BRITAIN AND THE OCEAN ROAD: Shipwrecks and People, 1297-1825

1-249230

Uses new firsthand research and unconventional interpretations to take a fresh look at British maritime history in the age of sail. Explores how and why Britain became a global sea power through eight stories of shipwrecks. Encompasses an extraordinary range of people, ships, and events, such as a bloody maritime civil war in the 13th century, a 17th-century American teenager who stepped from one ship to another and into a life of piracy, a British warship that fought at Trafalgar on the French side, and a Liverpool slave-ship sunk in the year before the slave trade was abolished. Includes details such as England's rudest and crudest street-name, what it was like to be a passenger in a medieval ship, how the English theater reached the Far East during Shakespeare's lifetime, who forgave who after a pirate duel, why there were fancy dress parties in the Arctic, and where you could get the best herring. Contains integrated maps, figures, and 16 pages of mono illustrations.