PUBLICATIONS

BOOK REVIEW

Captain James Cook in Atlantic Canada: The Adventurer and Map Maker’s Formative Years.

By Jerry Lockett
Formac Publishing Company Ltd Halifax, Canada.
ISBN 978-0-88780-920-0  198pp
Reviewed by Larry Robbins

This is a detailed but readable book by Halifax resident Jerry Lockett who set out to explore the story of James Cook’s time in Atlantic Canada. This is, he suggests, a subject which has “received scant attention from historians and Cook’s biographers and even less in the way of public recognition.”

Lockett points out that Cook spent more time in the region (Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Quebec) than in any other place during his adult life, a time that was critical to his future success as explorer and hydrographer. Cook’s employment in the region and the fortuitous, and history changing, meeting and subsequent relationship with army surveyor Samuel Holland, which sparked Cook’s interest in surveying is covered in detail.  A couple of chapters record Cook’s time in Halifax and on the ‘Great Survey of Newfoundland’, a task which took him over 4 years – a similar length of time to that which Cook and his wife Elizabeth in total spent in each other’s company!

Cook put considerable effort, in his otherwise free time, into furthering his studies of  mathematics and astronomy during his time in the region and came to the attention of a number of senior and influential naval officers who were to further Cook’s career. Many of these – Palliser and Saunders for example – are recorded in names given by Cook to topographical features  around the world, and are still carried on modern charts.  

Captain John Simcoe of HMS PEMBROKE, was a major influence on Cook, especially during late 1758-1759 when Cook was surveying, and then over the winter, drawing, his first known chart – that of Gaspé Bay near the mouth of the St Lawrence River. Simcoe was an atypical naval officer, being “a well-read and intellectual  officer – skilled in mathematics and with an interest in science - who took to sea with him a small library”. Simcoe encouraged Cook’s studies and reading and introduced him to the noted mathematician and astronomer Charles Leadbetter, even explaining some of the more complicated passages to his protégé.  

Commenting on Cook’s chart of  Gaspé Bay, Lockett notes that the chart “has one curious and most unconventional feature: its orientation is such that magnetic north points southeast, giving the chart the bizarre appearance of being upside down. There seems to be no obvious reason why Cook chose to do it this way.”  This is a strange observation, for the accompanying illustration of the chart shows that orientating the chart this way (with SW at the top) is a most effective use of paper. In any case, drawing charts ‘north-up’ is merely a convention. But this is a minor quibble and possibly only jars with this reviewer because of his previous experience as a hydrographer. 

Lockett, not unnaturally given the history of eastern Canada, covers the campaigns against the French, and Cook’s part in these, in some detail.  Some authors give prime credit for the success of Wolfe’s campaign to the work of Cook, but Lockett, rightly notes that Cook and Holland were just two of a number of those who contributed to the end result.

The final chapter neatly rounds out Lockett’s story of James Cook, with a brief review of his three famous voyages of discovery. These have been well covered elsewhere but they are a useful adjunct to the main story. In briefly covering Cook’s surveying methods and his concern for the health of his crew – including measures to combat scurvy - Lockett notes that “The outstanding success of these three voyages owes much to the nine years that Cook spent in Atlantic Canada.” 

Lockett’s prose style is easy to read and the stories flow well.  Two appendices cover the story of “Too Many Cooks” (there were apparently three contemporaneous James Cooks) and Cook’s relationship with the chart publishers.  There is an extensive set of end notes amplifying the narrative, though there are no footnotes referring the reader to these, so one has to remember to flick to the back of the book occasionally to see if there is any such detail. There is an extensive and very useful index.    
 
‘Captain James Cook in Atlantic Canada’ is a most useful addition to the James Cook literature. 

Journal for Maritime Research - Call for Papers

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/cfp/rmarcfp.pdf

Please see above the Call for Papers for articles for the Journal for Maritime Research (JMR), which is being relaunched in 2011 (published online and in print, twice-annually, by Routledge). Please circulate this to colleagues and students.

