The Lost Ships of Charles II's Navy

Understanding the Seventeenth-Century Warship

The Lost Ships of Charles II's Navy cover

The Lost Ships of Charles II's Navy

Understanding the Seventeenth-Century Warship

Description

A comprehensively researched and beautifully illustrated history of the design of the ships of Charles II's Navy, using reconstructed architectural plans based on contemporary records.

The Royal Navy of the late seventeenth century was the greatest enterprise in the country, and in 1677, with Samuel Pepys as Secretary of the Navy, the House of Commons voted to fund the building of 30 new ships, the largest single shipbuilding project up to this point. This new history by award-winning naval historian Richard Endsor describes the history of this great endeavour, and seeks to recreate architectural plans of these ships based on detailed measurements and calculations left behind by Edmund Dummer, an assistant to master shipwright Sir Anthony Deane and later Surveyor of the Navy from 1692 to 1699.

Using Dummer's surviving notebook, supported by the official specification dimension list for the ships, large-scale, artistic drawings and several surviving models, The Lost Ships of Charles II's Navy contains dimensioned and accurate architectural plans for several named ships alongside numerous other illustrations, including contemporary Van de Velde drawings of the ships.

Table of Contents

Foreword: The Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery
Introduction
Chapter 1: Gloucester
Chapter 2: London
Chapter 3: The 30 New Ships
Chapter 4: Captain
Chapter 5: Windsor Castle
Chapter 6: Dutchess
Chapter 7: Grafton
Chapter 8: Essex and Kent
Chapter 9: Berwick
Chapter 10: Burford
Chapter 11: Elizabeth and Hope
Chapter 12: Dummer's Last Surveys
Chapter 13: Dummer's Ships from Start to End
Chapter 14: Shipbuilding
Chapter 15: Thomas Fagge's Third-Rate Ship
Appendix: Scantling List
Endnotes
Index

Product details

Published Jul 03 2025
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Extent 304
ISBN 9781472866714
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations More than 130 ships' plans, and colour illustrations.
Series General Military
Short code GNM
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Richard Endsor

Richard Endsor is an engineer by profession, but h…

Resources

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