Admiral Albert Hastings Markham
Admiral Albert Hastings Markham

Author: Frank Jastrzembski

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2020-02-19

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 1526725932

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The story of a 19th-century adventurer who battled pirates, hunted buffalo, sailed the Arctic, and was “one of the most arresting figures of his time” (The Globe). Few men have lived such an extraordinary life as Admiral Albert Hastings Markham. Besides dedicating five decades of his career to Britain’s Royal Navy, Markham was a voracious reader, prolific writer, keen naturalist, and daring explorer. He battled Chinese pirates during the Second Opium War and Taiping Rebellion; chased down Australian blackbirding ships in the South Pacific; trekked to within 400 miles of the North Pole; hunted buffalo and visited Indian reservations in the United States; observed a bloody war in South America; canoed Canada’s remote Hayes River; and explored the icy waters of Baffin Bay and the Arctic Ocean archipelago of Novaya Zemlya. At the time of his death in 1918, The Globe declared that Markham had been “one of the most arresting figures of his time.” While Markham’s life was filled with adventure, it was also marred by tragedy. Regrettably, Markham is best remembered for his role in the sinking of HMS Victoria in 1893. This one incident has tarnished his legacy until now. This book follows Markham through his adventures and misfortunes—and reassesses the life of this forgotten yet fascinating admiral.

The Sinking of RMS Tayleur
The Sinking of RMS Tayleur

Author: Gill Hoffs

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2014-01-15

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 147383189X

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“A truly wonderful social history of a tragic and unexplained shipping disaster. Five Stars.”—Scottish Field The wrecking of the RMS Tayleur made headlines nearly 60 years before the Titanic. Both were run by the White Star Line, both were heralded as the most splendid ships of their time and both sank in tragic circumstances on their maiden voyages. On 19 January 1854 the Tayleur, a large merchant vessel, left Liverpool for Australia; packed with hopeful emigrants, her hold stuffed with cargo. More than a century after the tragedy, Gill Hoffs reveals new theories behind the disaster and tells the stories of the passengers and crew on the ill-fated vessel: Captain John Noble, record breaking hero of the Gold Rush era. Ship surgeon Robert Hannay Cunningham and his young family, on their way to a new life among the prospectors of Tent City. Samuel Carby, ex-convict, returning to the gold fields with his new wife and a fortune sewn into her corsets. But the ship’s revolutionary iron hull prevented its compasses from working. Lost in the Irish Sea, a storm swept the Tayleur and the 650 people aboard towards a cliff, studded with rocks “black as death.” What happened next shocked the world. “Hoffs has recounted this awful tragedy with such description and dedicated research that you can almost imagine yourself on the deck of this unfortunate vessel . . . An excellent read.”—Suzie Lennox, author of Bodysnatchers “A little masterclass in how to hold a reader enthralled by a tale of long-ago tragedy at sea.”—Diver Net