Cindy Vallar, Editor & Reviewer
P.O. Box 425, Keller, TX 76244-0425
Books for Adults - Nonfiction
They capture our imaginations. They majestically sail across oceans. They play a key role in Britainís defense of the realm. Yet we tend to think of these wooden walls as if they spring from an idea to fully built ships. The truth is far different and, although they may not measure up to todayís technology, these fighting vessels are the most technologically advanced of their day. This book delves into what it takes to build a ship from the seedling of an oak tree to the ideal warship that leads to an island nationís supremacy upon the seas.
The backbone of the Royal Navy sprang from a captured Spanish ship, originally built by French shipwrights in 1740. This man-of-war was superior to all existing vessels in the English fleet, so the Admiralty decided to base future warships on her design. One of the two-deck, seventy-four-gun vessels to be built was HMS Thunderer, whose keel was laid in 1756 at Woolwich, the first royal dockyard. It took four years of construction before her launch in the middle of the Seven Yearsí War. At the dawn of the next century, 139 out of 800 ships were seventy-fours.
But this is far more than just a book about ship construction and the Royal Navy. It also shines a light on Britainís shipping industry, the timber trade, the elements needed to build ships, the dockyards where they were built, and the people needed to turn designs into finished products. Ten chapters and an epilogue comprise this volume, beginning with ďThe Origins of the 74Ē and concluding with a recap of Thundererís career from her launch to her loss in 1780.
Dodds is both a shipwright and an artist, whose black and white drawings provide readers with a clear understanding of each facet along the way. Moore sails yachts and writes books about ships. Their expertise shines through, turning what might be a ho-hum dry treatise on shipbuilding into a fascinating and easy-to-understand narrative. Originally published in 1984, this new edition is beautifully rendered and well worth the price. There are so many details presented that even those familiar with ship construction will discover new tidbits of information, while those with little understanding of the industry will come away with a deeper appreciation of what it took to build one wooden fighting ship out of more than 3,400 oak trees.
Review Copyrighted ©2022 Cindy Vallar
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