Non-fiction

Lady Nelson (Tasmania) Ship’s Manual.

Published by the Tasmanian Sail Training Association in 2003 a first printing.

A Training Manual and guide to the operating systems aboard the Sail Training Vessel Lady Nelson.

Anyone who has been to Hobart has heard of the Lady Nelson a magnificent working replica of her 1799 namesake which had such an important place in Australian maritime history … more so Tasmania.

The original vessel a unique sliding keel design was built at Deptford, London. She sailed for Australia under the command of Grant and was the first vessel to pass west to east through the Bass Strait. Grant completed significant coastal charts of the southern mainland regions … the advantage of the sliding keel was the vessel could get in close in shallow water. Later the Lady Nelson was to play an important part in the history of Tasmania or Van Diemen’s Land as it was then known … including being part of relocation of convicts from Norfolk Island.

The replica is a beauty and the manual does it justice. Just under 200 pages, octavo, spiral bound. It starts proper with a useful history of the original vessel and, the replica which was launched in 1988 having taken two year to build.

The manual comprises sections … Basic re rigging, mooring lines, heaving, helming, knots, lookout duties. Then intermediate … preparing for sea, sails and handling, anchoring, bells etc, closing down, man overboard! fires. The advanced section … emergency steering, fuels systems, freshwater systems, sullage and bilge, alarms etc. Safety includes first aid and “abandon ship!” … and a final catch-all includes a glossary of terms and a useful “where is it” for those on the find.

An interesting book for anyone interested in the maritime and especially anyone coming to Hobart who wants to achieve a greater experience of the grand Lady herself

A scarce and interesting item the Lady Nelson Manual

$40.00

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Bligh’s Bad Language – Passion, Power and Theatre on the Bounty – Greg Dening

A first edition of a special Bligh book.

Published by Cambridge University Press in 1992. Octavo, 445 pages with illustrations, charts and diagrams. A very good copy … as new except for a hint of a score mark on the front dust jacket, now protected in Brodart.

What was going on in England and in the Navy. Was Bligh bad tempered of just ill prepared for what unfolded. Dening a Professor of History at the upmarket Melbourne University provides and extensive view on the reality of the Bounty Mutiny …

Bligh misunderstood and misunderstanding

$30.00

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Aphrodite’s Island – The European Discovery of Tahiti – Anne Salmond.

The author a distinguished Professor of Anthropology at Auckland University.

Large thick octavo, 537 pages, nicely illustrated. Published by the University of California Press. Los Angeles and London in 2010. A fine copy. A heavy book which may require and overseas postage surcharge.

Comprehensive and sophisticated drawing on many references including Tahitian oral histories and artefacts as well as European manuscripts. A book that explores Tahiti and the European interactions with an outward perspective. The perceptions of the Tahitian and the fascinations of the Europeans.

Tahiti and the arrival of the Europeans – a comprehensive work by Salmond

$40.00

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Resolution – Captain Cook’s Second Voyage of Discovery – Peter Aughton.

The author was an engineer, he worked on the development of Concorde, so he brings a scientific style to his writing, which we like.

Large octavo, 189 pages nice illustrations and several super charts. A fine copy.

Cook’s second voyage plunged further South than anyone before him to solve the mystery of the Southernmost Continent. He may have been the first to see the Antarctic Continent south of South Georgia … the jury is still out.

Never with only one objective in mind, Cook then set off for warmer climes and now familiar territory .. to him.

A voyage full of curiosity … the first to properly carry the Harrison chronometer … the one that worked and the longitude solved because of the clock and because of Cook’s careful control over this new fangled precision instrument that looked like a large pocket watch. Difficulties arose, not the least the loss of men from the sister ship Adventure who lost their lives to cannibals.

HMS Resolution apply named and Cook’s Second successful voyage south and into the Pacific.

$35.00

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Discoveries – The Voyages of Captain Cook – Nicholas Thomas

A first edition hardback of a different book about Cook in the Pacific

… hard to believe given the multitude of volumes written about the great man and his three unrivalled voyages.

However, here we have a different author a Professor of Anthropology at Goldsmiths London. So the perspective is different and now very topical. Cook’s encounters with the people of the Pacific were often harmonious but sometimes volatile .. the author seeks to put us in the position of Cook who as time progressed became more aware that his curiosity came with its own challenges.

Large thick octavo, 468 pages, illustrations and charts. Published by Allen Lane, London in 2003. A fine copy.

Captain Cook in the Pacific and his interactions with the people who lived there .

$40.00

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Bligh – Master Mariner – Rob Mundle

A fine first edition of Rob Mundle’s excellent hardback book on Bligh. Large octavo, 368 pages with end paper illustrations and coloured illustrations inside. Published by Hachette, Sydney in 2010. Very good condition.

The writer, a sailor from a sailing family writes about Bligh with a focus on detail and Bligh’s unrivalled skill as a navigator.

He was at the forefront at an early age. With Cook on his fateful third voyage on the Resolution, it was a 24 years old Bligh who took command of the navigation on the voyage home. He was 34 when he found himself in conflict with Fletcher Christian resulting in the epic 47 day open boat voyage from Tonga to Timor. And, 36 when he commanded HMS Pandora around the world … among his company a young Matthew Flinders

William Bligh – another perspective – and no less enlightening

$30.00

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Lady Nelson (Tasmania) Ship’s Manual.

Bligh’s Bad Language – Passion, Power and Theatre on the Bounty – Greg Dening

Aphrodite’s Island – The European Discovery of Tahiti – Anne Salmond.

Resolution – Captain Cook’s Second Voyage of Discovery – Peter Aughton.

Discoveries – The Voyages of Captain Cook – Nicholas Thomas

Bligh – Master Mariner – Rob Mundle

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