The Elements and Practice of Rigging, Seamanship, and Naval Tactics

The first English manual of best naval practice for aspiring young officers, first published in 1794.

David Steel (Author)

9781108026536, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 January 2011

290 pages, 11 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 1.7 cm, 0.37 kg

David Steel was one of the most respected and prolific naval publishers of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. His publications focused on naval strategy and shipbuilding techniques. This influential four-volume work, first published in 1794, was the first comprehensive English manual of best naval practice. Designed for aspiring young officers, it established Steel's reputation as a publisher. The book describes theoretical and practical aspects of masts, rigging, and sails, and the science of sailing. The combination of practical advice supported by scientific and mathematical explanations and numerous illustrations provides valuable insights into British seamanship during the Napoleonic wars. Volume 3, reissued here in the 1806 edition, explains the terminology of rigging, and describes methods of rigging different types of ship.

1. Alphabetical explanation of the terms used in rigging
2. Preparatory rigging
3. Progressive method of rigging ships
4. Description of operations and particulars generally performed while fitting the ship in harbour, or when at sea
5. Rigging brigs and smaller vessels
6. Rigging vessels with one mast
7. Proportions for the lengths of the standing and running rigging of all ships
8. Table of the dimensions of the standing and running rigging
9. Quantities and dimension of the rigging of brigs, cutters, sloops, ketches, merchant-shipping.

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW]