These within are some of the books/references one can use to find a particular ship/vessel go on the surface of the water....boats usually go under the water. Take a look at all these urls/websites...you will be amazed at some of the resources. Rhonda Houston http://www.iws.net/wier/FSbooks.html http://www.iws.net/wier/FSbooks.html#HDR2 http://www.iws.net/wier/FSbooks.html#HDR7 Ships: Descriptions by Period, Class, or Individual Ship Ship Design, Ship building, and Outfitting. Paintings of Ships and Events Society of the Times, Ashore and Afloat This website is kept up by Peabody Essex Museum. Naval History http://www.usni.org/hrp/hrp.html The U.S. Naval Institute Reference Services Researchers may use the reference library during normal working hours. The library is not a lending library. Reference specialists are also available for assistance. Researchers should make advance appointments whenever possible. The division staff cannot make lengthy searches. The division maintains the collection as a reference library and may have to refer the researcher to other sources. It does not function as a research agency and has no on-line sources. Requests for reference information about articles that appeared in Proceedings or Naval History should be accompanied by the title, author, and issue. Requests are also accepted for searches on particular subjects. Photocopying Services Photocopies of materials requested are available. If you are not a USNI member, there is a $10.00 research charge plus $.50 per photocopy page. If you are a USNI member, there is an $8.00 research charge. The photocopies cost $.40 per page. Mailing Address: U.S. Naval Institute History Division 291 Wood Rd. Annapolis, MD 21402-5034 Phone: (410) 295-1023 Hours of Service: Monday through Friday 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. (closed on legal holidays) How do I find this ship's history? "I'm looking for some biographical information on the British ship H.M.S Racoon, which sailed along the North American Pacific Northwest coast in the 18th century." Now you're getting into real research! What you need to do here is go to the nearest major naval research library and install yourself for a few days. No, Virginia, most information is not on the internet. There probably have been 10,000 books, or more, printed in English, related to maritime history in the past two centuries. Many survive in limited copies in a few libraries and have too limited or special appeal to ever be put online. I will try to add the names of major naval research libraries here soon. This web site began as an outgrowth of one of several pastimes at home in the evening, and now folks are asking hard questions! (No I don't have any records of your great grandfather's uncle who was mate on the "Young America.") I am not a professor of history, just a dedicated amateur reader. Other places to look: U.S. Navy Naval History Center http://www.history.navy.mil/ Web Site List from preceeding http://www.history.navy.mil/nhc9.htm Merchant Marine Books (all periods) http://www.usmm.org/books.html U.S. Coast Guard Bibliographies and Research Aids http://www.uscg.mil/h_biblio/h_bibres.html Nautical Research Guild http://www.naut-res-guild.org/