Monday, October 23

ROYAL TARS, A Book Review

A short review by Tony Gerard - 

"Royal Tars- The Lower Deck of the Royal Navy 875-1850" by Brain Lavery

When I asked about this book way back in April, Patrick Schifferdecker's response "...I tend to shy away from books that cover broad swaths of time" was prophetic. The book covers too much to be of any great value for a re-enactor doing a late 18th early 19th century impression. It does have a chapter on the time period from 1803-15, but like so many other authors Lavery tends to go too deeply into the political and military Big Picture and not deeply enough into the small picture of actual life in the lower decks for my taste. I'm not saying the book was bad, just not what I wanted.

My opinion- get "Jack Tar" by Roy and Lesley Adkins instead.

1 comment:

  1. The Wooden World, by N.A.M. Rodger, is also a good book for those interested in the Royal Navy of the Georgian era - it mainly focuses on the mid-eighteenth century, but enough remained unchanged into the early nineteenth century that it would be a useful resource for the Acastas, I think.

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