Archive for October, 2007
Flee market-finds – and they are even naval-related!
I love going to flee markets. Half of my furniture comes from there or the local second (third, fourth, fifth!) hand shops.
Today was a very successful day – and I found some bits which I’d never, ever expected to find here!
Resource updated: Molly Joyful’s list of naval and historic resources
Last updated: 1st October, 2010
This list is currently being overhauled; new links will be added, dead ones removed and you’ll have new categories to choose from. And it will be much easier to navigate. If you’d like to see the “work in progress”, please click here.
Link and other suggestions are very welcome. Please comment in the new post mentioned above; I have to close this one here for comments due to a current spam flood.
FASHION
Roccoco – 18th Century Clothing
18th Century Fashion Resources
Lara Corset’s and Gowns: Pictorial History of Women’s Fashion
Pretty Fellows – A concerned Citizen blows his Top about Fashion in 1749
(William Gibson’s blog, scroll down the page)
Description of a “Robe à L’Anglaise” at the Met
Hair and Hairdos of the 18th Century
MUSIC
Jerry Bryant and Starboard Mess
Bawdy Sea Shanties by Oscar Brand
Sea Shanties: rare recordings recovered from the 1920s – new
SEXUALITY
Homosexuality in 18th Century England
Gay and Lesbian Subcultures in the Old Bailey Proceedings
Gay History: Mollies arrested in London (1726)
Student projects: Gender and Sexuality in the 18th Century
Ye Looke of Love: being queer in the 18th Century
Gay Subcultures in 18th Century Europe
18th Century Anti-Sex Education, England
Review Boys at Sea – Sodomy, Indecency and Courts Martial by Prof. B.R. Burg
French 18th Century dildo – new
MEDICAL SERVICES / HYGIENE
Wombs, Waxes and Wonder Cabinets
Franklin Court: Hygiene and Personal Care
18th Century London – Life and Hazards
History of Dentistry in the 18th Century
Visiting a Dentist in Jane Austen’s Time
Common Medical Plants of Portland, Jamaica
Childbirth: Parturition Chairs
Morgagni & Mid-18th Century Treatment of the Mad
Dissecting Pregnancy in 18th Century England
18th Century Domestic Medicine
Itchy and Scratchy: 18th Century Fleatraps
The Battle over Birth Control
Various pictures of condoms and other contraceptives all through history. Not quite sure what the 18th century French ivory dildo is doing there, but… well.
CHILDREN
Franklin Court: 18th Century Childhood
18th Century Children’s Clothing
Wikipedia article on Breeching
ART
Collection of the National Maritime Museum
British Caricatures of the 18th Century
The Republic of Pemberley – all things Jane Austen
Art Marine – new
The sketchbooks of Ernest Arthur Binstead – new
Grosvenor Prints – new
Bonhams 1793: Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers – new
Cupid as a link boy by Sir Joshua Reynolds – new
The young Amy Lyons (later Emma Hamilton) by Sir Joshua Reynolds – new
LIFE AT SEA
National Maritime Museum: Life at Sea
Hartlepool’s Maritime Experience
Ship’s Bells and Watch Schedules
Wake up to Nelson (everything from payment to punishment to pressgangs)
Bolitho-Newsletter (also see novels by Alexander Kent) – various information
Description of a Lieutenant’s Exam by Lt. William Badcock (1805)
The Secret Diary of a Midshipman
Drawings by Captain Frederick Marryat about his life as a midshipman.
Playing at Command: Midshipmen and Quarterdeck Boys in the Royal Navy, 1793 – 1815 – new
Thesis by Samantha A. Cavell
The Irish Officers of the Royal Navy, 1793 – 1815 – new
HMS Ganges, mast-manning ceremony (full coverage) – new
Blue Peter: HMS Ganges, mast-manning ceremony / John Noakes climbing Nelson’s column – new
Sir Joseph Banks’ tattoo – new
18TH CENTURY GENERAL (MOSTLY) BRITISH HISTORY
Historical Accuracy of Pirates of the Caribbean
The Gillington-Formula: the Timeline of the Pirates of the Caribbean Movies
Canada’s Shame, Empires Profit: The Caribbean Slave Wars 1788-1807
The Diary of Samuel Pepys
Daily entries from the 17th century London diary – you can find the LJ feed here
SOCIETY, DAILY LIFE
Association for Historical Fencing
Gentleman’s Magazine from 1731 to 1750
Quill Pens of the 18th Century
Letter-writing in the 18th Century
How to play “Blind Man’s Buff”
Throwing Down the Gauntlet – Duelling (Women did it, too!)
Writer’s Dreamtools: 18th Century
The Covent Garden Minuet Company: The Language of the Fan
Report of a Naval Officer’s Death following a Duel
Women’s Lives Surrounding Late 18th Century Theatre
The Art of Mourning: a Resource for Mourning, Memorial and Sentimental Jewellery, Funeralia and Art.
The History of Washing – new
Sentimental Jewelry – new
Baseball’s British heritage confirmed – new
It was played in Surrey in 1755…
Silent Companions – new
Painted servants
18th century porcelain figures – new
Irish Code Duello (1777) – new
The Language of the Fans – new
NAVAL HISTORY
Royal Navy: Customs and Traditions
Royal Navy, Official Website: History
Royal Naval Museum: Information Sheets
Naval History in the Age of Sail (1650 – 1815)
The Historical Maritime Society
History of the Royal Navy on Wikipedia
Naval History of Great Britain by William James
Dockyard Museum, English Harbour, Antigua
Timeline of the War against France
Pirates of the Caribbean – Facts and Fiction
Towns Map of Port Royal in the 17th Century
The Maritime History Virtual Archives
Royal Naval Museum, Library Research
The Admiral Byng Campaign continues
Pirates of the Caribbean in fact and fiction
Everything from pirate codes to organisation aboard a pirate ship and even an interesting section about pirate medicine.
‘On the Spanish Main’ by John Mansfield
Project Gutenberg: book available online for free
Notes from the Orlop
Fantastic blog about all aspects of seafaring life, integrated part of the Maine Maritime Museum website
From Cutlass to AK-47: Britain’s battle against piracy – new
BLACK HISTORY / PEOPLE OF COLOUR / SLAVERY IN THE 18th CENTURY
Local Black History in Devon by Lucy MacKeith
Maroon Culture and how it came about by Leanna Prendergast
Wikipedia Article on the Maroon people (general)
Wikipedia Article on the Jamaica Maroons
Surinam Slave Trade by BibliOdyssey
The Black Presence in Britain: Dido Elizabeth Bell Lindsay
The Black Presence in Britain: African Sea Farers
LAW AND PUNISHMENT
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London 1674 to 1834
The Royal Navy Articles Of War (1749)
The Royal Navy Articles Of War (1757)
LJ: Graham Moore on Punishment for Buggery
http://joyful-molly.livejournal.com/50396.html
http://joyful-molly.livejournal.com/54316.html
Pleading the Belly – Avoiding the Gallows through Pregnancy
Admiral Collingwood’s Methods of Punishment
Pillory and Stocks – new
Crime Broadsites – new
RANKS AND UNIFORMS
Ranks and Uniforms in Nelson’s Navy
Navy Uniforms in Pirates of the Caribbean
National Maritime Museum: Uniforms
Royal Navy Officer Uniform Buttons
SHIPS
HMS Victory, Official Website (Victory = model for Dauntless)
Lady Washington (“HMS Interceptor”)
BBC Feature: 25 “Mary Rose” Anniversary
Restauration of the Mary Rose and Cutty Sark
The Figurehead Archive by Richard Hunter
Eight Bells Carving – Figureheads (buyable!)
Curious Expeditions – Figureheads
Review by Menegroth of Fighting Ships, 1750-1850, by Sam Willis
The Elizabethan Alderney Wreck
Shipwreck World: 1780 British Warship found in Lake Ontario
Elizabethan Wreck: Maritime ‘Treasure Trove’ raised – new
Hunting for the lost HMS Beagle – new
Royal Navy Ships of the Line – new
Green light for the Mary Rose museum – new
HMS Victory found (sunk in 1744) – new
Odyssey Marine Exploration: HMS Victory project overview – new
LANGUAGE
French Proverbs (with English Translations) from 1611
Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Captain Grose et al. (1811)
The meaning of “Jack Tar” – new
PEOPLE
Cuthbert Collingwood:
Biography at the Royal Naval Museum
Further Sources on Collingwood
BBC: Collingwood, the Forgotten Hero
Documentary: Collingwood, Trafalgar’s Forgotten Hero by Max Adams
Wilfred Collingwood – a most splendid Gentleman and Officer
Cuthbert Collingwood’s Self Portrait
St. Paul’s Cathedral, Collingwood, Nelson, Old Jerv’ and the Dust Bin
Graham Moore:
Frigate Commander – Portrait and Excerpt
http://joyful-molly.livejournal.com/49760.html
Memoir of Admiral Sir Graham Moore G.C.M.G.
by Major-General Sir Robert Gardiner, K.C.B.
Frederick Marryat
Captain Frederick Marryat – Royal Navy Ghostbuster
Marryat’s Midshipman Easy – scans of late 19th century German edition – new
Horatio Nelson:
Nelson, Collingwood: The Battle of Trafalgar on the National Archive
Bringing Nelson’s Body back to England
Nelson in a Jar – a rather strange Memorabilia
Spot where Nelson died is ‘wrong’
Up and close with Nelson – new
Restored naval hero is revealed – new
Nelson Memorabilia – new
COMMUNITIES
The Royal Navy – History Forums
Sailing Navies – Website and Forum
The Society of 18th Century Gentlemen – new
The Official Weblog of Wolfgang Amadé Mozart – new
The Duchess of Devonshire’s Gossip Guide to the 18th Century – new
The Macaronis – Historical Romance out of the Closet – new
LIVING HISTORY
The Claude Moore Colonial Farm
Age of Reason – Online Magazine
Frazier International History Museum
The Covent Garden Minuet Company
Reconstructing History: Historical clothing, Patterns and Accessoiries
Dressing History – Accurate Reproduction Costumes, Historical Interpretation and Talks – new
Get your MA in Maritime History at the University of Exeter – new
The Gentlemen of Fortune: Golden Age of Piracy – new
Bow Street Runners: The online game to go with “City of Vice” – new
Miracle’s Wax Museum: next to Mozart – new
Salem Maritime National Historic Site: Pickled Fish and Salted Provisions – new
SHOPPING
Smiling Fox Forge – 18th Century Reproductions
Replicas of 18th Century Men Shoes
Teresa Thompson – Historical Costume Dolls
Have a look at the naval officers!
Farthingale (Bath) – rent a costume
Rather authentic looking regency clothing and navy uniforms.
Eclectic Eccentricity – Jewellery
Jas. Townsend
18th century replicas – from clothing to flutes!
Grandpa Gene’s American Folk Toys
All the King’s Men – Toy Soldiers
Wm. Booth, Draper – 18th century patterns and more. Seamstress’ Paradise!
The Flying Canoe Trader: 18th century clothes and accessories, shoes etc. (E/F)
Track of the Wolf: Muzzle Loading & Blackpowder Breech Loading Guns
Frontline Figures: Colonial Classics – 18th Century – new
Star Clippers: The new Age of Sail – new
Reine de Centfeuilles: Historical Costumes – new
Imperial Costumes – new
Vintage Textile – new
AUTHORS (Age Of Sail)
Facts:
Tom Wareham – Maritime Historian
Fiction:
That’s enough bearded men for one list. Here are the ladies:
Alex Beecroft – Adventure and Romance
Emma Collingwood – Love, Suspense and Sarcasm in the Age of Sail
Kalen Hughes – Romance Novelist
Website also contains historial information
BOOKS
For Absolute Beginners:
To learn the naval slang and get more familiar with the time and the life aboard a ship in the 18th century. The Kydd-Series by Julian Stockwin
Then it’s time to move on to
Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin Series (“Master + Commander”)
Other books you might like:
The Horatio-Hornblower Series by C.S. Forester
The Richard Bolitho Series by Alexander Kent
Warmed up? Good! Time for
Research:
Shire Books: niche releases covering just about every research object – new
The Royal Navy:
The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy
(Paperback) by N.A.M. Rodger
Review part I: http://joyful-molly.livejournal.com/77965.html
The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain: 1649-1815
(Paperback) by N.A.M. Rodger
Review of The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain: 1649-1815:
http://joyful-molly.livejournal.com/7640.html
Men Of Honour
(Paperback) by Adam Nicolson
Dressed to Kill – British Naval Uniform, Masculinity and Contemporary Fashions 1748-1857
by Amy Miller
Review of Dressed to Kill:
http://joyful-molly.livejournal.com/71104.html
The Pursuit of Victory: The Life and Achievement of Horatio Nelson
(Paperback) by Roger Knight
Captain Cook’s Journal During the First Voyage Round the World (Illustrated Edition)
(Paperback) by James Cook
Mutiny on Board H.M.S. Bounty: The Captain’s Account of the Mutiny and His 3,600 Mile Voyage in an Open Boat
(Paperback) by William Bligh (Author)
Nelson the Admiral
(Hardcover) by Colin White (Author)
Admiral Collingwood: Nelson’s Own Hero
(Hardcover) by Max Adams (Author)
Frigate Commander: Graham Moore
(Hardcover) by Tom Wareham (Author)
Feeding Nelson’s Navy: The True Story of Food at Sea in the Georgian Era
(Paperback) by Janet Macdonald
The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor
by D. Lever
Admiral Collingwood: A fine old English Gentleman
by William Davis (1875) – online version available for free download
Review of “A fine old English Gentleman”:
http://joyful-molly.livejournal.com/120641.html
Not Enough Room To Swing A Cat: Naval Slang And Its Everyday Usage – new
(Hardback) by Martin Robson
Review of “Not Enough Room To Swing A Cat”:
http://joyful-molly.livejournal.com/147383.html
Animals at Sea – new
(Hardback) by Liza Verity
Review of”Animals at Sea”:
http://joyful-molly.livejournal.com/142065.html
18th Century General Lifestyle
The Cut of Men’s Clothes: 1600-1900
(Hardcover) by Norah Waugh
The Cut of Women’s Clothes: 1600-1900
(Hardcover) by Norah Waugh
Daily Life in 18th-Century England
by Kirstin Olsen
City of Laughter: Sex and Satire in Eighteenth-century London
(Hardcover) by Vic [V.A.C.] Gatrell
Men’s 17th and 18th Century Costume: Cut and Fashion
(Hardcover) by R.I. Davis / William Alan Landes
Whatever Shall I Wear: A Guide to assembling a Woman’s 18th Century Wardrobe
by Mara Riley, illustrations by Cathy (Kate) Johnson
Hubbub: Filth, Noise and Stench in England, 1660 – 1770
(Paperback) by Emily Cockayne
Review of “Hubbub”:
http://joyful-molly.livejournal.com/122756.html
Napoleon’s Privates: 2500 Years of History unzipped – new
(Hardcover) by Tony Perrottet
Review of “Napoleon’s Privates”:
http://joyful-molly.livejournal.com/121295.html
The Workhouse Cookbook – new
(Paperback) by Peter Higginbotham
Slavery and Colonialism / East India Company:
Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire: Thomas Thistlewood and His Slaves in the Anglo-Jamaican World
(Paperback) by Trevor Burnard (Author)
Journal of a West India Proprietor (Oxford World’s Classics)
(Paperback) by Matthew Lewis (Author)
Sugar and Slaves: Rise of the Planter Class in the English West Indies, 1624-1713
(Paperback) by Gary B. Nash (Foreword), Richard S. Dunn (Author)
Trading Places: The East India Company and Asia 1600-1830
(Paperback) by Anthony Farrington (Author)
Homosexuality in the 18th century:
Mother Clap’s Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England 1700-1830
(Hardcover) by Rictor Norton
Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition: English Sea Rovers in the Seventeenth-Century Caribbean
by B.R. Burg
Rum, Sodomy and the Lash: Piracy, Sexuality and Masculine Identity
(Paperback) by Hans Turley
Boys at Sea: Sodomy, Indecency, and Courts Martial in Nelson’s Navy
(Hardcover) by B.R. Burg
If you can’t decide which books to buy or if your budget is as limited as mine (means: skint), here’s my personal “must have” list:
– The Wooden World by N.A.M. Rodger
– Men of Honour by Adam Nicolson
– Admiral Collingwood: Nelson’s own hero by Max Adams
– Frigate Commander (Journals of Graham Moore) by Tom Wareham
– The Pursuit Of Victory by Roger Knight
For the slashers among you, I’d definitely also recommend
– Mother Claps’s Molly House by Rictor Norton
Enjoy your researches! 🙂
Last updated: 2 March, 2009
Books/Resource: “The Wooden World” by N.A.M. Rodger – Part I
You know what it’s like: you write a story, and suddenly you stop, scratching your head and asking yourself: “Good, I know how to fire a gun and I know that gunpowder shouldn’t be stored next to open fire. But what was served for dinner?”
Among many other factors it’s the small details that make a story believable, help the reader to really “get into it” and be transported back to the 18th century. It’s those small details about everyday life that can make a story three-dimensional.
Good – but what if one doesn’t know anything about said details? I know what I’m talking about here – I rather not tell you how many books I’ve read and how many hours I’ve spent on research to learn even the most basic facts. That’s why I write sappy gay romances, dear friends – if people worry about the fate of the heroes, they will hopefully not notice the outrageous nonsense I might write about life aboard a ship! Cunning, isn’t it… 😉
Back to people who know what they’re writing about:
THE WOODEN WORLD
An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy
by N.A.M. Rodger
I’ve finally managed to order a copy of that book (at the moment, there are some used copies for sale on amazon – BUY!), and I’ve spent the last days reading it. All I can say is: I fully agree with critic Daniel Baugh: “(…) This is the best book on shipboard life in the eighteenth century that has ever been written. (…)”
It is. If you work on a small budget, and can’t afford tons of books – this is the one you should buy. Even before Collingwood’s biography. No, seriously.
