The Confederate privateers is a book of action and adventure filled with stories of the Confederacy's privately armed ships and their sea battles with the Union. Called 'pirates' by the North, the South preferred to call them 'gentlemen adventurers', justly boasting of their exploits. Using Naval War records and other archives, the author provides readers with an authentic description of the privateers, their cruises and prizes, their successes and failures, and their ultimate fates. In fact, this is the first narrative history of privateer cruises aboard the Jefferson Davis, the Dixie, the Sally, and the pygmy submarine Pioneer.
"This work is a collection of works by Southern naval participants. The narratives traverse the field from the fond and not-so-fond memories to the carefully worded reports of an officer claiming a victory or the loss of a ship. The writings lend information as one tries to understand what personnel faced during this time in history"--Provided by publisher.
During the Civil War, both sides experimented with developing technologies. Exploding shells, hot air balloons, anesthesia, land mines, submarines, and the telegraph are a few of the unique technologies that Union and Confederate leaders used in their struggle to win the war.
On the evening of February 2, 1864, Confederate Commander John Taylor Wood led 250 sailors in two launches and twelve boats to capture the USS Underwriter, a side-wheel steam gunboat anchored on the Neuse River near New Bern, North Carolina. During the ensuing fifteen-minute battle, nine Union crewmen lost their lives, twenty were wounded, and twenty-six fell into enemy hands. Six Confederates were captured and several wounded as they stripped the vessel, set it ablaze, and blew it up while under fire from Union-held Fort Anderson. The thrilling story of USS Underwriter is one of many involving the numerous shipwrecks that occupy the waters of Civil War history. Many years in the making, W. Craig Gaines's Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks is the definitive account of more than 2,000 of these American Civil War--period sunken ships. From Alabama's USS Althea, a Union steam tug lost while removing a Confederate torpedo in the Blakely River, to Wisconsin's Berlin City, a Union side-wheel steamer stranded in Oshkosh, Gaines provides detailed information about each vessel, including its final location, type, dimensions, tonnage, crew size, armament, origin, registry (Union, Confederate, United States, or other country), casualties, circumstances of loss, salvage operations, and the sources of his findings. Organized alphabetically by geographical location (state, country, or body of water), the book also includes a number of maps providing the approximate locations of many of the wrecks -- ranging from the Americas to Europe, the Arctic Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. Also noted are more than forty shipwrecks whose locations are in question. Since the 1960s, the underwater access afforded by SCUBA gear has allowed divers, historians, treasure hunters, and archaeologists to discover and explore many of the American Civil War-related shipwrecks. In a remarkable feat of historical detective work, Gaines scoured countless sources -- from government and official records to sports diver and treasure-hunting magazines -- and cross-indexes his compilation by each vessel's various names and nicknames throughout its career. An essential reference work for Civil War scholars and buffs, archaeologists, divers, and aficionados of naval history, Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks revives and preserves for posterity the little-known stories of these intriguing historical artifacts.
Long overlooked in favor of land engagements, this is the first encyclopedia to analyze the naval aspects of the American Civil War. The brilliance of both sides' secretaries of the navy, Stephen Mallory and Gideon Welles. The Dahlgren guns of the Union forces and the Confederate Navy's Brooke guns that were essential in battles involving ironclad ships. The significant contributions of African Americans in the ship crews of the U.S. Navy during the Civic War. These are examples of the fascinating details contained in The Civil War Naval Encyclopedia that provide readers with a complete understanding of the naval aspects of the American Civil War. The entries in this sweeping text provide comprehensive treatment of overall strategies on each side, the role of diplomacy, leading naval officers and other personalities, battles and important engagements, ship types, well-known individual warships, naval ordnance and weapons systems, and new developments such as mines and submarines. Topics such as shipboard life, major waterways, prominent seaports, and the role of logistics in determining the outcome of the war are also covered.
Covering everything from the arts to food and drink, religion, social customs, and technology, this two-volume set provides an in-depth, accessible look at the social, cultural, economic, and political aspects of the American Civil War. The American Civil War caused dramatic changes in every aspect of life and society, affecting combatants and noncombatants at all levels of the socioeconomic scale. The World of the Civil War: A Daily Life Encyclopedia offers an accessible and reliable reference for the major topics that defined American life during the nation's most tumultuous era. Taking a blended approach to history, this book covers the military and political history of the era and examines the social and human experiences of the war, thereby offering a comprehensive look at the Civil War era's most significant events, people, places, and experiences. The thematic organization of this encyclopedia helps readers to more readily explore related topics. The subject matter explored in some 250 entries includes religious beliefs and practices; rites of passage; soldiers' lives and experiences; rural and urban life; social structure of the Civil War era—aristocrats, landowners, and slaves; men's and women's roles and responsibilities; holidays, festivals, and other celebrations; tools, machinery, and inventions; and justice and punishment. Readers will come away with an understanding of many aspects of daily life during the Civil War era and gain appreciation for the vast differences between life today and 150 years ago.
"James Hamilton Tomb devoted almost 12 years of his life to wartime naval service. A steam engineer by profession and a torpedo expert by circumstance, Tomb was in the forefront of naval weapons technology of the period. Within days of his commissioning,h
The Civil War was the most traumatic event in American history, pitting Americans against one another, rending the national fabric, leaving death and devastation in its wake, and instilling an anger that has not entirely dissipated even to this day, 150 years later. This updated and expanded two-volume second edition of the Historical Dictionary of the Civil War relates the history of this war through a chronology, an introductory essay, an extensive bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on persons, places, events, institutions, battles, and campaigns. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Civil War.
The essential guide to the world's submarines, this Covert Shores recognition guide has over 80 full color profiles profile drawings of the submarines in service with the world's navies. These include many submarines which are not widely known of, let alone covered in other books.* Original color illustrations* Silhouettes with Recognition notes* Specifications* History and descriptions* Large format, full colorThis book is ideal for serious submarine enthusiasts and casual readers alike. If you, or those around you, have served aboard submarines then World Submarines will prove an invaluable reference book.
Next to railways, they are the epitome of historical technology: steamships. No wonder, then, that they also have a special appeal for model builders. To drive one's model not simply with an electric motor, but even more originally with a steam engine, is the dream of many technology fans. If the model then moves across the pond, trailing a plume of steam behind it, the enthusiasm is perfect! But how do you build such a model? What are the possibilities? Which models are suitable? These and many more questions are answered in detail by steamship specialist Thomas Hillenbrand in this book. In addition to the basics of technology and construction, he looks at various types of models, most of which he has successfully built himself - some of them very unusual constructions. The book concludes with an example of the construction of a steamship with a simple superstructure - an ideal introduction to this fascinating branch of model building. So, open the throttle and full steam ahead! From the content: • Some of the history of steam-powered ships and models • Steam as a source of power • The steam boiler • Some information about combustion and the firing of steam boilers • The different versions of the propulsion engine • Commissioning, troubleshooting and repair of the steam system • The propulsion systems of the steamship • Suitable models for steam propulsion • Installation of the steam system in the model • Presentation of different steamship models • Building the Steam Launch Presto
