Maritime

Vanished Fleets [Tasmania] – Alan Villiers

Published by the Cat & Fiddle Press, Hobart in 1974.

A special maritime history of Van Diemen’s Land by the knowledgeable Alan Villiers. Superbly illustrated.

Villiers himself crewed on the whale-ship Sir James Clark Ross into the Southern Ross Sea in 1923-24.

Covers Captain Kelly (see Voyager book on Kelly); The voyage of the “Woodman”; the loss of the “George III”; the adventure of the whaler “Essex” and Captain Tregurtha’s Log; Hobart Clippers and “Graveyard Island”.

The illustrations include – The “Royal William”; the “James Craig”; the “Hobart Regatta”; the “Fram” (Amundsen) in the Derwent; the “velocity” and the “Tasmanian Cape Horn Trader in Hard Weather”.

A smorgasbord of Tasmanian and cold water Sail

$50.00

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Batavia’s Graveyard – The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History’s Bloodiest Mutiny – M Dash

First edition of Mike Dash’s book on the bloody Batavia story. Published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London 2002.

Thick octavo, 398 pages including extensive bibliography. A very good. Illustrated with maps and charts.

The Dutch East India vessel Batavia struck an uncharted reef off the West Coast of Australia on her maiden voyage in 1629. A total of 332 men, women and children were on board. A few headed off in a life boat to seek help. The remainder ended up on a small coral island less than a kilometre long. A band of mutineers began a cold – blooded killing spree … only eight remained alive when help arrived three months later. The ringleader Jeronimus Cornelisz a failed apothecary and heretic.

Gruesome true story of the strangest atrocities following a shipwreck off Australia in 1629.

$35.00

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Environmental Change in the Sub-Antarctic -Proceedings of the Second International Forum on the Sub-Antarctic – Hobart April 2009

Perfect bound, softcover, 118 pages, illustrated throughout, some colour, a very good copy.

Published in the December after the conference this is the Proceeding of the Royal Society of Tasmania, representing Volume 143 Parts I and II.

Part I features … Climate trends at Macquarie Island; Exploitation of the marine ecosystem; Biological systems at Prince Edward Island; Terrestrial vegetation changes at Macquarie and Heard islands; Invasive species etc

Part II features … Orchids of Macquarie island; Freshwater diatoms; Antarctic vignettes Shackleton; Foraminifera ad paleoenvironment of Late Pleistocene sands, White Rock Point, Southeastern Tasmania; HMS Beagle in Tasmanian waters.

We particularly like the foram papers by Quilty et al … the site being round South Arm … and the tracking of the Beagle is up right up our street … or Ocean.

Antarctic forum – wish we had been there.

$35.00

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The Dutch Seaborne Empire 1600-1800 – C.R. Boxer

Published by Hutchinson, London 1n 1965, a first edition. The author Charles Boxer was the Professor of Portuguese at Kings College, London at the time – he would likely have been the Dutch Professor also .. if they had had one.

Large octavo, 326 pages, illustrated throughout, very good dust jacket, a lightly embossed stamp on title,. A very good copy of a special work now hard to find.

Not your usual narrative, this book looks at the reasons behind the rise of the Dutch as a major seafaring nation from the mid 1600’s for over a century. Peace was signed after an eighty year war with Spain in 1648 and for the Dutch the seagoing expansion was near to phenomenal in terms of speed and ambition. Useful appendices include a chronology 1568-1795 which provides a framework …

The author Charles Boxer was an incredibly colourful character. Born into a military family (although his mothers family had been early sheep farmers in Tasmania). He enlisted and found himself in Japan in the 1930’s. Then a full blown spy in Hong Kong at the beginning of War II, imprisoned by the Japanese for three years. He married the most beautiful woman in Hong Kong , Ursula Tulloch, but left her for a life with the equally glamorous American writer Emily Hahn. Back in England his depth of knowledge was recognised in receiving the Lisbon sponsored Professorship which he made is own.

The Dutch … their power at sea and what was behind it …

$40.00

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Sea Change – Alone Across the Atlantic – Peter Nichols

Published by Viking a first edition 1997. Octavo, 238 pages. Very good if not fine condition.

A different sailing book. There are no pictures or maps here. Maybe therefore it is not surprising that the writing is special. Peter Nichols sailed with his wife. Sadly, they separated after a west to east Atlantic crossing. This book reflects on his single-handed return voyage in the 27-foot engineless “Toad” which had a habit of springing leaks.

Interspersed throughout are references to classic sailing accounts … Chichester, Blyth, Moitessier, Knox-Johnston, Ridgway et al.

Interesting for an experienced maritime reader most useful of an introductee.

Nichols a personal challenge – knowledgeable author.

$25.00

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Around Tasmania in a Whaleboat 1986 – In the Wake of James Kelly – Ben Cuthbertson [Signed by the Author]

170 years after James Kelly’s famous voyage in a whaleboat around Tasmania, Ben Cuthbertson, sailor, marine enthusiast, maritime historian set out to replicate the event.

In this his personal, self published account he describes the adventure from the outset and during the voyage compares his with that of Kelly which makes the whole much more enjoyable.

Octavo, soft cover, 80 pages, some illustrations, published the year of the voyage. Fine condition. Signed boldly by the author bottom of title page.

Cuthbertson around Tassie in the style of the great seaman James Kelly of Hobart Town.

$35.00

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Vanished Fleets [Tasmania] – Alan Villiers

Batavia’s Graveyard – The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History’s Bloodiest Mutiny – M Dash

Environmental Change in the Sub-Antarctic -Proceedings of the Second International Forum on the Sub-Antarctic – Hobart April 2009

The Dutch Seaborne Empire 1600-1800 – C.R. Boxer

Sea Change – Alone Across the Atlantic – Peter Nichols

Around Tasmania in a Whaleboat 1986 – In the Wake of James Kelly – Ben Cuthbertson [Signed by the Author]

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