Napoleonic Period Shipbuilding

[Peter]

Without the ships there would not have been a Nelson or a Napoleonic War. It is therefore important to have a bit of knowledge about the ships and their construction.

Look no further than Jean Boudriot and ancre.fr, he is probably the world's expert on ship construction. He has built up a collection of books written by him and others that have been copied from early book prints. You will find that most authors who write on the period will have had a peek at his books, and copied.

On Construction there are four volumes on the 74 gun Frigate. Probably volume one will suffice for most people.

Another book I can recommend is 18C Shipbuilding by Blaise Ollivier. Blaise is sent by the minister of the French Marine to spy on the English and Dutch Royal Dockyard. This book is translated from the French, a large and heavy tome. Blaise was a master ship builder, so he was ideal to understand what was going on in the dockyards. He paints a picture of life in the dockyards in 1737.

The books are specialist and expensive, but they can be ordered from most libraries in the Uk.

http://www.ancre.fr/index-e.htm

[alexlitandem]

What a terrific resource there Peter.

118 Euros ain't cheap, that's for sure - but the site images certainly give the impression that the books themselves are as beautifully and meticulously constructed as the vessels they refer to.

I'll save up for the Ollivier

[PMarione]

Certainly the best books ever written on naval architecture.

Jean Boudriot was an architect by profession and so his drawings are perfect.
He mainly used arsenal models at the Musée de la Marine in Paris.
He is very old now and alas has parkinson (the drawings in the last publications are by Hubert Berti). He has collected an incredible collection of books, plans etc. His task was a little easier than the one of British authors because the French wrote a lot more treatise, reglements etc. than the English who were far more for the rule of thumb.

His 4 vols covers all the aspects from shipbuilding to life on board. They can be compared to Lavery's Nelson's Navy with a larger part devoted to shipbuilding. They are gorgeous huge books thence expensive.

There was an English version of the 74 under the 74 Gun Ship available (alongside other interesting titles) at:
Jean Boudriot Publications
Ashley Lodge
Rotherfield
East Sussex TN6 3QX

I can't find a website so I don't know if they still exist. It's worth a snail mail. Otherwise you probably can find them on bookfinder, abebooks or ebay.

ISBN for the 74 (in English) are 2-903178-14-3, 2-903178-15-1, 2-903178-16-X, 2-903178-17-8

They also published the definitive study in 4 vols of the English Sea Ordnance (1523-1875) by Adrian Caruana (ISBN 0-948864-20-6, 0-948864-22-2, 0-948864-24-9, 0-948864-29-X)

@+P

[ionia]

[PMarione]

Peter,
You are most probably right.
I was quoting from a list and checking my library, I have only 2 vols (but I probably wouldn't have bought the 2 last vols as they are post period of interest).

@+P

[ionia]

You had me very interested with your original post about Caruana's books as I would have very much liked to possess Volume 3.
_________________
Ionia

[PMarione]

Sorry but I believe Peter is right and that the author died before completing the work.

[Peter]

It appears that Jean Boudriot has moved from Ashley Lodge. It is for sale.

£675,000. Ashley Lodge, Ashley Road, Rotherfield, TN6.

5 bed Gch Wood burning stove Garage Off-street parking Garden Established garden Freehold

[PMarione]

On Amazon, the 1st vol of the 74 gun ship is at £1,261.80 (I like the 80p) + postage.

Apparently was a good investment.

And the 4th vol is at £75