Up the Straits in H.M.S. ''Canopus" 1900-'01-02
London, England: C. Murray & Co., c1903. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Format is approximately 5.25 inches by 7.25 inches. xv-124, [4] pages. Illustrations. Inscription and notation inside the front cover. This copy has an association with Lieutenant John Dumaresq, who is mentioned on pages 77-78, 84, and 104.Covers has some wear and soiling. Front cover is decorated, Slightly cocked. Endpapers discolored. The author was born in Edinburgh in 1870. He became a famous runner and held the ‘world record’ for the 3 mile race in 1895 (excepting in those days there were no official world records). He ensured it was Cambridge that took part in a cross-Atlantic challenge against Yale University. He became a Royal Navy Chaplain. His service included: 1899-1902 Naval Chaplain, H.M.S. Canopus; 1902-1903 Naval Chaplain, H.M.S. Good Hope, and 1903-1909 Chaplain and history master, Royal Naval College, Osborne. During WWI 1914-1918 Chaplain to the Forces, mentioned in Secretary of State’s List for ‘valuable services’. The Dumaresq is a mechanical calculating device invented around 1902 by Lieutenant John Dumaresq of the Royal Navy. It is an analogue computer that relates vital variables of the fire control problem to the movement of one's own ship and that of a target ship. It was often used with other devices, such as a Vickers range clock, to generate range and deflection data so the gun sights of the ship could be continuously set. A number of versions of the Dumaresq were produced of increasing complexity as development proceeded. From the timing, this invention may have originated from Dumaresq's service on H.M.S. Canopus. The dumaresq relies on sliding and rotating bars and dials to calculate the relative motion of the enemy ship and to convert this into a "range rate" (the component of motion along the line of bearing) and "dumaresq deflection" (or "speed across", the component perpendicular to the range rate). Because the dumaresq is an analogue or model of the relative motion of the two ships, it does not intrinsically favour which of its settings is an input and which is an output. This allows it to be used "backwards", a process called a "cross cut" to take sequential estimates of the range and bearing of an enemy vessel and discover its speed and heading that would be consistent. The Mark I Dumaresq was manufactured by Elliott Brothers, who paid for and obtained a patent on the device in the name of its inventor, John Dumaresq, in August 1904. By 1906 the device had been amended to add a rifle-like sight for directly obtaining a bearing to the target ship. By 1913 approximately 1000 devices of various versions had been purchased by the Royal Navy at a cost of £10,000.
H.M.S. Canopus was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy and the lead ship of the Canopus class. Intended for service in Asia, Canopus and her sister ships were smaller and faster than the preceding Majestic-class battleships, but retained the same battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns. She also carried thinner armour, but incorporated new Krupp steel, which was more effective than the Harvey armour used in the Majestics. Canopus was laid down in January 1897, launched in October that year, and commissioned into the fleet in December 1899. Canopus served in the Mediterranean Fleet upon commissioning until 1903, when she was decommissioned for refitting. In 1905, she was sent to East Asia, but the renewal of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance that year rendered her presence in Asian waters unnecessary. She instead returned to Britain and served with several fleet commands in British waters, including the Atlantic Fleet, the Channel Fleet, and finally the Home Fleet. At the beginning of the First World War in August 1914, she was mobilized for service in the South America Station, where she patrolled for German commerce raiders. Moored at Port Stanley as a defensive battery, she fired the first shots of the Battle of the Falklands in December, which led Spee to break off the attack before being chased down and destroyed by Admiral Doveton Sturdee's battlecruisers. Canopus was transferred to the Mediterranean in early 1915 for the Dardanelles Campaign. She participated in major attacks on the Ottoman coastal fortifications defending the Dardanelles. She was removed from service in April 1916 and was converted into a barracks ship in early 1918. After the war, the ship was broken up in 1920. Condition: Good.
Keywords: H.M.S. Canopus, Royal Navy, John Dumaresq, Gibraltar, Mediterranean, Ports of Call, Roster of Officers, Naval Training, Naval Service, Athletics, Naval Operations, Naval Sports, Naval Competition, Naval Races
[Book #80795]
Price: $750.00