The Isles of Scilly in the Great War

The Isles of Scilly in the Great War
Author: Richard Larn
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2017-03-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1473867681

The Isles of Scilly, five inhabited islands 24 miles west of Land’s End, were of low priority to the War Department when the First World War was declared. With no manufacturing capability, no industry other than flower growing and agriculture, no electricity or gas, no mains water supply, no wireless station, and a population of only 2,000, the islands did have one feature in their favor – their location. Sitting at the cross roads of six major shipping routes, Scilly had been a recognized ‘ship-park’ since 1300AD, where sailing ships anchored to safety awaiting a suitable wind, to re-victual, pick up water or effect repairs. The Admiralty sought to make it a harbor for the Channel Fleet in the mid-1800s, and in 1903 spent £25,000 defending the islands with 6-inch gun batteries, only to take them away seven years later. When, in 1915, German U-boats moved from the North Sea into the Western Approaches, sinking large numbers of merchant vessels, Scilly was chosen to become a Royal Navy Auxiliary Patrol Station, and over time was sent 20 armed trawlers and drifters as escorts, mine-sweepers, mine-layers or anti-submarine vessels, along with 500 Royal Navy personnel. In 1917 Tresco Island became a Royal Naval Air Station, with 14 flying boats and over 1,000 personnel. The islands were suddenly at the forefront of the submarine war. This book details Scilly's contribution to the war effort, with attention to its civilian population, the heartbreak of losing forty-five of its sons, and the trauma of countless seamen rescued from torpedoed ships.

The Nature of a Lady (The Secrets of the Isles Book #1)

The Nature of a Lady (The Secrets of the Isles Book #1)
Author: Roseanna M. White
Publisher: Baker Books
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2021-05-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1493431471

1906 Lady Elizabeth "Libby" Sinclair, with her love of microscopes and nature, isn't favored in society. She flees to the beautiful Isles of Scilly for the summer and stumbles into the dangerous secrets left behind by her holiday cottage's former occupant, also named Elizabeth, who mysteriously vanished. Oliver Tremayne--gentleman and clergyman--is determined to discover what happened to his sister, and he's happy to accept the help of the girl now living in what should have been Beth's summer cottage . . . especially when he realizes it's the curious young lady he met briefly two years ago, who shares his love of botany and biology. But the hunt for his sister involves far more than nature walks, and he can't quite believe all the secrets Beth had been keeping from him. As Libby and Oliver work together, they find ancient legends, pirate wrecks, betrayal, and the most mysterious phenomenon of all: love.

The Development of British Naval Aviation, 1914–1918

The Development of British Naval Aviation, 1914–1918
Author: Alexander Howlett
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2021-06-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1000387615

The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) revolutionized warfare at sea, on land, and in the air. This little-known naval aviation organization introduced and operationalized aircraft carrier strike, aerial anti-submarine warfare, strategic bombing, and the air defence of the British Isles more than 20 years before the outbreak of the Second World War. Traditionally marginalized in a literature dominated by the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force, the RNAS and its innovative practitioners, nevertheless, shaped the fundamentals of air power and contributed significantly to the Allied victory in the First World War. The Development of British Naval Aviation utilizes archival documents and newly published research to resurrect the legacy of the RNAS and demonstrate its central role in Britain’s war effort.

The Life of a Scilly Sergeant

The Life of a Scilly Sergeant
Author: Colin Taylor
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2016-06-16
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1473537142

‘Policing is like this everywhere but not everywhere is Scilly’ Meet Sergeant Colin Taylor, he has been a valuable member of the police force for over 20 years, 5 of which have been spent policing the ‘quiet’ Isles of Scilly, a group of islands off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula. Colin has made it his purpose to keep the streets of Scilly free from drunk anchor thieves, Balance Board riders and other culprits, mostly drunken, intent on breaking the law. This book is the first hand account of how he did it. Coupled with his increasingly popular ‘Isle of Scilly Police Force’ Facebook page, this book charts the day to day trials and tribulations of a small-island police officer, told in a perfectly humorous and affectionate way. This book is a fantastic read and Colin's antics are soon to be the feautre of a major ITV TV series.

