Adams, W.H. Davenport. Eminent Sailors. London: George Routledge & sons, 1882.

____. England on the Sea. 2 vols. London: F.V. White and Co., 1885.

____. Dewey and the Great Commanders. New York: George Routledge and sons Ltd, 1900.

Allen, Joseph. The Battles of the British Navy. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., 1900?

Barrow, John. The Naval History of Great Britain. 4 vols. London: J. Lowndes, 1776.

Beatson, Robert. Naval Military Memoirs of Great Britain. 6 vols. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orne, 1804.

Black, Jeremy. The British Seaborne Empire. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.

Brice, Martin H. Royal Navy Handbook. London: Ian Allan, 1985.

Bowen, H.V., Elizabeth Mancke, and John Reid, eds. Britain’s Oceanic Empire: Atlantic & Indian Ocean Worlds c. 1550-1850. New York: Cambridge University Press 2012.

Callender, Geoffrey. Sea Kings of Britain: Albemarle to Hawke. London: Longmans Green and Co., 1917.

____. Sea Kings of Britain: Keppel to Nelson. London: Longmans Green and Co., 1917.

____. Sea Kings of Britain: Hawkins to Blake. London: Longmans Green and Co., 1918.

____. The Naval Side of British History. London: Glasgow University Press, 1924.

Campbell, John. Lives of British Admirals and a Naval History. 8 vols. London: CJ Barrington, 1812.

Chatterton, E. Keble. The Story of the British Navy. London: Mills and Bloom Ltd., 1911.

Clowes, W. Laird. All about the Royal Navy. London: Cassell & Co. Limited, 1891.

____. The Royal Navy: a history from the earliest times to the present. 7 vols. London: Chatham Press, 1996-1997. First Published 1897 by Little Brown and Co.

Cornford, L. Cope. The British Navy: the Navy Vigilant. London: Macmillan & Co., 1904.

Crofts, Cecil H. Britain on and beyond the sea. London: W&AK Johnston, 1900.

De Chair, Dudley. The Sea is Strong. London: George G Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1961.

Derrick, Charles. Memoirs Of The Rise And Progress Of The Royal Navy. London: H. Teape, 1806.

Hannay, David. A Short history of the Royal Navy 1217-1815: Vol. 2 1689-1815. London: Methuen & Co., 1910?

Harding, Richard. The Evolution of the sailing Navy 1509-1815. London: St Martin’s Press, 1995.

Hartford, G.B. Commander RN. London: Arrrowsmith, 1927.

Hearnshaw, F.J.C. Sea-power and Empire. London: George G Harrap & co. Ltd, 1952.

Herman, Arthur. To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World. New York: HarperCollins, 2004.

Hervey, Frederic. The Naval History Of Great Britain; From The Earliest Times To The Rising Of The Parliament In 1779. London: William Adlard, 1779.

Hill, J.R. ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of the Royal Navy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Homan, T. Life in the Royal Navy. London: Sampson Low, Marston, and Co. ltd, 1892.

Hore, Peter, A. The Habit of victory: the story of the Royal Navy 1545 to 1945. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 2005.

Howarth, David. Sovereign of the Seas: the story of Britain and the sea. New York: Atheneum, 1974.

Hurd, Archibald. Sea power. London: Constable & co. Ltd, 1916.

James, William. The influence of sea power on the history of the British people. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1948.

____. The Naval History of Great Britain. 6 vols. (1, 3, 4, 5 in library). London: Richard Bentley, 1837.

Jane, Fred T. The British Battle Fleet: its inception and growth throughout the centuries. London: S.W. Partridge & Co. Ltd 1912 (Updated 1915 edition also of 2 volumes).

Langmaid, Kenneth. Clear for Action! The Royal Navy in defence and in attack. London: Jarrolds, 1970.

Laughton, John Knox. From Howard to Nelson. London: Lawrence & Bullen ltd., 1899.

Lediard, Thomas. The Naval History Of England. 2 vols. London: John Wilcox, 1735.

Louis, Geoffrey. Fabulous Admirals. London: Putnum, 1957.

Marcus, G.J. A Navy history of England: the formative centuries. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1961.

Matthew, David. The Naval Heritage. London: Collins, 1945.

Miller, Nathan. Broadsides: the age of fighting sail, 1775- 1815. New York: Wiley, 2000.

Nicolas, Paul Harris. Historical Record Of Royal marine Forces. London: Thomas and William Boone, 1845.

Nicolas, Nicholas Harris. A history of the Royal Navy, From the Earliest Times to the Wars of the French Revolution. Vol.2. London: Richard Bentley, 1847.

Official Documents from the London Gazette (Bulletin Collection) 1804-1863.

Payne, John. The Naval Commercial and General History of Great Britain. 5 vols. London: J Parsons, 1793.

Pargiter, R.B. and H.G. Eady. The Army and Seapower. London: Ernest Benn Limited, 1927.

Parratt, Geoffrey. The Royal Navy, the sure shield of the Empire. London: the Sheldon Press, 1930.

Protheroe, Ernest. The British Navy: its making and its meaning. London: Routledge, 1914.

Pratt, Fletcher. Empire and the sea. New York: Henry Holy and Co., 1946.

Ransome-Wallis, P. Royal Navy. London: I Allan, 1962.

Richmond, Herbert. Statesmen and Sea power. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1946. (Based on Ford Lectures, 1943).

Robinson, B. Fletcher. Britain’s Sea-Kings and Sea-Fights. London: Cassell and Company ltd., 1900.

Rodger, N.A.M. The safeguard of the sea: a naval history of Britain 660-1649. New York: WW Norton and Co., 1997.

____. The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649-1815.  New York: WW Norton and Co., 2004.

The Royal Navy: 1000 years of peace and war. Guernsey: Seagull, 1987.

Schomberg, Issac. Naval Chronology; Or, An Historical Summary Of Naval & Maritime Events, From The Time Of The Romans, To the Treaty of Peace 1802. 5 vols. London: T. Egerton, 1802.

Swinburne, H. Lawrence. The Royal Navy. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1907.

Tunstall, Brian. The Realities of Naval History. London: George Allen and Unwin LTD, 1936.

Warner, Oliver. Great Seamen. London: G Bell & Sons Ltd, 1961.

____. The British Navy: a concise history. London: Thames and Hudson, 1975.

____. Great Naval Actions of the British Navy 1588-1807 & 1916. New York: Crane Russak & Co. Inc., 1976.

Watts, Anthony J. The Royal Navy: an illustrated history. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1994.

Wells, John. The Royal Navy: an illustrated social history, 1870-1982. London: Wrens Park Publishing, 1999.

Wilkinson-Latham, Robert. The Royal Navy 1790-1970. London: Osprey, 1977.

Wilmont, S. Eardley. Our Navy for a thousand Years. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1899.

Williams, Hamilton. Britain’s Naval Power. London: Macmillan & Co., 1894.

Winnington-Ingram, H.F. Hearts of Oak. London: W.H. Allen & Co., 1889.

Wilson, Ben. Empire of the Deep: the Rise and Fall of the British Navy. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2013.

Yonge, Charles Duke. The History of the British Navy. 2nd edition. 3 vols. London: Richard Bentley, 1866.

____. Our Great Naval Commanders. London: W. Swan Sonneschein & Co., 1884.

Yorke, H.R. & Stevenson, W. British Naval Achievements. 2 vols. London: C.J. Barrington, 1822. (Covers 1780-1816).

Specialist Studies, Research Guides, and Article Collections

Anonymous. British Naval Biography. Comprising the Lives Of The Most Distinguished Admirals, From Howard To Codrington: With An Outline Of the Naval History of England. Second Edition. London: Printed for Scott, Webster, and Geary, 1840.

Benstead, C.R. Steady Boys, Steady! A profound study of the Royal navy. London: Frederick Muller Ltd, 1943. (Satire)

Behrman, Cynthia Fansler. Victorian Myths of the Sea. Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1977.

British Naval Pamphlets 1st series Vol. 1 1690-1870 (collection of documents)

British Naval Pamphlets 2nd series Vol. 2 1690-1877 (collection of documents)

Britannic Magazine Collection, 11 vols contains some articles relating to naval matters.

The Broad arrow: the naval and military gazette. London: 1882-1911. Vols. 29 to 86. (Jul. 1882) to (Jun 1911).

Broome, Jack. Make a signal! London: Putnam, 1955.

Burney, William. Falconer’s Marine Dictionary. London: Chatham Publishing, 2006. Reprint of 1815 ed.

Bywater, Hector and H.C. Ferraby. Strange Intelligence: Memoirs of Naval Secret Service. New York: Richard R. Smith, 1931.

Capper, D.P. Moat Defensive: A history of the waters of the Nore Command 55 BC to 1961. London: Arthur Barker Limited, 1962.

Charnock. John. Biographia Navalis. 6 vols. London: R Faulder, 1794.

Cock, Randolph and N.A.M. Rodger, eds. A guide to the Naval Records in the National Archives of the UK. 2nd ed. London: The National Archives of the UK, 2008.

Dawson, Lionel. Mediterranean Medley. London: Rich and Cowan Ltd, 1935.

Dull, Jonathan R. The Age of the Ship of the line: The British & French Navies, 1650-1815. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2009.

Elliott, Peter. The Cross and the Ensign: a naval history of Malta 1789-1979. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1980.

Elleman, Bruce A. & S.C.M. Paine eds. Naval coalition warfare: from the Napoleonic War to Operation Iraqi Freedom. London: Routledge, 2008.

Hattendorf, John et als eds. British Naval Documents 1204-1960. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1993.

Harcourt, William Jameson. The Fleet that Jack Built. New York: Brace & World, Inc., 1962.

Hepper, David J. British warship losses in the age of sail 1650- 1859. East Sussex England: J. Boudriot, 1994.

____. British warship losses in the ironclad era, 1860-1919. London: Chatham, 2006.

Hodges, H.W. and E.A. Hughes eds. Select Naval Documents. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922.

Knight, R. J. B. ed. Guide to the manuscripts in the National Maritime Museum. London: Mansell, 1977-1980.

James, W.M. The influence of seapower on the history of the British People. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1948.

Lambert, Andrew ed. Letters and papers of Professor Sir John Knox Laughton 1830-1915.[London]: Navy Records Society, 2002.

Laughton, John Knox ed. The Naval Miscellany. 7 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1902-2008.

Morriss, Roger. Guide to British Naval Papers in North America. New York: National Maritime Museum, 1994. Invaluable source for a researcher into the documents available in North America on the Royal Navy.

Official Documents from the London Gazette (Bulletin Collection) 1804-1863.

Richmond, Herbert. National Policy and Naval Strength XVIth to XXth century. London: Oxford University Press, 1923.

____. The Navy as an instrument of policy 1558-1727. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953.

Rodger, N.A.M. ed. Essays in Naval History from medieval to modern. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2009.

Semmel, Bernard. Liberalism & Naval Strategy. Boston: Allen & Unwin, 1986.

Senior, William. Naval History in the law courts. London: Longmans Green and Co Ltd, 1927.

Tracy, Nicholas ed. Seapower and the Control of Trade: Belligerent Rights from the Russian War to the Beira Patrol, 1854-1970. [London]: Navy Records Society, 2005.

Tunstall, Brian ed. The Anatomy of Neptune: from King Henry VIII to the present day. London: George Routledge and Sons Ltd, 1936. 

Pre-1485: The Medieval Navy

Lambert, Craig. Shipping the medieval military: English maritime logistics in the fourteenth century. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2011.

Rose, Susan, ed. The Navy of the Lancastrian Kings. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1982.

____. Englands Medieval Navy 1066-1509. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2013.

Runyan, Timothy Jack. The English Navy in the reign of Edward III (microfilm), 1972. 

The Tudor Navy: 1485-1603: Some scholars see the start of the Royal Navy in the naval orders issued under the first Tudor Monarchs. As such, the Tudor Kings, Henry VII and Henry VIII are an excellent place to start a comprehensive history of the Royal Navy or even to get a firm grounding in the Navy’s early organization and actions.

