An History of Marine Architecture
Including an Enlarged and Progressive View of the Nautical Regulations and Naval History, Both Civil and Military, of All Nations, Especially of Great Britain

This three-volume work, published 1800–2, stands as the first serious study of British naval architecture, and also covers developments overseas.

John Charnock (Author)

9781108084123, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 28 July 2016

546 pages, 36 b/w illus.
29.7 x 21.1 x 2.9 cm, 1.43 kg

After completing his studies at Trinity College, Oxford, John Charnock (1756–1807) joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer. Though details of his career at sea are lacking, he is known to have embarked on assiduous research into historical and contemporary naval affairs, and he cultivated contacts with many serving officers. His six-volume Biographia Navalis (1794–8), flawed yet still useful, is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. Published in three volumes from 1800 to 1802, the present work stands as the first serious study of naval architecture in Britain in particular, while also noting major developments in Europe and beyond. The volumes are illustrated throughout with numerous designs of vessels. Volume 2 (1801) opens by considering Venetian and Genoese seafaring in the middle of the fifteenth century. Significant space is then given to the navies of the Tudors and Stuarts, and to changes in Europe up to the end of the seventeenth century.

1. State of the Venetian and Genoese marine
2. Account of the British navy
3. State of the British navy under Edward VI and Mary
4. Internal or civil regulations
5. Civil economy of the royal navy in the reigns of Henry VII and VIII
6. Number of ships built for the public service
7. The condition of the Venetian, Genoese, Spanish, French and Dutch marine
8. State of the British navy at the accession of James I
9. Report of the commissioners
10. Continuation of the report
11. Squadrons fitted our against the Algerines
12. State of the Venetian and Genoese marine
13. The maritime power of the United Provinces
14. State of the Russian marine
15. Political situation of Great Britain after the death of Charles I
16. Flourishing state of the British navy
17. Active measures taken by King William
18. Principles of marine architecture.

Subject Areas: History of engineering & technology [TBX]