The Great War at Sea

The Great War at Sea
Author: Lawrence Sondhaus
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 419
Release: 2014-08-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107036909

New naval history of the First World War which reveals the contribution of the war at sea to Allied victory.

Listen to the Moon

Listen to the Moon
Author: Michael Morpurgo
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2015-10-27
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 125007861X

Alfie lives off the coast of England. Merry lives in New York City. Until Merry and her mother set sail on the Lusitania for England, where Merry's father is recuperating from a war injury. People told them not to go, hearing rumors that the Lusitania might be carrying munitions. But they are desperate to be reunited with Merry's father. Alfie and his father find a lost girl in an abandoned house on a small island. The girl doesn't speak, except to say what sounds like "Lucy." Alfie's mother nurses her back to health. The others in the village suspect the unthinkable: Lucy is actually German-an enemy-because she's found with a blanket with a German tag. Told from Alfie and Merry's points of view, this exquisite novel tells of friends, enemies, and unexpected kindnesses.

The Channel Islands in Anglo-French Relations, 1689-1918

The Channel Islands in Anglo-French Relations, 1689-1918
Author: Colin Partridge
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2024-01-16
Genre:
ISBN: 178327655X

Examines how the Channel Islands have been crucial to Britain's successful maritime superiority in the English Channel. The Channel Islands have played a key role in both naval warfare and Anglo-French diplomacy, but this has not always been highlighted sufficiently even though Britain and France were at war for most of the period 1689-1815. This book considers a wide range of maritime subjects where the role of the Channel Islands has been significant, such as intelligence gathering, piracy and privateering, and naval strategy and control of the Channel. It also examines topics in relation to the Channel Islands specifically, such as surveying and hydrography, fortifications, trade and Channel Islands societies. It charts changes over time, including the impact of technological changes, from the wars of Louis XIV and William III, through the many Anglo-French wars of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and includes planning for wars which were anticipated but avoided. Throughout the issues are discussed from the perspectives of Britain, France and the Channel Islands themselves, equal weight being given to all three perspectives. Andrew Lambert is Professor of War Studies at King's College, London and one of Britain's foremost maritime and naval historians. Colin Partridge is a former consultant to the States of Guernsey's 'Fortress Guernsey' programme for the restoration and interpretation of Guernsey's fortifications. Jean de Préneuf is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Lille and Head of the Research, Teaching and Studies Unit at the Historical Branch of the French Ministry of Defence at Vincennes.

The Last Great War

The Last Great War
Author: Adrian Gregory
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 355
Release: 2008-10-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107650860

What was it that the British people believed they were fighting for in 1914–18? This compelling history of the British home front during the First World War offers an entirely new account of how British society understood and endured the war. Drawing on official archives, memoirs, diaries and letters, Adrian Gregory sheds new light on the public reaction to the war, examining the role of propaganda and rumour in fostering patriotism and hatred of the enemy. He shows the importance of the ethic of volunteerism and the rhetoric of sacrifice in debates over where the burdens of war should fall as well as the influence of religious ideas on wartime culture. As the war drew to a climax and tensions about the distribution of sacrifices threatened to tear society apart, he shows how victory and the processes of commemoration helped create a fiction of a society united in grief.

The Line Upon a Wind: The Great War at Sea, 1793-1815

The Line Upon a Wind: The Great War at Sea, 1793-1815
Author: Noel Mostert
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 801
Release: 2008-06-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 0393066533

Mostert's narrative tells the thrilling story of Britain's struggle with Revolutionary France, wherein Napoleon is checkmated by Admiral Horatio Nelson's brilliant naval exploits. 16 pages of illustrations, 6 maps.