Childs, David. Tudor Seapower: the foundation of Greatness. Barnsley: Seaforth publishing, 2009.

Froude, James Anthony. English seamen in the sixteenth century: Lectures delivered at Oxford, Easter Terms, 1893-4. New York: Scribner’s Sons, 1895.

Loades, D.M. The Tudor Navy: an administrative, political, and military history. Aldershot, England: Scolar Press, 1992.  

Henry VII to Mary I

Bourne, H. R. Fox. English Seamen under the Tudors. London: Richard Bentley, 1868.

Childs, David. The Warship Mary Rose. London: Chatham Publishing, 2007.

Fowler, Elaine W. English Seapower in the Early Tudor Period, 1485-1558. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1965.

Knighton, C.S. and David Loades. The Navy of Edward VI and Mary I. [London]: Navy Records Society, 2011.

Konstam, Angus. Tudor Warships 1: Henry VIII’s Navy. Oxford: Osprey, 2008.

Moorhouse, Geoffrey. Great Harry’s Navy: How Henry VIII gave England sea power. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2005.

Rule, Margaret. The Mary Rose. London: Conway Maritime Press, 1982.

Spont, Alfred. Letters and Papers relating to the war with France 1512-1513. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1897. 

Elizabeth & Her Sea Dogs: Whether to call the English Elizabethan Naval Forces ‘the Royal Navy’ is debatable as many ships were privately owned. However, under Elizabeth, the foundations of English naval superiority were laid and the first legends of the Navy came into being. In order to understand the English mentality towards the sea and England’s place in world affairs post-Elizabeth, one must start here in the reign of ‘Gloriana.’

Adamson, J.H. and H.F. Folland. The Shepard of the Ocean: An account of Sir Walter Ralegh. Boston: Gambit Incorporated, 1969.

Andrews, Kenneth R. ed. English privateering voyages to the West Indies, 1588-1595. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959.

____. Elizabethan Privateering. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964.

Anthony, Irvin. Ralegh and his world. New York: Charles’ Scribner’s Sons, 1934.

The Autobiography of Phineas Pett. Edited by W.G. Perrin. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1918.

Bell, Douglas. Elizabethan Seamen. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1965.

Benbow, William A. Brave Benbow. Victoria, B.C.: Bredah Press, 1987.

Bevan, Bryan. The Great seamen of Elizabeth I. London: Robert Hale, 1971.

Corbett, Julian S. Drake and the Tudor Navy. 2 Vols. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1898.

____. The Successors of Drake. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1900.

De Selincourt, Hugh. Great Ralegh. New York: GP Putnam’s Sons, 1908.

The Elizabethan Navy and the Armada of Spain. Greenwich: National Maritime Museum, 1975.

Hazlewood, Nick. The Queen’s Slave Trader. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2004.

Hume, Martin A.S. Sir Walter Ralegh. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1897.

Knighton, C.S. and David Loades eds. Elizabethan naval administration. Burlington VT: Ashgate for the Navy Records Society, 2013.

Kenny, Robert. Elizabeth’s Admiral. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1970.

Konstam, Angus. Elizabethan Sea Dogs 1560-1605. Oxford: Osprey, 2001.

Little, Bryan. Crusoe’s Captain. London: Odhams Press Limited, 1960.

Miller, Helen Hill. Captains from Devon: the Great Elizabethan Seafarers who won the oceans for England. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 1985.

National Maritime Museum. The Elizabeth Navy and the armada of Spain. Greenwich, London: Maritime monographs & reports, 1974.

Pollitt, Ronald Lee. The Elizabethan Navy Board: a study in administrative evolution. Northwestern University: Microfilm, 1968.

Quinn, David B. Raleigh and the British Empire. New York: Collier Books, 1962.

Southey, Robert. English Seamen: Howard, Clifford, Hawkins, Drake, Cavendish. Edited by David Hanay. London: Methuen, 1895.

____. English seamen: Hawkins, Greenville, Devereux, Raleigh. Edited by David Hannay. London: Methuen, 1904.

Stebbing, William. Sir Walter Ralegh. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1891.

Unwin, Rayner. The Defeat of John Hawkins. New York: Macmillan Co., 1960.

Wallace, Willard. Sir Walter Raleigh. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1959.

Walling, R.A.J. The Sea Dog of Devon: A life of Sir John Hawkins. London: Cassell & Co. Limited, 1907.

Williams, Neville. The Sea Dogs: Privateers, plunder and piracy in the Elizabethan Age. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co. Inc., 1975.

Williams, Norman Lloyd. Sir Walter Raleigh. Philadelphia: Dufour Editions, 1963.

Wood, William Charles Henry. Elizabethan Sea-dogs. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1918. 

Sir Francis Drake: Elizabeth’s most famous Sea-Dog 

Andrews, Kenneth R. Drake’s Voyages: a re-assessment of their place in Elizabethan Maritime Expansion. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1967.

Benson, E.F. Sir Francis Drake. London: John Lane the Bodley Head Ltd., 1927.

The British Library. Sir Francis Drake. London: British Museum Publications Limited, 1977.

Burrow, Jon. Life, voyages, and exploits of Sir Francis Drake. London: John Murray, 1861.

Corbett, Julian. Sir Francis Drake. London: Macmillan & Co., 1890.

Cumming, Alex. Sir Francis Drake and the Golden Hinde. Norwich: Jarrold & sons Ltd., 1975.

Cummins, John. Francis Drake: the Lives of a hero. New York: St Martin’s Press, 1995.

Kelsey, Harry. Sir Francis Drake: the Queen’s Pirate. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998.

Konstam, Angus. The Great Expedition: Sir Francis Drake on the Spanish Main 1585-86. Oxford: Osprey, 2011.

Mason, A.E.W. The Life of Francis Drake. London: Hodder and Staughton Ltd, 1950.

Marrin, Albert. The Sea King: Sir Francis Drake and his times. New York: Atheneum, 1995.

Sugden, John. Sir Francis Drake. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1990.

Thomson, George Malcolm. Sir Francis Drake. New York: William Morrow and Co. Inc., 1972.

Wernham, R.B. ed. The expedition of Sir John Norris and Sir Francis Drake to Spain and Portugal 1589. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1988.

Williamson, James A. Sir Francis Drake. New York: Collier Books, 1962.

The Spanish Armada: Until Napoleon, the Armada of Philip II was the greatest threat England had ever faced. The destruction of the Armada is one of the key events in English and Royal Navy history and what makes the story even more remarkable is just how close Philip II came to achieving his goal.

Corbett, Julian. The Spanish War 1585-87. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1898.

Fallon, Nial. The Armada in Ireland. London: Stanford Maritime, 1978.

Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe. The Spanish Armada: the experience of war in 1588. Oxford: Oxford University press, 1988.

Froude, James Anthony. The Spanish Armada. Lawrence, Kan.: Coronado Press, 1972.

Graham, Winston. The Spanish Armadas. New York: Doubleday & Co. Inc., 1972.

Hadfield, A.M. Time to finish the game: the English and the Armada. London: Phoenix House, 1964.

Hale, John Richard. The story of the Great Armada. London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, n.d.

Hanson, Neil. The Confident Hope of a miracle: the true history of the Spanish armada. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2005.

Hart, Roger. Battle of the Spanish Armada. London: Wayland publishers, 1973.

Hart-Davis, Duff. Armada. New York: Bantam Press, 1988.

Howarth, David. The voyage of the Armada: the Spanish story. New York: Viking Press, 1981.

Hume, Martin A.S. The Year after the Armada. London: T Fisher Unwin, 1896.

Kemp, Peter. The Campaign of the Spanish Armada. New York: Facts on File Publication, 1988.

Laughton, John Knox, ed. The Defeat of the Spanish Armada. 2 vols. New York: Burt Franklin, 1894.

____. State Papers relating to the defeat of the Spanish Armada. 2 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1981.

Lewis, Michael. The Spanish Armada. New York: Macmillan Co., 1960.

Littleton, Taylor and Robert Rea. The Spanish Armada. New York: American Book Company, 1964.

Mattingly, Garrett. The Armada: The Defeat of the Spanish Armada. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1959.

____. The “Invincible” Armada and Elizabethan England. Virginia: University Press of Virginia, 1974.

Martin, Colin and Geoffrey Parker. The Spanish Armada. New York: W.W. Norton and co., 1988.

Martin, Colin. Full Fathom Five: Wrecks of the Spanish Armada. New York: Viking Press, 1975.

Marx, Robert. The Battle of the Spanish Armada 1588. New York: World Publishing Co., 1965.

McDermott, James. England & the Spanish Armada: the necessary quarrel. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005.

McKee, Alexander. From merciless invaders. New York: W.W. Norton and Co. Inc., 1963.

Naish, George P.B. ed. The Spanish Armada. [London]: Navy Records Society, n.d.

Noble, T.C. Spanish Armada Roll. London: Alfred Russell Smith, 1886.

Rasor, Eugene L. The Spanish Armada of 1588: Historiography and annotated Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993. (Useful starting point for the researcher on the Armada)

Salgado, M.J. Rodriguez. Armada 1588-1988. London: Penguin Books, 1988.

Stenuit, Robert. Treasures of the Armada. Translated by Francine Barker. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co. inc., 1973.

Thomas, David A. The illustrated Armada Handbook. London: Harrap, 1988.

Tilton, William Frederic. Die Katastrophe de Spanischen Armada. Freiburg: IB, 1894.

Usherwood, Stephen. The Great Enterprise: The history of the Spanish Armada. London: the Folio Society, 1978.

Usherwood, Stephen & Elizabeth. The Counter-Armada 1596. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1983.

Walke, Bryce. The Armada. Alexandria, VA: Time Life Books, 1981.

Williams, Jay. The Spanish Armada. New York: America Heritage Publishing Co. inc., 1966.

Whiting, Roger. The Enterprise of England. New York: St Martin’s Press, 1988.

Woodrooffe, Thomas. The Enterprise of England. London: Faber & Faber, 1958. 

The Stuart & Commonwealth Navy: 1603-1715: This period would see the Union of England and Scotland as Great Britain, the Royal Navy’s first campaigns against a major maritime power, and the beginnings of the Royal Navy’s role as world policy maker as the Navy made its first forays into foreign waters around the world.

Boxer, C.R. The Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th Century. London: HM Stationery Off., 1974.

Colliber, Samuel. Columna Rostrata: Or, A Critical History Of The English Sea-Affairs. London: R. Robinson, 1727.

Corbett, Julian S. England in the Mediterranean: 1603-1713. 2 vols. London: Longmans, Green & co., 1904.

Davies, J.D. Pepys’s Navy: Ships, men & warfare 1649-1689. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing, 2008.

Konstam, Angus. Warships of the Anglo-Dutch Wars 1652-74. Oxford: Osprey, 2011. 

James I, Charles I, Commonwealth: 1603-1660: A period better known for its land campaigns and the personalities of men such as Oliver Cromwell, the Royal Navy nevertheless played a major role in this era. It is an era of Naval History that deserves more scrutiny and the Navy Department Library material is an excellent place to start delving deeper into the Royal Navy at this time.

Andrews, Kenneth. Ships, Money & Politics: seafaring & Naval enterprise in the reign of Charles I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Barratt, John. Cromwell’s Wars at Sea. Barnsley: Pen and Sword Books Ltd., 2006.

Gardiner, Samuel ed. Letters and Papers Relating to the First Dutch War 1652-54. 6 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1898-1930.

Holland, John. Discourses of the Navy 1638 and 1659 (inc. a Discourse from 1660 by Robert Slyngesbie). Edited by J.R. Tanner. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1896.

McGowan, A.P. ed. The Jacobean Commissions of inquiry 1608 & 1618. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1971.

Penn, Granville. Memorials of the Professional Life and Times of Sir William Penn. 2 vols. London: James Duncan, 1833.

Powell, J.R. The Navy in the English in the English Civil War. London: Archon Books, 1962.

Powell, J.R. and E.K. Timings eds. Documents relating to the Civil War 1642-1648. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1963. 

