Naval Miscellany

by Angus Konstam

For armchair admirals, history buffs, and naval enthusiasts everywhere, A Naval Miscellany is an indispensable and entertaining collection of fascinating and often little-known facts, anecdotes, lists, curiosities and stories from our naval past. Forgotten heroes, amazing blunders, surprising trivia, and strange-but-true stories overlooked by historians - it is all here in a book that will enlighten and amaze even the most avid student of naval history.

What was the Nelson touch? Who were the naval heroes of the ancient world, and the world's worst admirals? How do mines work? What is a two-ocean navy? How much did a midshipman get paid in the eighteenth century? What was the Anaconda plan, and what are the origins of sea shanties? Where are the biggest naval bases in the world today? How significant was the use of torpedoes in the American Civil War? When did women first serve at sea? And how does a ship float?

Open this book anywhere and you'll find yourself instantly captivated. From flogging, sodomy and the lash, to naval medicine in the age of sail; from hidden facts about Pearl Harbor to how to navigate by the stars; from tales of shipwrecked sailors and castaways to inside a nuclear submarine; from roundshot, grapeshot and chainshot to pirate hunters; from ships' pets and mascots, to keelhauling and hanging by the yardarm; from wooden legs and one-eyed cooks to naval superstitions; and from mutinies and a buffer's guide to naval acronyms to Donald Duck and the war effort.

There is plenty of fascinating sea lore here - from the monumental to the trivial - plus the low-down on different types of warship and profiles of fighting admirals throughout history. This work takes up where ordinary naval history books leave off.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Angus Konstam is a Scottish writer of popular history. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland and raised on the Orkney Islands, he has written more than a hundred books on maritime history, naval history, historical atlases, with a special focus on the history of piracy.

Reviews

[Frank · Rating 2 out of 5]

interesting, bit listy

[Romany Arrowsmith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute. Exactly what the title promises, which is some disconnected facts about many (not all) navies at different periods in history. My main takeaway is that, as I always suspected, the Royal Navy is a ludicrous institution.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting and detailed book addressing a number of nautical related topics. Yet as a Miscellany, each topic was addressed in but a few pages. As a naval and history oriented person some of the information shared was not new to me, yet much more was. If you like a “quick” read and something to fit in to your dead time at airports or while traveling, try this book – highly recommended!

The following are but a few of the areas discuss and point of detail noted :
What was the first United States Ship, formally honored a salute?
Do “landlocked” countries also have Navies?
In the sailing days, “How were the national fleets rated?”
How was Admiral Nelson preserve, while in transit, for burial in England?
What was the relate cost of a Man-of-War in today’s dollars/pounds?
Did the Monitor fight the Merrimack?

I could go on but read the book, a great traveling companion.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this in Border's. For the right sum I would review it as "delightful".

[Richard Radgoski]

This book is like a bathroom reader, wih short snippets of information spanning the years of naval history and information. I'm loving it so far.

[Matthew Hallman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting naval facts, only downside is that this book is an overview only. Not truly in depth in regards to topics