Hey sailing is way cool, and the height, the pinacle, the zenith of sailing, the art of sailing, the skill and romance of sailing came in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century as practiced by the great navies of that era and the greatest of the great was the Royal Navy of Great Britain. Sure we Americans gave them a bloody nose here and there, and France was nothing to laugh at, but Britain ruled the seas.
For more cool stuff about sailing, tall ships and maritime history than any one person needs to know, check out these two excellent sites. Mark Rosenstein's Sailing Page and The Maritime History Virtual Archives.
Patrick O'Brian is the author of the greatest historical fiction ever written, in my humble opinion of course. His Aubrey/Maturin novels follow the exploits of Jack Aubrey, a captain in the Royal Navy, and his particular friend Stephen Maturin, surgeon and intelligence agent during the Nepoleonic Wars. The books are published in the US by Norton and they have a Patrick O'Brian home page. Also check out an excellent Patrick O'Brian FAQ.
There are also two mailing lists devoted to the series. The first, actually run by Norton, can be subscribed to by sending mail to MAJORDOMO@NORTON2.WWNORTON.COM with the body of the message reading subscribe patrickobrian [your name] [email address] (or replace patrickobrian with patrickobrian-digest for the digest version).
The second (and better one) is called Searoom and is run by John Berg, who also runs a mail order nautical book store called Seabooks. Subscribe to this by sending mail to MAJORDOMO@POBOX.COM with the body of the message reading, subscribe searoom-l [your name] [email address] (replacing searoom-l with searoom-l-digest for the digest version). John has a homepage, so stop by there and see the Searoom.
Here is a terrific concordance of O'Brian characters from the series.
To visit the Royal Navy itself, you can go to their homepage.
The original classic series of historical fiction from the Royal Navy is the Hornblower series written by CS Forester. This is the original, but has been surpassed both in number and quality by O'Brian. In any event, you need to read these books as well , and you can visit a page devoted to Horatio Hornblower.
A more recent series that I enjoyed a great deal is the "Revolution At Sea" series by James Nelson, published by Pocket Books. The first three books are out in paperback, By Force of Arms, The Maddest Idea and Continental Risque. The fourth book is in progress. It's set in the American Revolution and is a lot of fun.
Of course the true stars of the era are the ships themselves. The USS Constitution is still a commissioned ship in the US Navy and has recently undergone some wonderful repairs. If you are in Boston, you must visit.
Another wonderful ship to visit is the USS Constellation. The Constellation is docked in Baltimore and is undergoing serious renovation to the tune of 9 million dollars planned to be complete in 1998. It was in much poorer shape than the Constitution, but should be quite ship shape soon. The original Constellation was commissioned in 1797, and the current Constellation was commissioned in 1854. In the renovation, they have strived to configure the current Con stellation to resemble the original Constellation.
Now, to see a real ship of the line, the flag ship of Nelson at Trafalgar, HMS Victory, you either need to go to Portsmouth, England, or you can just stop by the web page. Victory i
s the oldest commissioned war ship in the world and like the Constitution and Constellation is undergoing some extensive renovations and is planned to be back in Trafalgar condition by 2005. Victory had a 35 year career with the Royal Navy, from 1778-181
2. When fully complimented, she carried a crew of 850 men and boys and offered one hundred guns to the enemy. An impressive force to come against. Here's another site devoted to HMS Victory and Nel
son.
In 1625 King Gustav of Sweden ordered up a couple a new warships. They took a little while to build and in 1628 the most powerful ship of the time, the Vasa was ready to lauch. Vasa carried 64 guns on 2 decks (compare that to the 100 guns of Victory com missioned in the 1750s). Well, they launched the Vasa to great fanfare on Sunday, August 10, in front of lots of onlookers. The ship was all decked out fancylike and had all her gun ports open for display. After just a few minutes the ship heeled omino usly, righted herself and heeled again, the seas flooded into the open lower gun ports and the Vasa sank only about 15 minutes after being launched. Fifty of the 150 on board perished. The captain was arrested as were several others, but no one was ever condemned for the disaster.
The tragedy of 1628 turns into a wonderful opportunity for archaeologists and history buffs of today. The cold waters of Stockholm preserved the vessel perfectly and a few years ago the ship was raised and now is in a museum in Stockholm. To see the Vasa you either need to go to Sweden or just click your mouse and go to the web page.
Speaking of museums, I am a proud member of Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut. Yes, it is devoted to whaling, not warfare, but it is still sailing and the Charles W. Morgan is a fun ship to visit.
Of course there was a reason and need to hunt whales 200 years ago, but there isn't now. I'm no bleeding heart, but I can't comprehend a need to hunt whales commercially in today's world. So in that spirit, I'll add a link to Greenpeace.
On a more modern note, Pete Goss, the solo around the world sailor has a fascinating site focusing on his preparation for The Race, a no holds barred 'round tripper. The technology is amazing.