The Restoration Navy: 1660-1688: The Royal Navy of the ‘Merry Monarch’ would find itself engaged in two major wars with the only other major maritime power in Europe: the Dutch. England’s haphazard success would see gains in North America and the Royal Navy beginning to establish a tradition of professionalism that was often at odds with the handling of the English Army.

Anderson, R.C. ed. The Journals of Sir Thomas Allin (1660-1678). 2 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1939-40.

____. Journals and Narrative of the Third Dutch War. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1946.

Burchett, Josiah. Memoirs Of Transactions At Sea During The War With France; Beginning In 1688, And Ending In 1607. London: John Nutt, 1703.

Burchett, Josiah. A Complete History Of The Most Remarkable Transactions At Sea From The Earliest Accounts Of Time To The Conclusion Of The Last War With France. London: W.B. for J. Walthoe in the Temple Cloysters, 1720.

Catalogue of the Pepysian Manuscripts. 2 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1903-4, 1909.

Chappell, Edwin, ed. The Tangier Papers of Samuel Pepys. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1935.

Latham, Robert ed. Samuel Pepys and the Second Dutch War. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1995.

Ollard, Richard. Man of War: Sir Robert Holmes and the Restoration Navy. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1969.

Pepys, Samuel. Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys, FRS secretary to the admiralty in the reign of Charles II and James II. New York: Davos Press, n.d.

Powell, J.R. and E.K. Timings eds. The Rupert and Monck letter book 1666. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1969.

Tanner, J.R., ed. Samuel Pepys’s Naval Minutes. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1926. 

The Later Stuarts: 1688-1714: War with Louis XIV would dominate this period and while the campaigns of Marlborough are better known, the Royal Navy was instrumental in the successful conduct of the war against Louis XIV and securing the gains made in English Politics from the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

An account of the late great victory obtained at sea against the French. London: John Rawlins, 1692.

Browning, Oscar, ed. The Journal of Sir George Rooke: Admiral of the Fleet 1700-1702. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1897.

Grant, James, ed. The Old Scots Navy 1680-1710. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1914.

Maydman, Henry. Naval Speculation, And Maritime Politicks: Being A Modest And Brief Discourse of The Royal Navy Of England. London: William Bonny, 1691.

Merriman, R.D. ed. Queen Anne’s Navy. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1961.

Owen, J.H. War at Sea under Queen Anne: 1702-1708. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1938. 

Stuart Naval Personages: Naval Careers in the Stuart & Commonwealth Period

Admiral Blake Museum. Your Faithful Servant. Bridgewater, Kent: Pryor Publications, 2000.

Anderson, R.C. ed. Journal of Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich (1659-1665). [London]: Navy Records Society, 1929.

Anson, Walter Vernon. The Life of Admiral Lord Anson. London: John Murray, 1912.

Beadon, Roger. Robert Blake. London: Edward Arnold & co., 1935.

Conner, P.S.P. Sir William Penn, Knight. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Company, 1876.

Hannay, David. Admiral Blake. London: Longmans, Green, and co., 1886.

Leake, Stephen Martin. The Life of Sir John Leake. Edited by Geoffrey Callender. 2 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1920.

Macaulay, James. From middy to admiral of the fleet; the story of Commodore Anson re-told to boys. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1891.

Manwaring, G.E. The Life and Works of Sir Henry Mainwaring. 2 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society 1920-21.

Markham, Clements, ed. Life of Captain Stephen Martin 1666-1740. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1895. Vol. 5.

Merriman, R.D. ed. The Sergison Papers. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1950.

Pack, S.W.C. Admiral Lord Anson. London: Cassel and Co. Ltd., 1960.

Perrin, W.G. ed. The Autobiography of Phineas Pett. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1918.

____. Boteler’s Dialogues. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1929.

Powell, J.R. Robert Blake: General at Sea. New York: Crane, Russak & Company Inc., 1972.

____. The Letters of Robert Blake. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1937.

Street, Lucie. An Uncommon Sailor: a portrait of Admiral Sir William Penn. New York: St Martin’s Press, 1988. 

The Georgian Navy: 1715-1789/ 1815-1837: The Age of Sail would see the birth of one British Empire, its loss, and then its recreation. The Royal Navy travelled the world’s seas with relative impunity and its reputation would continue to grow under the Hanoverian Monarchs.

A Society of Naval Gentlemen. Britannia Triumphant. A New Edition. London: 1777. (History through till the end of the Seven Years War.)

Black, Jeremy and Philip Woodfine, eds. The British Navy and the Use of Naval Power in the eighteenth century. Humanities Press International, 1989.

Entick, John. A New Naval History. London: R. Manby, 1757.

Great Britain & High Court of Appeals for Prizes. British Admiralty prize appeal case books. London 1739-1748. (Unique Collection)

Ireland, Bernard. Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2000.

Marshall, John. Royal Naval Biography. 12 vols. London: Longman, Hurst Rees, Orme and Brown by W. Pope, 1823-1835.

The sailing and fighting instructions or signals as they are observed in the Royal Navy of Great Britain. London: Jonathan Geenwood, 1722. 106 hand-colored copper engravings. Annotated by donator George Henry Preble.

Wilkinson, Clive. The British Navy and the State in the eighteenth century. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press, 2004. 

The Early Georgians: George I & George II

Byng, Admiral. A bound volume of pamphlets related to Admiral Byng of the Navy of Great Britain. 6 items. 1746-1756.

____. The Trial Of The Hon’ble Admiral Byng. 2 vols. London: J. Lacy, 1757.

Baugh, Daniel, ed. Naval Administration 1715-1750. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1977.

Fearne, Charles, Judge-Advocate of his Majesty’s Fleet. The Trial of the Honorable Admiral John Byng. London: R. Manby, 1757.

Harding, Richard. The Emergence of Britain’s Global Naval Supremacy: The war of 1739-1748. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2010.

Williams, Glyndwr, ed. Anson’s Voyage 1740-1744. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1967. 

The Seven Year’s War: By the end of the Seven Year’s War, Britain would have complete mastery of the North American continent providing the foundation of the ‘first’ British Empire. Subsequent events would prove how difficult it would be to maintain such an empire, even with the support of the Royal Navy.

Buchet, Christian. The British Navy, Economy and society in the Seven Years War. Translated by Anita Higgie & Michael Duffy. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1999.

Corbett, Julian. England in the Seven Yeas’ War: a study in combined strategy. 2 vols. London: Longmans, Green, 1907.

Entrick, John. A History of the Late War. 5 vols. London: Edward and Charles Dilly, 1779. (History of the Seven Years War)

Gradish, Stephen F. The manning of the British Navy during the Seven Years’ War. London: Royal Historical Society, 1980.

Mcleod, A.B. British Naval captains of the Seven Years War. New York: Boydell Press, 2012.

Syrett, David, ed. The Siege and capture of Havana 1762. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1970.

____. Shipping and military power in the Seven Years War: the sails of victory. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2008.

Tracy, Nicholas. Manila ransomed: the British assault on Manila in the Seven Years War. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1995. 

The Royal Navy in North America

Gwyn, Julian. Frigates & foremasts: The North America Squadron in Nova Scotia waters 1745-1815. Vancouver: U.B.C. Press, 2003.

Stout, Neil. The Royal Navy in America 1760-1775. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1973.

____. “The Royal Navy in American Waters 1760-1775.” Phd diss., University of Wisconsin, 1962.

Tilby, A. Wyatt. British North America, 1763-1867. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1916.

Warren, Peter. The Royal Navy and North America: the Warren Papers 1736-1752. Edited by Julian Gwyn. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1973. 

The Later Georgians: George III & IV, William IV

Graham, Gerald and R.A. Humphreys, eds. The Navy and South America 1807-1823. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1962.

Hunt, Robert M. The Life Of Sir Hugh Palliser. London: Chapman and Hall. 1844.

Morriss, Roger. The foundation of British Maritime Ascendancy: Resources, logistics and the state, 1755-1815. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Richmond, Herbert. The Navy in India 1763-1783. London: Ernest Benn Limited, 1931.

Talbott, John. The Pen and Ink Sailor: Charles Middleton & the king’s Navy 1778-1813. London: Frank Cass, 1998. 

Georgian Naval Personalities: Careers in the Royal Navy

Allardyce, Alexander. Memoir of the Honorable George Keith Elphinstone. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and sons, 1882.

Amory, Thomas. The Life of Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin. Boston: Cupples, Upham and Co., 1886.

Anson, Walter Vernon. The Life of Admiral Lord Anson. London: John Murray, 1912.

The Autobiography of a seaman Thomas, 10th earl of Dundonald. London: Richard Bentley & Son, 1872.

Barnes, G.R. and J.H. Owen, eds. The Sandwich Papers 1771-1782. 4 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1933-38.

Barrow, John. The life of George, Lord Anson. London: J. Murray, 1839.

____.  The Life And Correspondence Of Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith. 2 vols. London: Richard Bentley, 1848.

Bevan, A. Beckford and H.B. Wolryche-Whitmore. A Sailor of King George. London: John Murrary, 1901.

Brenton, Jahleel. Memoir of Captain Edward Pelham Brenton. London: James Nisbet & Co., 1842.

Bonner-Smith, D. ed. The Barrington papers. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1937.

Bullocke, J.G., ed. The Tamlinson Papers. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1935.

Burrows, Montagu. The Life of Edward Lord Hawke. London: W.H. Allen & Co., 1883.

Camperdown, Earl of. Admiral Duncan. London: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1898.

Cranmer-Byng, J.L. ed. Pattee Byng’s Journal 1718-1720. [London}: Navy Records Society, 1948.

Ford, Douglas. Admiral Vernon & the Navy. London: T. Fisher, 1907.

Gwyn, Julian. An Admiral for America: Sir Peter Warren, Vice Admiral of the Red, 1703-1752. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2004.

Hamilton, Richard, ed. Letters and papers of Sir Thomas Byam Martin. Vols. 2 & 3. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1898.

Hartmann, Cyril Hughes. The Angry Admiral: Later Career of Edward Vernon, Admiral of the White. London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1953.

Howard, Edward. Memoirs of Admiral Sir Sidney Smith. 2 vols. London: Richard Bentley, 1839.

Keppel, Thomas. The Life of Augustus, Viscount Keppel. 2 vols. London: Henry Colburn, 1842.

Laughton, John Knox, ed. Journal of Rear Admiral Bartholomew James 1752-1828. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1896.

____. Letters and papers of Charles, Lord Barham 1758-1813. 3 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1907-1910.

Liverpool, Lord Russell of. Knight of the sword: the life and letters of Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1964.

Lloyd, Christopher and R.C. Anderson, eds. A memoir of James Trevenen. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1959. (Look at Russo-Swedish War 1788-1790)

Macaulay, James. From middy to admiral of the fleet; the story of Commodore Anson re-told to boys. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1891.

Macintyre, Donald. Admiral Rodney. New York: W.W. Norton and Co. inc., 1962.

Mackay, Ruddock. Admiral Hawke. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965.

____. The Hawke Papers: 1743-1771. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1990.

Markham, Clements, ed. Life of Captain Stephen Martin 1666-1740. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1895. Vol. 5.

Memoir of the Life of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington. Edited by Lady Bourchier. 2 vols. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1873.

Napier, Charles. The Navy: Its Past And Present State. London: John & Daniel A. Darling, 1851. Collection of Letters from Sir Charles Napier to various Personages.

Napier, Elers. Admiral Sir Charles Napier. 2 vols. London: Hurst and Blackett Publishing, 1862.

Napier, Priscilla. Black Charlie: A Life of Admiral Sir Charles Napier KCB 1787-1860. Norwich: Michael Russell Ltd, 1988.

Pack, S.W.C. Admiral Lord Anson. London: Cassel and Co Ltd, 1960.

Paget, Edward Clarence. Memoir of the Honorable Sir Charles Paget GCH 1778-1839. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1913.

Perrin, W.G. ed. The Keith Papers. 3 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1927.

Pope, Dudley. At Twelve Mr. Byng was shot. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1962.