The deadline for papers for the inaugural issue is 1st September 2010 (but submissions for subsequent issues will be accepted thereafter).

The JMR focuses on historical enquiry at the intersections of maritime, British and global history, an increasingly dynamic area of research. It seeks to champion a wide spectrum of innovative research on the maritime past. While the journal has a particular focus on the British experience, it aspires to position this within broad oceanic and international contexts, encouraging comparative perspectives and interdisciplinary approaches. The journal publishes research essays, and reviews around 15–20 new books each year across a broad spectrum of maritime history.

BOOK REVIEW

TITANIC and Liverpool

Alan Scarth
Liverpool: Liverpool University Press & National Museums Liverpool, 2009
240pp.  £ 9.95
ISBN 978-184631-222-9 limp
Reviewed by Larry Robbins

TITANIC’s relationship to Belfast, where she was built, and Southampton whence she sailed on her only voyage are well known.  So why a book on TITANIC and Liverpool?

Alan Scarth, in this finely researched book, provides the answer.  The back cover of the book states “If you had been astern of  TITANIC on that that fateful night in 1912, the last word to flash before your eyes as the great ship plunged beneath the waves would have been ‘Liverpool’ “. TITANIC was built for the White Star Line which was headquartered in a splendid building in the city whose design was based on that of the London police headquarters, New Scotland Yard. Liverpool was the home port of the company’s  magnificent passenger liners though TITANIC never visited what was then England’s pre-eminent port.

Scarth provides a concise history of the White Star Line and its relationship to Liverpool and of the subsequent move of the transatlantic mail/passenger operations to Southampton which he describes as “ bold and pragmatic”. The White Star Line had been losing ground to competitors Cunard since 1904, so company President and Managing Director, Bruce Ismay, ordered two liners of “unprecedented size and luxury” to compete on the Southampton to New York route. 

TITANIC was ordered from the Belfast shipyard of Harland and Wolff in 1907.  Scarth discusses the rationale behind the design and order of the ship whose keel was laid on 22 March 1909.  A considerable proportion of the materials and fittings used in TITANIC and her sister OLYMPIC were provided by Liverpool firms.  Items ranging from the ship’s telegraph to rope work, navigation charts to galley equipment were sourced or manufactured in Liverpool. 

Two chapters of the book provide an interesting insight into the 114 crewmembers (of a complement of 892) who were from Liverpool or had a strong association with the city.  Many were key officers and crew of the ship.  Although the chapters contain lists of these people these chapters are more than simply a bland recital of names. There are numerous personal histories.

Only only a few passengers on that fateful voyage hailed from a Liverpool but Scarth suggests that this was not unusual, for a number of reasons.  Only 17 of the 954 passengers had a Liverpool connection.  One was J Bruce Ismay himself.  As is well- known, Ismay survived the sinking although his valet and personal secretary perished. 

The book is not about the wreck of TITANIC per se, but three chapters are devoted to the outward voyage, the sinking and its immediate aftermath.  Ismay’s appearances at the various inquiries into the disaster are well covered. The news was received with shock in Liverpool.  Telegrams bounced around and expressions of sympathy were received at the company’s office.  The personnel manifests were held in Southampton and it was some time before personal information was available in Liverpool. Ismay was vilified in the American Press, largely suggests Scarth, because of newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst’s long-held dislike for Ismay. “The [disaster] almost ruined our lives” said Ismay’s wife. Ismay retired from the company in 1913.

In the final chapter Scarth looks at the “long shadow” cast by the  sinking, including the effects upon the survivors, the company and others such as Captain Lord of MV CALIFORNIAN who was castigated by a British inquiry for failing to adequately assist TITANIC. The wreckage was discovered in 1985. The ship’s position appeared to support Lord’s  estimate of his position but a resultant review of the inquiry a few years later failed to totally reverse the initial findings.

