Greetings, Many thanks for the information, this is a marvelous facility to share or update ones knowledge, it is deeply appreciated. Peter On 2011-11-07, at 7:28 AM, "Piers Smith-Cresswell" <piers@ps-c.demon.co.uk> wrote: > Hello Peter > > Though my understanding is that people at the turn of the 18th/19th > Centuries were generally not as tall as today, it is clear that the gun > decks of Napoleonic era warships never allowed a lot of head room. The > crew's comfort was not a great priority and one must bear in mind that the > naval day probably did not allow much free time below decks. > > To quote Brian Lavery (who was, incidentally, a consultant on the Peter Weir > film) "The essential role of a warship was to carry a gun armament into > action.... In order to keep the centre of gravity as low as possible, it was > necessary to keep the gundeck quite low. On the other hand, it had to be > far enough above the waterline to keep out water when the ship was heeling, > or when waves were high....... The distance between one gundeck and the deck > above was one of the fixed factors of naval architecture. About five feet > of clear headroom was needed to allow the men to operate the guns, and this > did much to determine the height of a ship with a given number of decks. > Decks which did not carry guns, such as the orlop decks on ships of the > line, or the lower decks of frigates, needed less headroom, and were often > closer to the one above." > > The quote comes from Lavery's book "Nelson's Navy - The ships, men and > organisation 1793-1815" in Conway's "History of Sail" series, out of print > (though new copies are available on Amazon and it is readily available > secondhand via www.abebooks.com - there are other books with similar titles, > but I don't know whether they are just US editions or differ in any way). > It can be thoroughly recommended for anyone interested in the period - it's > not too technical, but tells you most of what you could wish to know, with > plenty of illustrations, and it is certainly the sort of thing Hector might > like to add to his shopping list..... unless he prefers to go for one of > Lavery's other books, "Jack Aubrey Commands: An Historical Companion to the > Naval World of Patrick O'Brian". I haven't read this but I'm sure it is > excellent. > > As Hector states, many of Jack Aubrey's adventures are based upon real > incidents, although they didn't necessarily all happen to the same person. > The first book (Master and Commander), the stock market episode (the Reverse > of the Medal), and Aubrey's involvement in the South American wars of > independence all draw heavily upon the life and career of Lord Cochrane. A > brief run-though of his career can be found at http://tinyurl.com/fmsay and > there are a number of biographies. Given his important role in the founding > of the Chilean navy, it is possible that something may be available in > Spanish. > > Hornblower fans, on the other hand, might be interested to read "The Real > Hornblower - the life and times of Admiral Sir James Gordon" by Bryan > Perrett. > > Cheers > Piers > > > > > > 'Master and Commander' movie, viewed frequently, leaves one anxious for > more. Perhaps the lingering powerful impression was the deckhead height, > was evertone smaller then?? > > Peter > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MARINERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message