Ranft, B. McL., ed. The Vernon Papers. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1958.

Ross, John. Memoirs And Correspondence Of Admiral Lord De Saumarez From Original Papers In Possession Of The Family. 2 vols. London: Richard Bentley, 1838.

Ryan, A.N. The Saumarez Papers: Baltic Correspondence 1808-1812. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1968.

Salmon, Edward. Life of Admiral Sir Charles Saunders. London: Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd, 1914.

Spinney, David. Rodney. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1969.

Syrett, David, ed. The Rodney Papers: Volume 1: 1742-1763. [London]: Navy Records Society, 2005.

____. The Rodney Papers: Volume 2: 1763-1780. [London]: Navy Records Society, 2007.

Tunstall, Brian, ed. The Byng Papers. 3 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1930-33.

Vaughan, H.S. The Voyages & cruises of Commodore Walker. London: Cassell & Co. Ltd, reprint 1928 of 1760. 

The Bounty Mutiny: One of the most well-known mutiny’s for the popular audience, scholars have written much on the Bounty mutiny. Their research has given historians a much better understanding of conditions aboard Royal Navy ships during this period.

Bligh, William. The Journal of Bounty’s Launch. Los Angeles: Kittiwake Publishing, 1989.

Hough, Richard. Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian: the men and the mutiny. London: Hutchinson and Co., 1972.

Mackaness, George. The Life of Vice-Admiral William Bligh. New York: Farrar& Rinehart Inc., 1936.

Rawson, Geoffrey. Bligh of the ‘Bounty.’ New York: George Groman, n.d.

Salmond, Anne. Bligh: William Bligh in the South Seas. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011.

Toohey, John. Captain Bligh’s Portable Nightmare. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999. 

The War of American Independence: 1775-1783: The Royal Navy played a key role in attempting to subdue the revolt of the American colonists. Confronted with the attempt to blockade a vast coastline and run down numerous blockade runners, the war challenged the Royal Navy in new ways, a task that gained in complexity once France and Spain entered the war on the side of the nascent United States.

An Officer. A Short Account of the Naval actions of the last war. London: J. Murray, 1790. (Focus on French Navy’s failures in comparison to Britain, American War of Independence)

Begnaud, Allen Eustis. “British Operations in the Caribbean and the American Revolution.” PhD. diss., Tulane University, 1966.

Drinkwater, John. A History of the Siege of Gibraltar: 1779-1783. London: John Murray, 1861.

Falkner, James. Fire over the Rock: the Great siege of Gibraltar, 1779-1783. Barnsley: Pen and Sword Military, 2009.

Graham, Gerald Sanford. The Royal Navy in the War of American Independence. London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1976.

Hamilton, R. Vesey and John Knox Laughton. Recollections of James Anthony Gardner 1775-1815. [London]:  Navy Records Society, 1906.

Hughes, Edward, ed. Correspondence of Lord Collingwood. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1957.

James, W.M. The British Navy in adversity; a study of the war of American Independence. London: Longmans Green and Co., Ltd., 1926.

Knight, R.J.B. Portsmouth Record Series; Portsmouth Dockyard Papers 1774-1783: The American War. City of Portsmouth, 1987.

Laughton, John Knox, ed. Letters and papers of Charles, Lord Barham 1758-1813. 3 vols. [London}: Navy Records Society, 1907-1910.

McGuffie, T.H. The Siege of Gibraltar 1779-1783. Philadelphia: Dufour Editions, 1965.

Murray, A. Admiral Sir Philip CHC Durham. London: John Murray, 1846.

Naval Documents of the American Revolution. 12 vols. 1774-1778. (Collection of Primary source documents from combatants on both sides of the conflict, with emphasis on US Navy.)

Pasley, Rodney M.S. ed. Private Sea Journals 1778-1782. London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, 1931.

Richmond, H.W., ed. The Loss of Minorca. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1911/3.

Syrett, David. Shipping and the American War 1775-83; a study of British transport Organization. London: University of London, Athlone Press, 1970.

____. The Royal Navy in American Waters 1775-1783. Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1989.

____. The Royal Navy in European Waters during the American Revolutionary War. Columbia SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1998.

____. Admiral Lord Howe. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2006.

Tilley, John Andrew. The Royal Navy in North America, 1774-1781: a Study in Command. Ohio State University Press, 1980.

____. The British Navy and the American Revolution. Columbia SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1987.

Tracy, Nicholas. Navies, Deterrence, and American Independence. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1988. 

The Revolutionary France/Napoleonic Period Navy: 1789-1815: If there is a period of history that has defined the Royal Navy, it would be the war against Revolutionary France and Napoleon. The myth and legend of the superiority of the Royal Navy was established in this conflict. For over a century afterwards, that myth of Royal Navy superiority and strength would remain unchallenged. It is often this period that many historians and popular amateurs think of when they consider the glory of the Royal Navy.

Baynham, Henry. From the lower deck: the old Navy 1780-1840. London: Hutchinson, 1969.

Britain’s Glory, a naval remembrance. London: J. Wright, 1799.

The British Navy triumphant! London Gazette, 1805.

Burney, William. The British Neptune. London: Richard Phillips, 1807.

Duncan, Archibald. “The British Trident; or, Register of naval actions; including authentic accounts of all the most remarkable engagements at sea, in which the British flag has been eminently distinguished; from the period of the memorable defeat of the Spanish armada, to the present time; chronologically arranged.” London: J. Cundee, 1804-5.

The Dispatches and letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson: vol. 1 1777-1794. Edited by Nicholas Harris Nicolas. London: Henry Colburn Publisher, 1844.

Drinkwater, Bethune. A Narrative of the Battle of St Vincent. London: Saunders & Otley, 1895.

Drinkwater, John. A narrative of the Battle of St Vincent. London: Saunders and Otley, 1840.

Fremont-Barnes, Gregory. Nile 1798: Nelson’s first great victory. Oxford: Osprey, 2011.

Fitchett, W.H. Nelson and his Captains. London: Smith Elder and Co., 1902.

Grainger, John, ed. The Royal Navy in the River Plate, 1806-1807. Aldershot England: Scolar Press for the [London]: Navy Records Society, 1996.

Great Britain, Admiralty. Signal Book for the Ships of War. 1799

____. Night Signals and instructions for the conduct of ships of war. 1799.

____. A list of flag-officers of His Majesty’s Fleet. London: Admiralty office, 1800.

Hall, Christopher D. British Strategy in the Napoleonic War, 1803-15. New York: St Martin’s Press, 1992.

Haythornthwaite, Philip. The Napoleonic Source Book. New York: Facts on File, 1990. (focus on the land campaigns but good for juxtaposing with naval actions)

Jackson, T. Sturges. Logs of the Great Sea Fights 1794-1805. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1900.

Kennedy, Ludovic. Nelson’s Captains. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Inc., 1951.

Konstam, Angus. Historical atlas of the Napoleonic era. Guilford Conn: Lyons Press, 2003.

Lavery, Brian. Jack Aubrey Commands. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2003.

Le Fevre, Peter and Richard Harding, eds. British Admirals of the Napoleonic Wars: the contemporaries of Nelson. London: Chatham Publishing, 2005.

Leyland, John, ed. The Blockade of Brest 1803-1805. 2 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1898.

Lloyd, Christopher. St Vincent and Camperdown. New York: Macmillan Co., 1963.

____. The Nile Campaign: Nelson and Napoleon in Egypt. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1973.

Lyon, David. Sea battles in close-up: the age of Nelson. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1996.

Marcus, Geoffrey. The Age of Nelson: the Royal Navy 1793-1815. New York: Viking Press, 1971.

Mahan, A.T. Types of Naval Officers. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co. 1901.  

Morriss, Roger, ed. The Channel Fleet and the blockade of Brest 1793-1801. [London]: Navy Records Society, 2001.

____. Naval Power and British Culture 1760-1850. Ashgate, 2004.

Musteen, Jason R. Nelson’s refuge: Gibraltar in the age of Napoleon. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2011.

Nelson, Horatio. The Nelson touch: being a little book of the great seaman’s wisdom. Edited by Walter Jerrold. London: J Murray, 1918.

Parkinson, C. Northcote. Britannia Rules: The classic age of Naval History 1793-1815. Stroud: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1977.

____. War in the Eastern Seas: 1793-1815. London: Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1954.

Pivka, Otto von. Navies of the Napoleonic era. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1980.

Pope, Steve. Hornblower’s Navy: Life at sea in the Age of Nelson. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1998.

Radstock, William Waldegrave. The British Flag triumphant! Or the wooden walls of old England. London: T Curson Hansard printer, 1806.

Robson, Martin. A History of the Royal Navy: the Napoleonic Wars. London: IB Tauris, 2014.

____. A history of the Royal Navy: The Napoleonic wars. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.

Thursfield, H.G., ed. Five Naval Journals 1789-1817. 1951.

Warner, Oliver. The glorious First of June. New York: Macmillan Co., 1961.  

Whipple, A.B.C. The Seafarers: Fighting Sail. Alexandria, VA: Time Life Books, 1978.

Williams, James. The Naval history of Great Britain: during the revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole, 2002. (Originally published 1837)

Willis, Sam. The glorious First of June: fleet battle in the age of terror. London: Quercus, 2011.

Woodman, Richard. The Sea Warriors: Fighting Captains and Frigate Warfare in the Age of Nelson. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing, 2001. 

British Naval Personalities: The Sea-Captains: While Nelson is certainly the most famous of naval figures from this period, the Royal Navy produced numerous heroes during this era.

Allen, Joseph. Admiral Sir William Hargood. Greenwich: Henry S Richardson, 1887.

Berckman, Evelyn. Nelson’s Dear Lord: a portrait of St Vincent. London: Macmillan & Co. ltd, 1962.

Childers, Spencer, ed. A Mariner of England. London: John Murrary, 1988.

Correspondence of Lord Collingwood. Edited by Edward Hughes. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1957.

Davies, William. Lord Collingwood. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low & Searle, 1875.

Davidson, James. Admiral Lord St Vincent: Saint or Tyrant? Barnsley: Pen & Sword Maritime, 2006.

De Raigersfeld, Jeffrey Baron. The life of a sea officer. London: Cassell & Co., 1929.

Dillion, Sir William Henry. A Narrative of my professional adventures 1790-1839. Edited by Michael Lewis. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1953.

Dundonald, Earl of. Observations on Naval Affairs. London: James Ridgway, 1847.

Fortescue, J.W. Dundonald. London: Macmillan & Co., 1895.

Graford, G.A. Reminiscences of a naval officer: a quarter-deck view of the war against Napoleon. London: Chatham Publishing, 1999.

Grundner, T.M., ed. The men who spoke to Hornblower.  New York: iUniverse Inc., 2006.

James, William. Old Oak: the Life of John Jervis, Earl of St Vincent. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1950.

Knollys, Major. The intrepid exploits of Lord Cochrane. London: Dean and Son, 1885.

Krajeski, Paul. In the shadow of Nelson: The Naval leadership of Admiral Sir Charles Cotton, 1753-1812. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000.

Letters and papers of Charles, Lord Barham 1758-1813. Edited by John Knox Laughton. 3 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society 1907-1910.

Letters of Admiral Markham (1801-4 and 1806-7). Edited by Clements Markham. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1904.

Letters written by Sir Samuel Hood. Edited by David Hannay. Vol. 3. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1895.

Letters of Lord St Vincent (1801-4). Edited by David Bonner-Smith. 2 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1922.

Letters and papers of Sir Thomas Byam Martin. Edited by Richard Hamilton. Vols. 2 & 3. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1898.

MaCranie, Kevin. Admiral Lord Keith & the Naval War against Napoleon. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2006.

Mallalieu, J.P.W. Extraordinary Seaman. New York: Macmillan Co., 1958.

McGrigor, Mary. Defiant & Dismasted at Trafalgar: the Life & times of Admiral Sir William Hargood. Barnsley: Leo Cooper, 2004.

Murray, A. Admiral Sir Philip CHC Durham. London: john Murray, 1846.

