Pepys's Navy
Ships, Men & Warfare 1649-89
J.D Davies
Found in: Naval: Wooden Walls
All Seaforth Books
Hardback 320 pages
ISBN: 9781848320147
Published: 20 November 2008
was £40.00
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This new reference book describes every aspect the English navy in the second half of the seventeenth century, from the time when the Fleet Royal was taken into Parliamentary control after the defeat of Charles I, until the accession of William and Mary in 1689 when the long period of war with the Dutch came to an end. This is a crucial era which witnessed the creation of a permanent naval service, in essence the birth of the Royal Navy.
Every aspect of the navy is covered - naval administration, ship types and shipbuilding, naval recruitment and crews, seamanship and gunnery, shipboard life, dockyards and bases, the foreign navies of the period, and the three major wars which were fought against the Dutch in the Channel and the North Sea. Samuel Pepys, whose thirty years of service did so much to replace the ad hoc processes of the past with systems for construction and administration, is one of the most significant players, and the navy which was, by 1690, ready for the 100 years of global struggle with the French owed much to his tireless work.
This book is destined to become a major work for historians, naval enthusiasts and, indeed, anyone with an interest in this colourful era of the seventeenth century.
JD Davies’s authoritative study of the fledgling Royal Navy – PEPYS’S NAVY: Ships, Men and Warfare 1649-1689 – has won the fourth Samuel Pepys Award.
In PEPYS’S NAVY, David Davies examines every aspect of the English navy in the second half of the seventeenth century, from the time when the Fleet was taken into Parliamentary control after the defeat of Charles I, until the accession of William and Mary in 1689 when the long period of struggle with the Dutch came to an end. This crucial era witnessed the creation of a permanent naval service, in essence the birth of
the Royal Navy.
Samuel Pepys played a pivotal role in the creation of a professional navy, first as a member of the Navy Board and later as Secretary to the Admiralty. His thirty years’ service did much to replace the ad hoc processes of the past with systems for construction and administration. That, by 1690, the navy was ready for a century of struggle against the French owed much to Pepys’s tireless work.
The judges, who included the inaugural winner of the Award, Claire Tomalin, were unanimous in their decision to award the prize to David Davies.
Speaking on behalf of the judges, Ann Sweeney (Chairman), commented,
"We expect PEPYS’S NAVY to become an enduring work of reference. Very comprehensive and written with great authority, David Davies has shown his total knowledge of secondary sources balanced by his own research. The excellent descriptions of sea battles and the minutiae of ship-board life are supported by superb illustrations. This is an exceptional successor to his previous book Gentlemen and Tarpaulins. It is a book we would all like to have on our bookshelves."
JD Davies will be presented with a cheque for £2000 and a specially commissioned medal designed by Philip Nathan in memory of Robert Latham, the co-editor of the definitive edition of Pepys’s diary. The award will be given at the annual Samuel Pepys dinner to be held at Apothecaries’ Hall on 20 October.
The Samuel Pepys Award is a biennial prize and is given for a book that, in the opinion of the judges, makes the greatest contribution to the understanding of Samuel Pepys, his times or his contemporaries in the interest of encouraging scholarship in this area. The first award was given to Claire Tomalin’s Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self in 2003 to mark the tercentenary of his death in May 1703. Frances Harris won the award in 2005 for Transformations of Love, for her vivid portrait of John Evelyn’s ‘chaste but passionate’ friendship with Margaret Godolphin, a maid of honour at the Restoration court of Charles II. In 2007, the Award was made to John Adamson for The Noble Revolt, an absorbing narrative of the period between the king’s decision to fight the Scots in May 1640 and his flight from London in January 1642.
Every aspect of the navy is covered - naval administration, ship types and shipbuilding, naval recruitment and crews, seamanship and gunnery, shipboard life, dockyards and bases, the foreign navies of the period, and the three major wars which were fought against the Dutch in the Channel and the North Sea. Samuel Pepys, whose thirty years of service did so much to replace the ad hoc processes of the past with systems for construction and administration, is one of the most significant players, and the navy which was, by 1690, ready for the 100 years of global struggle with the French owed much to his tireless work.
This book is destined to become a major work for historians, naval enthusiasts and, indeed, anyone with an interest in this colourful era of the seventeenth century.
JD Davies’s authoritative study of the fledgling Royal Navy – PEPYS’S NAVY: Ships, Men and Warfare 1649-1689 – has won the fourth Samuel Pepys Award.
In PEPYS’S NAVY, David Davies examines every aspect of the English navy in the second half of the seventeenth century, from the time when the Fleet was taken into Parliamentary control after the defeat of Charles I, until the accession of William and Mary in 1689 when the long period of struggle with the Dutch came to an end. This crucial era witnessed the creation of a permanent naval service, in essence the birth of
the Royal Navy.
Samuel Pepys played a pivotal role in the creation of a professional navy, first as a member of the Navy Board and later as Secretary to the Admiralty. His thirty years’ service did much to replace the ad hoc processes of the past with systems for construction and administration. That, by 1690, the navy was ready for a century of struggle against the French owed much to Pepys’s tireless work.
The judges, who included the inaugural winner of the Award, Claire Tomalin, were unanimous in their decision to award the prize to David Davies.
Speaking on behalf of the judges, Ann Sweeney (Chairman), commented,
"We expect PEPYS’S NAVY to become an enduring work of reference. Very comprehensive and written with great authority, David Davies has shown his total knowledge of secondary sources balanced by his own research. The excellent descriptions of sea battles and the minutiae of ship-board life are supported by superb illustrations. This is an exceptional successor to his previous book Gentlemen and Tarpaulins. It is a book we would all like to have on our bookshelves."
JD Davies will be presented with a cheque for £2000 and a specially commissioned medal designed by Philip Nathan in memory of Robert Latham, the co-editor of the definitive edition of Pepys’s diary. The award will be given at the annual Samuel Pepys dinner to be held at Apothecaries’ Hall on 20 October.
The Samuel Pepys Award is a biennial prize and is given for a book that, in the opinion of the judges, makes the greatest contribution to the understanding of Samuel Pepys, his times or his contemporaries in the interest of encouraging scholarship in this area. The first award was given to Claire Tomalin’s Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self in 2003 to mark the tercentenary of his death in May 1703. Frances Harris won the award in 2005 for Transformations of Love, for her vivid portrait of John Evelyn’s ‘chaste but passionate’ friendship with Margaret Godolphin, a maid of honour at the Restoration court of Charles II. In 2007, the Award was made to John Adamson for The Noble Revolt, an absorbing narrative of the period between the king’s decision to fight the Scots in May 1640 and his flight from London in January 1642.
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This superb books deals comprehensively with possibly the most tumultuous period in our country's history........ This is not only an impressive technical publication to satisfy the dedicated researcher, it is also a jolly good read for the enthusiast.
The Nautical Magazine - May 2009
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