Scarth has drawn extensively upon the archives of the company and papers, archives and artefacts held in the extensive collection of the Merseyside Maritime Museum.  Much of this material has not previously been published.  The book is extensively illustrated, contains various personnel lists and a detailed index.

Although “Southampton suffered far more than any other British port” as a result of the disaster and many other ports throughout the world played major roles, Scarth suggests -  and in the reviewer’s view proves -  that the “port of Liverpool was central to the TITANIC  story from beginning to end.”  It is no idle boast that “Titanic and Liverpool will be required reading for anyone interested in Titanic and also for anyone hoping to understand Liverpool’s role as the great processing port of Europe and gateway to the US and Canada.”

BOOK REVIEW

Odprti k morju : Rivolti al mare : Open to the sea. 50 th Anniversary of the Maritime Museum "Sergej Masera" in Piran, Republic of Slovenia
Published in 2005. 124 p. ISBN 961-91279-3-5 (pbk)

From the donation of GALEB the first Museum sailboat, to the unique collection of 16 th and 17 th century books in the library, this book is an excellent 50 th anniversary celebration for the " Sergej Masera" in Piran.

The major articles cover all aspects of the Museum's history and have been delicately illustrated with objects and photographs that show an immense amount of detail. The text is predominantly Slovenian with the abstracts translated into Italian and English.

A special feature running through the book is the story of GALEB. Each image of GALEB is centred on a page with a white background adjacent to several days of her ships' log in each of the three languages. The log is set in a vertical wave pattern of blue text on light yellow coloured pages. The reader can almost imagine themselves on board GALEB during the journey.

Another interesting feature of the book is the list of international projects which have involved the museum staff. Featured is the project "All about salt" which was a partnership with Greece , Portugal , Slovenia and Bulgaria and was funded by Phare funds from the European Union. Preservation of traditional salt making, conservation of salt works and funding the Salt Making Museum were three of the elements of the project.

The Museum is also involved in annual regattas, runs a summer school of archaeology and naval history and hosted the ICMM Congress in 2002.

Lists of current Museum projects, catalogues published, former and present staff and statistics of visitor numbers over the years are included.

Overall I found the book extremely interesting and very well designed and presented.

Marleene Boyd
Information Officer
Bill Laxon Maritime Library
New Zealand National Maritime Museum

Recent Publications

European Maritime Heritage Newsletter No 20 - February 2006      Download

The Annual Report of the Australian National Maritime Museum for the year to June 2005 has been published. As usual, it makes for good reading and one is impressed by the list of achievements. Principal amongst these was the arrival of the ENDEAVOUR replica into the Museum's charge and the adoption of free admission to the museum's galleries as standard practice. Fortunately the ship was gifted with 'additional funds for its operation'.   The ANMM achieved over 1.6 million 'interactions' including 411,340 museum visitors and held an exciting list of exhibitions, including a spectacular display of artworks 1660-1860 from the Musee de la Marine, Paris. The 'American Friends of ANMM' was established to support the USA Gallery and around 1700 items were added to the ANMM Collection.

Vadehavet - Portrætter af et kulturlandskab , Jan Abrahamse, Marieke Bemelman, Martin Hillinga, John Frederiksen & Morten Hahn-Pedersen (eds.), Esbjerg, November 2005, 352 pages. The Danish edition of a book on the Waddensea that has made via a close cooperation between partners in The Netherlands, Germany and Denmark .

Morten Karnøe Søndergaard & Morten Hahn-Pedersen: Afledt effekt af aktiviteter på Esbjerg Havn , Esbjerg, August 2005, 106 pages. Research report analyzing the impact of harbour activities in the Port of Esbjerg on the city of Esbjerg and Ribe County .

Niels Frederiksen: Et liv til søs. H.P. Thomsens erindringer om livet på havet 1874-1917. Esbjerg 2006, 316 pages . A commented edition of sea captain H. P. Thomsens memoirs based on his diary books from 1874 to 1917.