Orde, John. “Copy of a correspondence between the Right Hon. The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, the Right Hon. The Earl St Vincent, KB, the Right Hon. Earl Spence KG, and vice admiral Sir J Orde, bart.” London: Wilks and Taylor for R. Faulder, 1802.

Perrett, Bryan. The Real Hornblower: the life of Admiral of the Fleet, Sir James Alexander Gordon, GCB, last governor of the Royal Naval Hospital. London: Arms and Armor, 1988.

Phillimore, Augustus. The life of Sir William Parker. 3 vols. London: Harrison, 1876.

Pocock, Tom. Remember Nelson: the life of Captain Sir William Hoste. London: Collins, 1977.

Recollections of James Anthony Gardner 1775-1815 Edited by R. Vesey Hamilton and John Knox Laughton. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1906.

Russell, W. Clark. Collingwood. London: Methuen and Co., 1891.

Service Afloat: the naval career of Sir William Hoste. London: W.H. Allen & Co., 1887.

Sherrar, O.A. A Life of Lord St Vincent. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1933.

The Spencer Papers 1794-1801. Edited by Julian Corbett & HW Richmond. 4 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1913-1924.

Stephenson, Charles. The Admiral’s Secret Weapon: Lord Dundonald and the origins of chemical Warfare. Woodbridge: Boydell press, 2006.

Taylor, Stephen. Commander: the life & exploits of Britain’s Greatest Frigate Captain (Edward Pellew). New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2012.

Thomas, Donald. Cochrane: Britannia’s Last Sea-King. New York: Viking Press, 1978.

Tucker, Jedediah. Memoirs of Admiral The Right Hone. The Earl of St Vincent. 2 vols. London: Richard Bentley, 1844.

Twitchett, E.G. Life of a Seaman. London: Wishart and Co., 1931.

Warner, Oliver. The Life and Letters of Vice-Admiral Lord Collingwood. London: Oxford University Press, 1968.

Horatio Nelson: The Royal Navy’s Most Famous Seaman

Allen, Joseph. Life of Lord Viscount Nelson, KB Duke of Brontbe, etc. London: G. Routledge, 1853.

Badham, Francis Pritchett. Nelson at Naples. London, D.Nutt, 1900.

Baylis, Thomas Henry. The true account of Nelson’s famous signal. London: G. Allen, 1905.

Baxter, James Phinney. Nelson manuscripts in the Joseph Husband Collection. Cambridge Mass, 1929.

Beatty, William. Authentic narrative of the death of Lord Nelson. London: 1807.

Bennett, Geoffrey Martin. Nelson the commander. London: BT Batsford, 1972.

Beresford, Charles William & H.W. Wilson. Nelson and his times. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1898.

Berry, Edward. “An authentic narrative of the proceedings of His Majesty’s squadron under the command of Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson; from its sailing from Gibraltar to the conclusion of the glorious battle of the Nile; drawn up from the minutes of an officer of rank in the squadron.” London: 1798.

Bradford Ernle. Nelson: the essential hero. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977.

Browne, G Lathom. Nelson: the public and private life of Horatio, Viscount Nelson, as told by himself, his comrades, and his friends. London: T Fisher Unwin, 1891.

Callender, Geoffrey Arthur Romaine. The Life of Nelson. New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1912.

Callo, Joseph. Nelson speaks: Admiral Lord Nelson in his own words. London: Chatham Publishing, 2001.

____. Nelson in the Caribbean: the hero emerges, 1784-1787. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2003.

Capes, Renalt. Poseidon: a personal study of Admiral Lord Nelson. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1947.

Charnock, John. Biographical Memoirs of Lord Viscount Nelson. Boston: Etheridge and Bliss, 1806.

Churchill, T.O. The Life of Lord Viscount Nelson, Duke of Brontbe etc. London: Printed by T Bensley Bolt Court, 1808.

Clarke, James Stanier. The Life and service of Horatio viscount Nelson, from His Lordship’s manuscripts. 3 vols. London: Fisher, son & co., 1840.

Corbett-Smith Arthur. Nelson: the man, a portrait study. London: Williams & Norgate, 1926.

Cowie, Leonard W. Lord Nelson, 1758-1805: a bibliography. Westport, CT.: Meckler, 1990.

Deane, Anthony. Nelson’s favorite: HMS Agamemnon at War, 1781-1809. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute press, 1996.

Duncan, Archibald. The Life of the right honorable Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson. London: James Cundee, 1806.

Edinger, George and E.J.C. Neep. Nelson, the life of Horatio Nelson. New York: J Cape H Smith, 1931.

Fitchett, W.H. Nelson and his captains: sketches of famous seamen. London: Smith Elder & co., 1902.

Forester, C.S. Lord Nelson. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1929.

Gamlin, Hilda. Nelson’s friendships. London: Hutchinson & co., 1899.

Gardiner, Robert, ed. Nelson against Napoleon: from the Nile to Copenhagen, 1798-1801. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1997.

Gimpel, Herbert. Lord Nelson. New York: F.Watts Inc., 1966.

Goodwin, Peter. Nelson’s ships: a history of the vessels in which he served 1771-1805. Mechanicsburg PA: Stackpole Books, 2002.

Grenfell, Russell. Nelson, the sailor. New York: Macmillan, 1950.

Hattersley, Roy. Nelson. New York: Saturday Review Press, 1974.

Harrison, James. The life of the Right Honorable Horatio. 2 vols. London: Ranelagh Press, 1806.

Hayward, Joel S.A. For God and glory: Lord Nelson and his way of war. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2003.

Hough, Richard Alexander. Nelson. London: Park Lane, 1980.

Howarth, David and Stephen Howarth. Lord Nelson: the immortal memory. New York: Viking, 1989.

____. Trafalgar: the Nelson touch. New York: Galahad Books, 1975.

James, W.M. The durable monument: Horatio Nelson. New York: Longmans, Green and co., 1948.

Jeaffreson, John Cordy. The queen of Naples and Lord Nelson. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1889.

____. Lady Hamilton & Lord Nelson. 2 vols. London: Hurst and Blackett Limited, 1893.

Jeaffreson, Miles. Vindication of Admiral Lord Nelson’s proceedings in the Bay of Naples. London: A.H. Baily, 1843.

Jerrold, Walter. The Nelson Touch. London: John Murray, 1918.

Kerr, Mark. The Sailor’s Nelson. London: Hurst & Blackett, ltd., 1932.

Knight, Roger. The Pursuit of victory: the life and achievement of Horatio Nelson. New York: Penguin, 2005.

Knox, Dudley Wright. The great lesson from Nelson for today. Annapolis, MD: United State Naval Institute, 1914.

Konstam, Angus. Horatio Nelson: leadership, strategy, conflict. Oxford: Osprey, 2011.

Lambert, Andrew. Nelson: Britannia’s god of war. London: Faber and Faber, 2004.

Laughton, John Knox. Nelson. London: Macmillan & Co., 1895.

____. The Nelson Memorial: Nelson and his companions in arms. London: G. Allen, 1896.

Lavery, Brian. Nelson and the Nile: the naval war against Bonaparte, 1798. Annapolis, MD: Naval institute press, 1998.

____. Horatio, Lord Nelson. New York: New York University Press, 2003.

Letters and dispatches of Horatio, Viscount Nelson, KB. Edited by John Knox Laughton. London: Longmans, Green & co., 1886.

Lily Lambert McCarthy Collection. Remembering Nelson: as told to John Lea by Lily Lambert McCarthy. Portsmouth England: Royal Naval Museum, 1995.

Lloyd, Christopher. Nelson and sea power. London: English Universities Press, 1973.

Mahan, A.T. The Battle of Copenhagen. New York: Century Co., 1897.

____. The life of Nelson, the embodiment of the sea power of Great Britain. 2 vols. Boston: Little Brown, 1897-99.

Maffeo, Steven. Seize, burn, or sink: the thoughts and words of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson. Lanham MD: Scarecrow Press, 2007.

Morris, William O’Connor. The great campaigns of Nelson: St Vincent, the Nile, Copenhagen, Trafalgar. London: Blackie and sons, 1898.

Naish, George, ed. Nelson’s Letters to his wife and other documents 1758-1831. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1958.

____. Horatio Nelson. London: Pitkin Pictorials, 1972.

Nelson and the Neapolitan Jacobins. Edited by H. C. Gutteridge. London: Navy Records Society, 1903.

Nicolson, Adam. Men of Honor: Trafalgar and the making of the English Hero.  London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2005.

Oman, Carola. Nelson. London: Sphere Books Ltd., 1968. (also Doubleday and Co. Inc. 1946 Version)

Parsons, G.S. Nelsonian réminiscences. Boston: C.C. Little and J Brown, 1843.

Pettigrew, Thomas Joseph. Memoirs of the life of Vice-Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson. 2 vols. London: T. and W. Boone, 1849.

Pocock, Tom. Nelson and his world. New York: Viking Press, 1968.

____. Horatio Nelson. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1988.

Pope, Dudley. The great gamble. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972.

Rawson, Geoffrey. Letters from Lord Nelson. New York: Staples Press, 1949.

Russell, Jack. Nelson and the Hamiltons. London: Blond, 1969.

Russell, William Clark. Horatio Nelson and the naval supremacy of England. New York: G.P. Putnam’s sons, 1890.

____. Pictures from the Life of Nelson. New York: Dodd, Mead, & Co. 1897.

Sailor. The son of commerce. London: Moore, 1806.

Southey, Robert. Nelson. New York: George H Doran Co., 1924.

____. The Life of Nelson. London: Bickers & Son, 1902.

____. The Life of Admiral Horatio Nelson. New York: Burt, 1902.

Sugden, John. Nelson: the sword of Albion. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2013.

Tracy, Nicholas. Nelson’s battles: the triumph of British Seapower. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2008.

Thursfield, James R. Nelson and other naval studies. London: J Murray, 1920.

Vincent, Edgar. Nelson: Love and Fame. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.

Walder, David. Nelson: a biography. New York: Dial Press/James Wade, 1978.

Walker, Richard. The Nelson Portraits. Royal Naval Museum Publications, 1998.  

Warner, Oliver. Victory: the Life of Lord Nelson. Boston: Little Brown, 1958.

____. A portrait of Lord Nelson. London Reprint society, 1959.

____. Nelson’s battles. New York: Macmillan, 1965.

____. ed. Nelson’s last diary. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1971.

Whipple, A.B.C. Hero of Trafalgar: the story of Lord Nelson. New York: Random House, 1963.

White, Colin. Nelson. Great Britain Pitkin Guides: Jarrod Pub., 2003.

____. The new letters. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2007. (2005 Hardcover as well)

White, Arnold. Nelson and the twentieth century. New York: Cassell and Company Ltd., 1905. 

Trafalgar, 1805: The Great Victory

Bennett, Geoffrey. The Battle of Trafalgar. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1977.

Broadley, A.M. and R.G. Bartelot. The Three Dorset Captains at Trafalgar. London: John Murray, 1906.

Clowes, W. Laird & Alan Burgoyne. Trafalgar refought. New York: Thomas Nelson, 1905.

Corbett, Julian. The Campaign of Trafalgar. New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1910.

Desbriere, Edouard. The Naval Campaign of 1805: Trafalgar. Translated and Edited by Constance Eastwick. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933. (French)

Fraser, Edward. The enemy at Trafalgar. London: Chatham Publishing, 2004.

Fremantle, A.F. Trafalgar. New York: Putnam’s sons, 1933.

Fremont-Barnes, Gregory. Trafalgar 1805. Oxford: Osprey, 2005.

____. Victory vs Redoubtable. Oxford: Osprey, 2008.

Galiano, Pelayo, Alcala. El Combate de Trafalgar. Madrid: Ministerio de Marina, 1930.

Gardiner, Robert, ed. The Campaign of Trafalgar. London: Chatham Publishing, 1997.

____. The Campaign of Trafalgar, 1803-1805. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2001.

Great Britain Admiralty. “Navy (Trafalgar). Report of a committee appointed by the Admiralty to examine and consider the evidence relating to the tactics employed by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar.” London: H.M.S.O. Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1913.