Over the next days I’ll post some samples, and we’ll start with a very interesting subject:
CLEANLINESS
Rec: "Anything AoS"
For a change I’d like to recommend a community:
As the name says: “Anything AoS”! It’s a small and young community, but it looks really good to me. I’ve recently joined and found some interesting entries – good resource material!
Have a look at the latest entry by – wonderful pictures of the Historic Dockyard in Chatham!
Resource: In other news, the Battle of Trafalgar took place 202 years ago.
Here’s an interesting link for you:
From wives and respectable passengers, to ‘sirens’ and feisty mistresses of disguise, women were very much part of shipboard life in the 18th and 19th centuries. They are welcomed into today’s Royal Navy on a rather different basis, as Nick Slope explains.
That’s a nice bit:
“(…) When a great personal friend of Nelson, Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, discovered that women had been brought onboard his flagship, he ordered the women ashore because of ‘… the mischief they never fail to create wherever they are’. He also wrote that ‘I never knew a woman brought to sea in a ship that some mischief did not befall the vessel’. (…)”
Old Cuddy, now really…!
My book: BOOK NEWS!
Also assorted other news over at ‘s LJ.
The "real" Thomas – where inspirations come from
Stories can evolve from the oddest sources. Music. Things we experience in our daily lives. People we meet. Noises. Smells. A sentence we pick up.
I had the idea for “Lieutenant Samuel Blackwood (deceased)” (the manuscript is with the printers now and the book should be available soon, by the way – end of commercial break) after experiencing an aura shortly before I had an epileptic fit. Some people smell oranges, others rotten bananas, I smell gunpowder. Go figure.
So where does my current “Thomas Gillette” come from? Like many of the characters in my stories, he was inspired by a painting.
THOMAS CHATTERTON – Bristol’s Boy Poet
Thomas Chatterton died at only 17 years of age, and when I saw this picture, I sat down and wrote the story in one go. The painting by Henry Wallis is very touching; every time I look at it I get a bit melancholic.
The scene is so tragic and hopeless, but also strangely beautiful. Sometimes it would be nice if life could be re-written…
Selling books in the 18th century… ;-)
Not much has changed for publishers – unpublished authors have to be kept out of the office by force, published ones ask for more money, the illustrators leave a mess, and the drinks are out of reach.
“Booksellers” – caricature by Thomas Rowlandson
I’m particularly fascinated by the dog and cat. Knowing Rowlandson, there must be some meaning to them, but I have no idea what said meaning might be. Oh, you artists, confusing your admirers…
Elizabeth: The Golden Age + Sweeney Todd – TRAILERS!
I can’t tell you how very much I’m looking forward to this one:
Despite my current research of the 18th century, I’ve started my journey through the ages with the Elizabethan when I was still very young, and up to this day, I’m a great admirer of Elizabeth I. Her critics too often measure her by the standards of our time, but compared to the lunatics on European thrones back then, to whom people were nothing but cattle, she was a shining star. (Yes, I confess that I belong to the 0.0001% of the population who are NOT “Team Mari Quene”. So nyah.)
I have no doubt that Cate Blanchett will be as brilliant in this one as she was in the first movie. She’s perfect, just perfect in that role. Scroll down the page and watch the extended trailer. I’m floored.
“England will not fall while I am Queen.” – Ah. So much love. AND SHIPS! SHIPS! SHIPS!
Plus Barbossa and Cutler Beckett as special treats. Huzzah!
In other news: the Sweeney Todd trailer is finally online!
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tim Burton + Johnny Depp + movie = one happy me.
BRING THEM ON ALREADY!
Books: latest order
I sometimes wonder if my picture might be pinned to a wall at amazon.co.uk – “idiot customer of the year”.
I’ve placed the following orders today – be afraid and mentally prepare for more book reviews.
Lord John and the Private Matter
by Diana Gabaldon
Very curious to read that one as it comes highly recommended by .
* * *
Boys at Sea: Sodomy, Indecency, and Courts Martial in Nelson’s Navy
by B.R. Burg
I’ve wanted to order that book for quite a while, but the price always scared me off. However, while fiction is fiction and can take liberties, I still try to keep as close as possible to historic facts. It would be a bit hypocritical to ignore the darker side of the Royal Navy in the 18th century.
* * *
Huzzah – finally available again!
The Wooden World: Anatomy of the Georgian Navy
by N.A.M. Rodger
A classic – usually out of stock. Currently some private sellers are offering the book, so now would be the moment to place an order. 🙂
* * *
And last but not least:
The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor
by D. Lever
This one will hopefully deswissify my naval writing. 😉
Bring it on, amazon!
Joyful Molly 
