Bermuda Historical Quarterly, Summer Quarter, 1961, Vol. XVIII, No. 2.; Bermuda-Built Royal Naval Ships [subtitle from front cover].
Hamilton, Bermuda: Bermuda Historical Quarterly, 1961. Presumed First Edition, First printing thus. Wraps. [4], 37-72, [4] pages (includes advertisements). Cover has some wear and soiling, and staple rust. The contents include: Minutes of H.M. Council (1719); A Listing of Royal Naval Ships Built at Bermuda (Compiled by Frederick P. Schmitt With an Introduction by Lt. Cdr. H. G. Middleton, M.B.E.); and American Consular Records: Civil War Period (Part I). This work has been referenced by Naval scholars: The Adonis class was a Royal Navy class of twelve 10-gun schooners built under contract in Bermuda during the Napoleonic War. The class was an attempt by the Admiralty to harness the expertise of Bermudian shipbuilders who were renowned for their fast-sailing craft. The Admiralty ordered twelve vessels on 2 April 1804. Winfield reports, based on Admiralty records, that although all twelve were ordered as cutters, all were completed as (or converted to) schooners. An article in the Bermuda Historical Quarterly reports that eight were built as cutters (Alban, Bacchus, Barbara, Casandra, Claudia, Laura, Olympia, and Sylvia), and three as schooners (Adonis, Alphea, and Vesta). The account does not mention Zenobia, but does mention that Laura and Barbara (at least) were re-rigged as schooners. The discrepancy lies in the poor communications between the Navy Board in Britain and the builders in Bermuda, as well as in deficiencies of record-keeping. All twelve vessels were apparently laid down in 1804. Each vessel was launched and commissioned during 1806. Of the twelve vessels in the class, seven were wartime losses. Only five were not lost during the war, then sold between 1814 and 1816. Bermuda was originally discovered in 1503 by Spanish explorer Juan de Bermúdez. In 1609, the English Virginia Company, which had established Jamestown in Virginia two years earlier, permanently settled Bermuda in the aftermath of a hurricane, when the crew and passengers of Sea Venture steered the ship onto the surrounding reef to prevent it from sinking, then landed ashore. Bermuda's first capital, St. George's, was established in 1612. The Virginia Company administered the island as an extension of Virginia until 1614; its spin-off, the Somers Isles Company, took over in 1615 and managed the island until 1684, when the company's charter was revoked and Bermuda became an English Crown Colony. Following the 1707 unification of the parliaments of Scotland and England, which created the Kingdom of Great Britain, the islands of Bermuda became a British Crown Colony. When Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949, Bermuda became the oldest remaining British colony. It has been the most populous remaining dependent territory since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997. Bermuda became known as a "British Overseas Territory" in 2002, as a result of the British Overseas Territories Act 2002. In the 1860s, the major build-up of naval and military infrastructure brought vital money into Bermuda at a time when its traditional maritime industries were giving way under the assault of steel hulls and steam propulsion. The American Civil War, also, briefly, provided a shot-in-the-arm to the local economy. As a result of Bermuda's proximity to the southeastern US coast, during the American Civil War Confederate States blockade runners frequently used it as a stopping point base for runs to and from the Southern states or England to evade Union naval vessels on blockade patrol, delivering much needed war goods from England and for transporting much needed cotton back to England. The old Globe Hotel in St. George's, which was a center of intrigue for Confederate agents, is preserved as a public museum. With the buildup of the Royal Naval establishment in the first decades of the 19th century, a large number of military fortifications and batteries were constructed, and the numbers of regular infantry, artillery, and support units that composed the British Army garrison were steadily increased. Tourism and agricultural industries would develop in the latter half of the 19th century. However, it was defense infrastructure that formed the central platform of the economy into the 20th century. Condition: Good.
Keywords: Bermuda, Royal Navy, Bermuda-Built Ships, Civil War, American Consul, Shipbuilding, Frederick Schmitt, H. G. Middleton, Adonis Class, Cutters, Schooners, War of 1812, Naval Operations, Bermuda Cedar, Warships, Naval Architecture
[Book #82121]
Price: $50.00