Hattendorf, John. Trafalgar and Nelson: 200. Naval War College, 2005.

Howarth, David. Trafalgar: the Nelson Touch. New York: Atheneum, 1969.

Legg, Stuart. Trafalgar: an eyewitness account of a great battle. London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1966.

Mackenzie, Robert Holden. The Trafalgar Roll. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1989.

Maine, Rene. Trafalgar: Napoleon’s Naval Waterloo. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1957.

Newbolt, Henry. The Year of Trafalgar. London: John Murray, 1905.

Nichols, Newton. The Battle of Trafalgar. Naval War College, 1926.

Nicolson, Adam. Seize the fire: heroism, duty, and the Battle of Trafalgar. New York: Harper Collins, 2005.

Pocock, Tom. The terror before Trafalgar: Nelson, Napoleon and the secret war. New York: W.W. Norton 2003.

Pope, Dudley. Decision at Trafalgar. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1960.

Royal Navy. Trafalgar 200. Portsmouth Royal Navy, 2005.

Schom, Alan. Trafalgar: countdown to battle, 1803-1805. New York: Atheneum, 1990.

Shafroth Jr. John. The strategy of the Naval Campaign proceeding Trafalgar. Army War College, 1928.

Stilwell, Alexander, ed. The Trafalgar Companion. Oxford: Osprey, 2005.

Terraine, John. Trafalgar. New York: Mason Charter, 1976.

Warner, Oliver. Trafalgar. New York: Macmillan Co., 1959. 

The War of 1812: Largely forgotten by both participants, the War of 1812 witnessed a number of seemingly surprising naval confrontations between the United States and Great Britain. The frigate actions shocked the Royal Navy and while larger numbers helped ensure the eventual success of the Royal Navy’s strategy, the defiance and skill exhibited by the US Navy in some of its actions were not lessons the Royal Navy would soon forget.

Dudley, William S. The Naval War of 1812: a documentary history. 3 vols. Washington Naval Historical Center: Dept. of Navy, 1985. (Compendium of primary source documents from combatants on both sides).

Forester, C.S. The age of fighting sail: the story of the naval War of 1812. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1956.

James, William. A Full And Correct Account Of The Chief Naval Occurances Of The Late War Between Great Britain And The United States of America. London: T. Egerton, 1817.

Morriss, Roger. Cockburn and the British Navy Tradition. University of South Carolina Press, 1997.

Pack, James. The man who burned the White House: Admiral Sir George Cockburn 1772-1853. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1987.

Roosevelt, Theodore. The Naval war of 1812. New York: The Review of Reviews Co., 1904.

Smith, Joshua. Battle for the Bay: the Naval War of 1812. New Brunswick: Military Heritage Project, 2011.

Tingey, Commodore. “Destruction of the Navy Yard.” Niles’ Weekly Register, October 6, 1814. The Navy Department Library has a run of Niles’ Weekly from 1814-1837.  

Voeleker, Tim, ed. Broke of the Shannon and the War of 1812. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing, 2013. 

The Royal Navy: Men, ships, logistics, and life; 1789-1815

Adkins, Roy. Jack Tar: Life in Nelson’s navy. London: Little, Brown, 2008.

Blake, Nicholas. Steering to Glory: a day in the life of a ship of the line. London: Chatham Publishing, 2005.

Blake, Nicholas and Richard Lawrence. The Illustrated Companion to Nelson’s Navy. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2000.

Cooper, Williams. A voyage up the Mediterranean in His Majesty’s ship the Swiftsure. London: T Bensley for J White, 1802.

Fremont-Barnes, Gregory. The Royal Navy 1793-1815. Oxford: Osprey, 2007.

Gardiner, Robert. Warships of the Napoleonic era: design, Development and deployment. Barnsley: Seaforth, 2011.

Garfield, Leon. Child O’war: the true story of a boy sailor in Nelson’s navy. London: Collins, 1972.

Garneray, Louis. The Floating prison. London: Conway Maritime, 2003.

Grocott, Terence. Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Eras. Mechanicsburg PA, Stackpole Books, 1997.

Henry, Chris. Napoleonic Naval armaments 1792-1815. Oxford: Osprey, 2004.

King, Dean and John B. Hattendorf, eds. Every man will do his duty: an anthology of first-hand accounts from the age of Nelson. New York: Henry Holt, 1997.

Lavery, Brian. Nelson’s Navy: the ships, men, and organization, 1793-1815. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1989.

Macdonald, Janet. Feeding Nelson’s navy: the true story of food at sea in the Georgian era. Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2004.

____. The British Navy’s victualing board, 1793-1815: management competence and incompetence. Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2010.

McGuane, James P. Heart of oak: a sailor’s life in Nelson’s navy. New York: Norton, 2002.

Morriss, Roger. The Royal dockyards during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1983.

Neale, Jonathan. The Cutlass and the lash: mutiny and discipline in Nelson’s navy. London: Pluto, 1985.

Pope, Dudley. Life in Nelson’s Navy. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1981.

Ronald, D.A.B. Young Nelsons: Boy sailors during the Napoleonic Wars 1793-1815. Oxford: Osprey, 2009.

Tracy, Nicholas. Who’s who in Nelson’s navy: 200 naval heroes. London: Chatham, 2006. (online version also available)

Willis, Sam. In the hour of victory: the Royal Navy at war in the age of Nelson. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2014. 

The Naval Mutiny of 1797

Dugan, James. The Great Mutiny. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1965.

Gill, Conrad. The Naval mutinies of 1797. Manchester: Manchester University press, 1913.

King, Dean and John B. Hattendorf, eds. Every man will do his duty: an anthology of first hand accounts from the age of Nelson. New York: Henry Holt, 1997.

Manwaring, G.E. and Bonamy Dobree. The Floating Republic. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1935.

Pope, Dudley. The Black ship. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1964. 

The Victorian Navy: 1837-1901: The Royal Navy would see the death of sail and the birth of steam power during this era. Gone would be the great ships of the line, replaced by steam driven battleships covered in steel and mounting turrets with a variety of caliber guns. The Navy would find itself embroiled in conflict around the world as the British Empire was firmly established and maintained. While conflicts and actions were small, the Royal Navy played a vital role in securing the Empire’s success and stability for much of the 19th century.

Victorian Naval Personalities

The Autobiography of a seaman Thomas, 10th earl of Dundonald. London: Richard Bentley & Son, 1872.

Beeler, John, ed. The Milne Papers: Alexander Milne Vol 1 1820-1859. [London]: Navy Records Society, 2002.

Bennett, Geoffrey. Charles B. London: Peter Dawnay Ltd, 1968.

Beresford, Charles. The memoirs of Admiral Lord Charles Beresford. 2 vols. Boston: Little Brown and Co., 1914.

Brandford, Wilson Edward. Life of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Knyvet. London: John Murray, 1923.

Brighton, J.G. Admiral of the Fleet Sir Provo WP Wallis. London: Hutchinson & co., 1892.

Chambers, B.M. Salt Junk: Naval Reminiscences, 1881-1906. London: Constable & Co. Ltd., 1927.

De Raigersfeld, Jeffrey. The life of a sea officer. London: Cassell & co. ltd, 1929.

Dillon, Sir William Henry. A Narrative of my professional adventures 1790-1839. Edited by Michael Lewis. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1953.

Dundonald, Earl of. Observations on Naval Affairs. London: James Ridgway, 1847.

Eardley-Wilmot, Sydney. Life of Vice-Admiral Edmund, Lord Lyons. London: Sampson, Marston & Co., 1898.

____. An Admiral’s Memories: sixty five years afloat and ashore. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd N.d.

Egerton, Mrs. Fred. Admiral Sir Geoffrey Phipps Hornby. London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1896.

Fitzgerald, C.C. Penrose. From Sail to Steam: Naval Recollections, 1878-1905. London: Edward Arnold, 1916.

Fortescue, J.W. Dundonald. London: Macmillan & Co., 1895.

Fremantle, E.R. The Navy as I have Known it 1849-1899. London: Cassell and Co. ltd, 1904.

Hough, Richard. Admirals in Collision. New York: Viking Press, 1959.

Howard, Edward. Memoirs of Admiral Sir Sidney Smith. 2 vols. London: Richard Bentley 1839.

Kennedy, William. Hurrah for the life of a sailor. London: William Blackwood & sons, 1900.

Keppel, Henry. A Sailors life under four sovereigns. 3 vols. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd, 1899.

King-Hall, Herbert. Naval memoires and traditions. London: Hutchinson & co., n.d.

Knollys, Major. The intrepid exploits of Lord Cochrane. London: Dean and Son, 1885.

James, William. Admiral Sir William Fisher. London: Macmillan & co. Ltd, 1943.

Mallalieu, J.P.W. Extraordinary Seaman. New York: Macmillan Co., 1958.

‘Martello Tower.’ At School and at sea. London: John Murray, 1899.

Memoir of Commodore Goodenough. Edited by his widow. London: C Kegan Paul and Co. 1878.

Memoir of the Life of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington. Edited by Lady Bourchier. 2 vols. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1873.

Mends, Bowen Stilon. Life of Admiral Sir William Robert Mends. London: John Murray, 1899.

Napier, Elers. Admiral Sir Charles Napier. 2 vols. London: Hurst and Blackett Publishing, 1862.

Napier, Priscilla. Black Charlie: A Life of Admiral Sir Charles Napier KCB 1787-1860. Norwich: Michael Russell Ltd, 1988.

The Navy and Defense/It Might Happen Again: the Autobiography of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Chatfield. 2 vols. London: William Heinemann, 1942.

Naval Reminiscences of Admiral Sir Frederic William Fisher. London: Frederick Muller Ltd, 1938.

Perrett, Bryan. The Real Hornblower: the life of Admiral of the Fleet, Sir James Alexander Gordon, GCB, last governor of the Royal Naval Hospital. London: Arms and armor, 1988.

Phillimore, Augustus. The life of Sir William Parker. 3 vols. London: Harrison, 1876.

Scott, Percy. Fifty Years in the Royal navy. New York: George H Doran Co., 1919.

Seymour, Edward. My Naval Career and Travels. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1911.

Stephenson, Charles. The Admiral’s Secret Weapon: Lord Dundonald and the origins of chemical Warfare. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2006.

Stuart, Vivian. The Beloved little Admiral. London: Robert Hale, 1967.

Sulivan, Henry Norton, ed. Life and Letters of Bartholomew James Sulivan. London: John Murray, 1896.

Thomas, Donald. Cochrane: Britannia’s Last Sea-King. New York: Viking Press, 1978.

Twitchett, E.G. Life of a Seaman. London: Wishart and Co., 1931. 

Campaigns, Constitution, and Conduct

Bonner-Smith, D. and A.C. Dewar, eds. Russian War 1854, Baltic and Black Sea Official Correspondence. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1943.

Bonner-Smith, D., ed. Russian War 1855 Baltic Official Correspondence. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1944.

Bonner-Smith, D., and E.W.R. Lumby, eds. The Second China War 1856-1860. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1957.

Brassey, Thomas. The British Navy: its strength, resources, and administration. London: Longmans, Green and co., 1882-83.

Brown, D.K. Warrior to dreadnought; Warship development, 1860-1905. London: Chatham, 1997.

Buxton, Ian. Big Gun Monitors: the history of the design, construction and operation of the Royal Navy’s Monitors. Tynemouth, England: Trident Books, 1978.

Courtemanche, Regis A. No need of glory: the British navy in American Waters, 1860-1864. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1977.

De Lisle, Rudoplh. The Royal Navy and the Peruvian-Chilean War, 1879-1881. Edited by Gerard de Lisle. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Maritime, 2008.

Dewar, A.C., ed. Russian War 1855 Black Sea Official Correspondence. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1945.

Dulake, Robin. HMS Warrior: Britain’s first Ironclad. Worcester: Market Link Creative Marketing Ltd., 1987.

Evans, David. Building the steam navy: dockyards, technology and the creation of the Victorian Battle-fleet, 1830-1906. London: Conway Maritime, 2003.

Gardner, G.H. The Royal Navy, with suggestions for forming an additional reserve of seamen for the fleet, and for securing the protection of our naval arsenals and sea coasts. Portsea: W.W. Woodward & Son, 1858.

Greenhill, Basil, and Ann Giffard. The British Assault on Finland: 1854-1855. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1988.

Gough, Barry M. The Royal Navy and the northwest coast of North America 1810-1914. Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 1971.

Head, Sir Francis. The Defenceless State Of Great Britain. London: John Murray. 1850.

Hepper, David J. British warship losses in the ironclad era, 1860-1919. London: Chatham, 2006.

Leyland, John. The Royal Navy: its influence in English history and in the growth of empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1914.

Louvier, Patrick. La Puissance Navale et militaire Britannique en Mediterranee (1840-1870). Service Historique de la defense, 2006.

Lyon, David. The Sail and Steam Navy List: all the ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889. London: Chatham, 2004.

Marder, Arthur Jacob. The anatomy of British sea power; a history of British naval policy in the pre-dreadnought era 1880-1905. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1940.

National Maritime Museum. China Station 1859-1864. Greenwich, London: Maritime monographs and reports, 1972.

Naval Tracts. 24 Vols. 1843-1882. Series of Books on different naval issues during this era. Mostly on US Naval issues but containing a few documents (See Vol. 10 #2 for example) connected with the Royal Navy.

Office of US Naval Intelligence. Notes on the Year’s Naval Progress. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1882-1902. (Contains material relating to Foreign Navies including the Royal Navy; statement is true for the following titles as well).

____. Papers on Squadrons of Evolutions & Recent Development of Naval Material: June 1886. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1886.

____. Recent Naval Progress: June 1887. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1887.

____. Naval Reserves, training, and material: June 1888. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1888.

____. Naval Mobilization and Improvement in Material: June 1889. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1889.

Parkinson, Roger. The late Victorian Navy: the pre-dreadnought era and the origins of the First World War. Rochester NY: Boydell Press, 2008.

Pollard, Sidney. The British Shipbuilding industry, 1870-1914. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1979.

Preble, George Henry. Ships of the nineteenth century. 2 parts. Philadelphia, PA: LR Hamersly and Co., 1884.

Rowbotham, W.B., ed. The Naval Brigades in the Indian Mutiny 1857-58. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1947.

Sprague, Frank. Report on the Exhibits at the Crystal Palace Electrical Exhibition: 1882. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1883. (Relates to Naval technologies on display, including English Naval advances).

Tilby, A. Wyatt. British North America, 1763-1867. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1916.

Wilson, Herbert Wrigley. Ironclads in action: a sketch of naval warfare from 1855 to 1895. 2 vols. London: Sampson Low, Marston and company, 1896. 

The Royal Navy Pre- World War 1: 1901-1914: The lead up to the Great War saw a naval arms race between the Royal Navy and the growing naval strength of the German Navy. The Kaiser’s naval program developed an intense rivalry and mistrust between Great Britain and Germany and the Royal Navy took numerous steps to ensure that it remained the premier navy in the world. The launching of HMS Dreadnought and the birth of naval aviation changed the face of naval warfare though these outcomes were not necessarily initially apparent to the Royal Navy as they struggled to maintain their dominance over their rivals.

Agar, Augustus. Showing the Flag. London: Evans Brothers limited, 1962.

Altham, E. Jellicoe. London: Blackie & Son Limited, 1938.

The Beatty Papers 1902-1918. Edited by B McL Rnaft. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1989.

Brandford, Wilson Edward. Life of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Knyvet. London: John Murray, 1923.

Breemer, Jan S. The burden of Trafalgar: decisive battle and strategic expectations on the eve of the First World War. Newport RI: Naval War College, Center for Naval Warfare Studies, 1993.

Chambers, B.M. Salt Junk: Naval Reminiscences, 1881-1906. London: Constable & Co. Ltd., 1927.

The Jellicoe Papers vol 1: 1893-1916. Edited by A. Temple Patterson. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1966.

Lambert, Andrew, Jan Rueger, and Robert Blyth, eds. The Dreadnought and the Edwardian Age.  Burlington VT: Ashgate, 2011.

Lambert, Nicholas, ed. The Submarine service 1900-1918. [London]: Navy Records Society, 2001.

Lumby, E.W.R., ed. The Mediterranean 1912-14. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1970.

Marder, Arthur Jacob. From the dreadnought to Scapa Flow; the Royal Navy in the Fisher era, 1904-1919. 5 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1961-1970.

Massie, Robert K. Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the coming of the Great War. New York: Random House, 1991.

McMahon, William E. Dreadnought battleships and battle cruisers. Washington: University Press of America, 1978.

The Navy and Defense/It Might Happen Again: the Autobiography of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Chatfield. 2 vols. London: William Heinemann, 1942.

Office of US Naval Intelligence. Notes on the Year’s Naval Progress. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1882-1902.

The papers of Admiral Sir John Fisher. Edited by P.K. Kemp. 2 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1960.

The Pollen Papers 1901-1916. Edited by Jon Tetsuro Sumida. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1984.

Rawson, Geoffrey. Earl Beatty Admiral of the Fleet. London: Jarrolds, 1930.

Roberts, John Arthur. The battleship Dreadnought. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1992.

Roskill, S.W., ed. The Naval Air Service 1908-1918. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1969.

Scott, Percy. Fifty Years in the Royal Navy. New York: George H Doran Co., 1919.

Seligmann, Matthew S. The Royal Navy and the German threat, 1901-1914. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Seymour, Edward. My Naval Career and Travels. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1911. 

The Royal Navy and the Slave Trade: The Royal Navy played a critical role in curtailing and eventually eliminating the Atlantic Slave trade in the early decades of the 19th Century. The Royal Navy was the only force capable of enforcing the ban on slavery and ending a practice that had existed for over a hundred years. An area ripe for further research and scrutiny.

Howell, Raymond. The Royal Navy and the slave trade. New York: St Martin’s Press, 1987.

Leighton, Wilson. The British Squadron on the coast of Africa. London: J. Ridgway, 1851.

Ward, William Ernest Frank. The Royal Navy and the Slavers: The suppression of the Atlantic Slave Trade. New York: Pantheon Books, 1969. 

The Royal Seamen: Life and Situation throughout the centuries

The active list of Flag Officers and Captains of the Royal Navy…to the 1st of January 1883. Portsmouth: Griffin, 1883.

An Address to the Right Honourable the First Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty. London: John Stockdale, 1786.

Anonymous. An Essay On The Navy, Or Englands Advantage And Safety, Prov’d Dependent On A Formidable And Well-Disciplined Navy: And the Encrease And Encoruagement Of Seamen. By The Author Of The Seaman’s Case. London: Printed for the Author, 1702.

____. Naval Biography; Or, The History And Lives Of Distinguished Characters In The British Navy, From The Earliest Time Of History To The Present Time. Illustrated With Elegant Portraits. Engraved By Eminent Artists. Under The Direction of E. Harding. London: Printed for E. Harding, 1800.

____. Naval Biography; Or, The History And Lives Of Distinguished Characters In The British Navy, From The Earliest Time Of History To The Present Time. Illustrated With Elegant Portraits. Engraved By Eminent Artists. 2 vols. London: Printed for John Scott, 1805.

____. Naval Anecdotes: Illustrating The Character Of British Seamen, And Recording The Most Impressive Examples of Their Skill, Valour, Fortitude, And Magnanimity, Which Have Occurred AT Various Periods In Every Quarter Of The Globe. London: Albion Press Printed, published by James Cundee, 1806.

Bell, Douglas Herbert. Elizabethan Seamen. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1936.

Brassey, Thomas. British Seamen: as described in recent Parliamentary and official documents. London: Longmans, Green, 1877.

Burg, B.R. Boys at sea: sodomy, indecency, and courts martial in Nelson’s navy. New York: Pagrave Macmillan, 2007.

Burney, William. Falconer’s Marine Dictionary. London: Chatham Publishing, 2006. Reprint of 1815 ed.

Bromley, J.S., ed. The Manning of the Royal Navy: selected Public Pamphlets 1693-1873. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1974.

Brunsman, Denver. The Evil Necessity: British Naval Impressment in the eighteenth century Atlantic world. London: University of Virginia Press, 2013.

Bullocke, J.G. Sailor’s Rebellion. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1938.

Corbett, Julian, ed. Signals and Instructions 1776-1794. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1909.

Edwards, Kenneth. The mutiny at Invergorden. London: Putnam, 1937.

____. The Grey Diplomatists. London: Rich and Cowan, 1938.

Ereira, Alan. The Invergorden mutiny. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1981.

Field, C., Old times afloat: A Naval Anthology. London: Andrew Melrose Ltd, 1932.

Firth, C.H., ed. Naval Songs and Ballads. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1908.

Fraser, Edward. Famous Fighters of the Fleet. London: Macmillan & co limited, 1904.

____. The Londons of the British Fleet. New York: John Lane Company, 1907.

____. Champions of the Fleet. New York: John Lane Company, 1907.

Gardner, James Anthony. Above & Under Hatches. London: Batchworth Press, 1955.

Garfield, Leon. Child o’war: The true story of a boy sailor in Nelson’s navy. London: Collins, 1972.

Great Britain, Admiralty. The commissioned sea officers of the Royal Navy, 1660-1815. N.p. 1954.

Hainsselin, Montague. Naval Intelligence. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1918.

Henderson, J. Welles and Rodney P. Carlisle. Marine Art & Antiques: Jack Tar, a sailor’s life, 1750-1910. Suffolk: Antique Collector’s Club, 1999.

Hutchinson, J.R. The Press-gang afloat and ashore. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1914.

Kemp, Peter. The British Sailor: a social history of the lower deck. London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1970.

Laughton, John Knox, ed. The Naval Miscellany. 7 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1902-2008.

Lavery, Brian, ed. Shipboard Life and Organization 1731-1815. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1998.

Lloyd, Christopher. The British seaman 1200-1860: a social survey. Dickinson Univ. Press, 1970.

____. The Health of Seamen. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1965.

Macdonald, Janet. The British Navy’s victualing board, 1793-1815: management competence and incompetence. Woodbridge: Boydell press, 2010.

Marcus, Geoffrey. Quiberon Bay. Barre, MA: Barre Publishing Co., 1963.

Marsden, R.G., ed. Law and Custom of the Sea. Vol 1 1205-1648. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1915.

____. Law and Custom of the Sea. Vol 2 1649-1767. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1915.

Matcham, Mary Eyre. A Forgotten John Russell. London: Edward Arnold, 1905.

Neale, W. Johson. History of the Mutiny At Spithead and The Nore. London: Thomas Tegg, 1842.

O’Byrne, William R. A Naval Biographical Dictionary. London: John Murray, 1849.

Otway, Robert Waller. The Royal Navy effectually manned. Rare (1770-1846)

Pietsch, Roland. The real Jim Hawkins: ships boys in the Georgian Navy. Barnsley: Seaforth Pub., 2010.

Richmond, H.W. National Policy and Naval Strength XVIth to XXth century. London: Oxford University Press, 1923.

Robinson, Charles. The British tar in fact and fiction. London: Harper and Brother, 1909.

Sainsbury, A. B. The Royal Navy day by day. Stroud: Sutton, 2005.

Senior, William. Naval History in the law courts. London: Longmans Green and Co Ltd, 1927.

Southey, Robert. English Seamen. London: Methuen & Co., 1904.

Teonge, Henry. The Diary of Henry Teonge, Chaplain On Board His majesty’s Ships Assistance, Britsol, And Royal Oak, Anno 1675 to 1679. London: Charles Knight, 1825.

Vale, Brian. A Frigate of King George: Life and Duty on a British Man of War 1807-1829. London: I.B. Tauris, 2001. 

The Royal Navy: Ships, Administration, & Tactics Across the ages

Adams, W.H. Davenport. Famous Ships Of the Royal Navy. London: Strahan & Co., 1870.

Akrigg, G.P.V. and Helen Akrigg. HMS Virago in the Pacific: 1851-1855. Victoria, B.C., CAN: Sono Nis Press, 1992.

Bathe, Basil W. British warships 1845-1945. London: H.M.S.O., 1970.

Brassey, Thomas. The British Navy. 5 vols. London: Longmans Green and Co., 1883. (focus on administration and technical aspects of the Navy)

Briggs, John Henry. Naval Administrations 1827-1892. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1897.

Brown, David. Before the Ironclad: Development of Ship Design, propulsion and armament in the Royal Navy, 1815-60. London: Conway Maritime Press Ltd., 1990.

____. Warrior to Dreadnought: Warship Development 1860-1905. London: Chatham Publishing, 1997.

Bugler, Arthur. HMS Victory: Building, restoration and repair. London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1966.

Buxton, Ian. Big Gun Monitors: the history of the design, construction and operation of the Royal Navy’s Monitors. Tynemouth, England: Trident Books, 1978.

Callender, Geoffrey. The story of HMS Victory. London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1944.

Coad, Jonathan G. The Royal Dockyards: 1690-1850. Aldershot, EN: Scolar Press, 1989.

Colledge, J.J. British Sailing warships. London: I Allan, 1964.

____. Ships of the Royal Navy. 2 vols. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1987-89.

____. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy. Havertown, PA: Casemate, 2010. (Reprint of 1987 ed.)

Corbett, Julian, ed. Fighting Instructions 1530-1815. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1905.

Davies, David Tudor. A brief history of fighting ships. New York: Carroll and Graf, 2002.

Eastland, Jonathan and Iain Ballantyne. HMS Victory: first rate 1765. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2011.

Engholm, Frederick Waldermar. The story of HMS Victory. London: Lindsay Drummond Limited, 1944.

Gilly, William. Narratives Of Shipwrecks Of The Royal Navy: Between 1793 And 1857. London: John W. parker and Son. 1857.

Goodwin, Peter. The construction and fitting of the English man of war, 1650-1850. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1987.

____. HMS Victory: 1765-1812 (first rate ship of the line). Somerset, UK: Haynes Publishing, 2012.

Gosset, W.P. The Lost Ships of The Royal Navy: 1793-1900. New York: Mansell Publishing Limited, 1986.

King, Cecil. H.M.S: His Majesty’s Ships & their forebears. London: Studio Publications, 1940.

Knight, R.J.B. Portsmouth Record Series: Portsmouth Dockyard Papers 1774-1783: The American War. City of Portsmouth, 1987.

Laughton, John Knox. From Howard to Nelson: Twelve sailors. London: Lawrence and Bullen LTD., 1899.

____. Seafights and Adventures. London: George Allen, 1901.

Lavery, Brian. Building the wooden walls: the design and construction of the 74 gun ship Valiant. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1991.

Lecky, Halton Stirling. The Kings Ships. 3 vols. London: Horace Muirgead, 1913. (Complete names and history of H.M. Warships up to the pub. date)

Long, W.H., ed. Naval Yarns: 1616-1831. New York: Francis Harper, 1899.

Low, Charles Rathbone. Famous Frigate Actions. London: Conway Maritime press, 1970.

Lyon, David. The Sailing Navy List: All the ships of the Royal Navy built, purchased and captured 1688-1860. London: Conway Maritime Press, 1993.

McGowan, Alan. HMS Victory: Her Construction, Career and Restoration. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1999.

McKay, John. The 100-gun ship Victory. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1987.

Naval anecdotes: illustrating the character of British seamen, and recording the most impressive examples of their skill, valour, fortitude, and magnanimity, which have occurred at various periods, in every quarter of the globe. London: James Cundee, 1806.

Pamphlet. An easie method for the speedy and effectual manning of his majesty’s fleet. London: J. Morphew (pub) n.d.

Rodger, N.A.M. The wooden world: an anatomy of the Georgian Navy. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute press, 1986.

Sir William Munson’s Naval Tracts. Edited by M. Oppenheim. 5 vols. [London]: Navy Records Society, 1902-1914. (Also written as Monson)

Vale, Brian. A Frigate of King George: Life and Duty on a British Man of War 1807-1829. London: I.B. Tauris, 2001.

Warner, Oliver. Great Naval Actions of the British Navy 1588-1807 & 1916. New York: Crane Russak & Co. Inc., 1976.

Wells, John. The immortal Warrior. Hampshire, UK: Kenneth Mason, 1987.

White, David. Anatomy of the Ship: the Frigate Diana. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1992.

Willis, Sam. The Fighting Temeraire. New York: Pegasus Books, 2010.

Wilson, Timothy. Flags at Sea. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1999. Contains section on the flags of the Royal Navy.

Winfield, Rif. British warships in the age of sail, 1714-1792. St Paul Minn: Seaforth, 2007.

____. British warships in the age of sail, 1603-1714. Barnsley: Seaforth, 2009.

____. British Warships in the age of sail, 1817-1863. Barnsley: Seaforth, 2014.

Woodrooff, Thomas. Vantage at Sea. New York: St Martin’s Press, 1958.

Young, Alan R. His Majesty’s Royal Ship: a critical edition of Thomas Heywoods ‘A true description of His Majestyies Royall Ship.’ New York: A.M.S. Press Inc., 1990. 

Special Collections: Selected Titles of interest to the discerning Scholar: The US Navy Department Library has a host of material that would interest potential researchers. The following are some of the more interesting and exotic titles associated with the Royal Navy maintained by the Library. The Prize Appeal Court Books are particularly fascinating and informative.  The large collection of Gazette’s can give the researcher valuable insight into normal activities of the Royal Navy for the periods they cover. This material gets to the heart of the Royal Navy, especially for the period of its greatest activity.

Admiralty & Horse Guards Gazette. 1884-1901.

Army-Navy Gazette. 1860-1937.

The Army & Navy Illustrated. Edited by Charles Robinson. 17 vols.  London: Hudson & Kearns, 1895-1904.

Barnes, James. Naval Actions of War of 1812. New York: Harper & Brother Publishing, 1896.

British Admiralty Prize Appeal Case Books: 1780-1822. 36 vols.

Broad Arrow Gazette. 1882-1911.

Correspondence and Memoirs of V.Adm. Lord Collingwood. 2 vols.

Dudley, William S. The Naval War of 1812: a documentary history. 3 vols. Washington Naval Historical Center: Dept. of Navy, 1985.

The Journal of the Royal Artillery. 1907-1938.

Mahan, A.T. The Life of Nelson. 2 vols. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1897.

Minutes of proceedings of the Royal Artillery Institution. 1861-1906.

Naval Documents of the American Revolution. 12 vols. 1774-1778. (Collection of Primary source documents from combatants on both sides of the conflict, with emphasis on US Navy.)

The New Navy List.  21 vols. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1839-1856. List of all officers serving in the Royal Navy during this period.

Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society. 1855-1892.

Smith, William James, ed. Grenville Papers. 4 vols. London: John Murray, 1852.

Wilson, H.W. Ironclads in Action: From 1855-1895. 2 vols. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1896. 

Manuscripts of the Navy Department Library: The following are taken directly from the Navy Department Library’s manuscript page. For full list of manuscripts held, please follow this link:

http://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/manuscripts/manuscript-index.html

Admiral Lord Howe. Autographed signed letter dated 10 November 1776. To Captain Andrew S. Hammond, Commanding HMS Roebuck in the North River. Regarding Hammond's encounters with the rebels. Several mild rebukes.

British Letter of Marque

Dated 22 October 1813, London. To John Banner, Commander of Swiftsure. To "seize and take the ships, vessels and goods belonging to the United States of America." (Folio document (63.5 x 58 cm.) with the seal of George the Third attached.) This document has not been transcribed in full, but may be viewed in the Navy Department Library.

British Navy (Royal Navy)

Letter dated 25 May 1763, from Commissioners of the Navy. To Barrington. Soliciting 50,000 pounds sterling to pay off ships. Signed by C. Mason and R. Temple. (Temple was Commissioner of Revenue at New York in 1764.)

Broadside dated 30 June 1779. Order to the Chief Magistrate of the town of Timmouth to ‘take up’ seafaring men for duty with His Majesty’s Fleet. Constables to receive 20 shillings for each seaman delivered

Broadside. An Authentic return of the killed and wounded on board His Majesty's ships in the actions with the French fleet on 28 and 29 May and 1 June 1794. Six small woodcuts at the head of the broadside.

Document dated 4 December 1779. Commission appointing Lieutenant Goodwin Keats to the position of Fourth Lieutenant on HMS Price George by command of their Lordships. Several signatures with seal and tax stamp.

Four-paged document of orders to Commander in Chief of HMS’s ships in the Mediterranean, dated 15 September 1785, signed by Lord Howe and other high commanders.

Notes for the Researcher: Delving Deeper

The US Navy Department Library has a massive source of secondary source and special material related to the Royal Navy for the period stretching from 1485 to 1914. Beyond the list of material listed above, there is a host of sources, particularly primary, available for the researcher. Some of this material will be listed in the bibliographies of the sources listed above. Other material, especially primary sources can be harder to find.  So where does one begin when considering research topics and further lines of inquiry into Royal Navy sources, beyond the material available in the Navy Department Library?

Roger Morriss’ Guide to British Naval Papers in North America is an excellent source in locating various primary source material located within the United States and Canada. This guide will give the researcher a better sense of the material available and where such material might be located. For any researcher here are some tips. Before contacting a particular library, private collection, society, etc. do some preliminary research on whether the material you are hoping to find will potentially be there. Most repositories have their collections listed online at their websites; these are excellent locations to start determining whether the repository has the material you are seeking. Furthermore, be nice to your reference librarian. They frequently have near intimate knowledge of the resources of their institution and can seriously shorten your research time in finding the material you are looking for.

To most effectively delve into the primary sources connected with the Royal Navy, a researcher would have to travel to the United Kingdom. There are three places where one should start any deeper investigation into primary source material connected to the Royal Navy, all of them located within London. The British Library (http://www.bl.uk/ ) has thousands of documents ranging from early edition books, pamphlets, letter collections, and manuscripts. The British Library is an excellent starting location into further investigating the Royal Navy. Further study can be made in the shelves and reading rooms of the National Archives (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ ). Not only does the National Archives have a host of its own material (including the Service records of Navy Seamen from 1853-1923) but the National Archives system is connected to over 2,500 other archives across the UK. If the National Archives does not have what you are seeking, it will probably be able to track it down for you. Finally, the National Maritime Museum, part of the Royal Museums Greenwich, (http://www.rmg.co.uk/national-maritime-museum ) maintains a vast collection of manuscripts related to maritime affairs as well as physical objects from charts and maps, to uniforms and navigation equipment that can help boost the intellectual content of any work.

There is a fourth starting location for researchers of the Royal Navy and that is the Royal Naval Museum Library at Portsmouth (http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/research_library.htm ). Much like the Navy Department Library here relating to the US Navy, the Royal Naval Museum Library has a vast amount of primary source material related to the Royal Navy. These records stretch from navigation and naval science to ship movement records from 1856-1914. In conjunction with the Admiralty Library, also at Portsmouth, the Library has over 20,000 manuscripts available for perusal. They even have a helpful guide, M. Sheldon, Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the Royal Naval Museum, 1997, available for purchase, providing you the researcher with a starting point for any inquiries you wish to make. In addition, the US Navy Department Library has guides for the National Maritime Museum (Knight, R. J. B. ed. Guide to the manuscripts in the National Maritime Museum) and the National Archives (Cock, Randolph and N.A.M. Rodger, eds. A guide to the Naval Records in the National Archives of the UK) that the researcher can use to help guide his inquiries with these institutions.

The material that exists on the Royal Navy is both vast and can appear at times to be quite daunting, especially in regards to primary source material. The above musings will hopefully provide you with some guidance as to where exactly to go in order to delve deeper into the Royal Navy of Great Britain. For a starting point, the material available in the US Navy Department Library is an excellent and wise choice to begin one’s research journey.

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Published: Mon Jan 28 15:01:55 EST 2019