Age of Sail Reading List

One of my twitter followers was looking for a selection of reading about navies during the Age of Sail. This list is adapted from Dr. John Beeler's Proseminar in Naval History and Strategic Thought, and represents a significantly truncated version of the suggested readings for the part of the course dealing with galleys and sailing ships. I've not included journal articles because many people don't have access to subscription databases. Also, since this list is now several years old, it does not represent the most recent releases in naval history for the 16th-19th centuries. If anyone has suggestions for newer materials, I'd be very interested in them.

The Shape and Armament of Sailing Warships

Carlo Cipolla, Guns, Sails, and Empires: Technological Innovation and the Early Phase of European Expansion.

David Davies, Fighting Ships of the Line 1793-1815.

F. Fox, Great Ships: The Battlefleet of King Charles II.

Ian Friel, The Good Ship: Ships, Shipbuilding and Technology in England, 1200-1520.

Peter Kirsch, The Galleon: The Great Ships of the Armada Era.

N. A. M. Rodger, The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain, 600-1649. chaps. 5, 12, 16.

Geoffrey Parker, The Military Revolution, Chapter 3.

Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail: The Strategic/Policy Level

Jaap R. Bruijn, The Dutch Navy of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.

Jan Glete, Navies and Nations: Warships, Navies, and State Building in Europe and America.

Alfred Thayer Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power on History, 1660-1783.

Herbert Richmond, The Navy as an Instrument of Policy 1558-1727.

K. R. Andrews, Trade, Plunder and Settlement: Maritime Enterprise and the Genesis of the British Empire, 1480-1650.

G.N. Clark, The Dutch Alliance and the War against French Trade, 1688-1697.

Carla Rahn Phillips, Six Galleons for the King of Spain: Imperial Defence in the Seventeenth Century.

Geoffrey Symcox, The Crisis of Sea Power: The French Navy in the Nine Years' War.

Janice Thomson, Mercenaries, Pirates and Sovereigns: State-building and Extra-territorial violence in Early Modern Europe.

Charles Wilson, Profit and Power: A Study of England and the Dutch Wars.

Jeremy Black and Philip Woodfine (eds.), The British Navy and the Use of Naval Power in the Eighteenth

Century.

Patrick Crowhurst, The Defence of British Trade, 1689-1815.

Jonathan Dull, The French Navy and American Independence: A Study of Arms and Diplomacy, 1774-1787.(E265.D8)

Richard Glover, "The French Fleet, 1807-1814: Britain's Problem and Madison's Opportunity," Journal of Modern History 39 (1967), 233-52.

Gerald Graham, Empire of the North Atlantic.

Nabil Matar, Britain and Barbary, 1589-1689.

Neil Stout, The Royal Navy in America, 1760-1775.

Nicholas Tracy, Navies, Deterrence, and American Independence: Britain and Sea Power in the 1760s and

1770s.

Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail: The Operational Level

Max Adams, Admiral Collingwood: Nelson’s Own Hero.

R.C. Anderson, Naval Wars in the Baltic, 1522-1850.

M. Baumber, General-at-Sea: Robert Blake and the Seventeenth Century Revolution in Naval Warfare.

Roderick Cavaliero, Admiral Satan: The Life and Campaigns of Suffren, Scourge of the Royal Navy.

Julian Corbett, The Campaign of Trafalgar.

Michael Duffy, Soldiers, Sugar and Sea Power: The British Expeditions to the West Indies and the War Against Revolutionary France.

Michael Duffy and Roger Morriss (eds.), The Glorious First of June 1794: A Naval Battle and its Aftermath.

R.P. Fereday, Saint-Faust in the North 1803-1804: Orkney and Shetland in Danger.

Robert Gandiner, Fleet, Battle and Blockade: The French Revolutionary War, 1793-1797.

Richard Harding, Amphibious Warfare in the Eighteenth century: The British Expedition to the West Indies, 1740-1742.

Christopher Lloyd, English Corsairs on the Barbary Coast.

Kevin McCranie, Admiral Lord Keith and the Naval War Against Napoleon.

Geoffrey J. Marcus, Heart of Oak: A Survey of British Sea Power in the Georgian Era.

Carla Rahn Phillips, The Short Life of an Unlucky Spanish Galleon: Los Tres Reyes, 1628-1634.

Marshal Smelser, The Campaign for the Sugar Islands, 1759.(F2151.S65)

Richard Spence, The Privateering Earl: George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland 1558-1605.

David Spinney, Rodney.

Carl Swanson, Predators and Prizes: American Privateering and Imperial Warfare, 1739-48.

W.C.B. Tunstall (ed. Nicholas Tracy), Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail: The Evolution of Fighting Tactics, 1650-1815.(V27.T8)

The Early American Navy: Strategy and Policy

Clayton Barrow (ed.), America Spreads her Sails: U.S. Seapower in the Nineteenth Century.

James Bradford (ed.), Command Under Sail: Makers of the American Naval Tradition, 1775-1850.

Thomas Bryson, Tars, Turks, and Tankers: The Role of the United States Navy in the Middle East, 1800-1879.

Donald Chidsey, The Wars in Barbary: Arab Piracy and the Birth of the United States Navy.

Alexander DeConde, The Quasi-War.

Robert E. Johnson, Far China Station: The U.S. Navy in Asian Waters, 1800-1898.

Michael Palmer, Stoddert's War: Naval Operations during the Quasi-War.

Charles Oscar Paullin, Diplomatic Negotiations of American Navy Officers, 1778-1883.

Vincent Ponko, Ships, Seas, and Scientists: U.S. Naval Exploration and Discovery in the Nineteenth Century.

John Schroeder, Shaping a Maritime Empire: The Commercial and Diplomatic Role of the United States Navy, 1829-1861.

Raymond Shoemaker, Diplomacy from the Quarterdeck: The United States Navy in the Caribbean, 1815-1830.

Spencer Tucker, The Jeffersonian Gunboat Navy.

The Early American Navy: Operations

Gardner Allen, A Naval History of the American Revolution.

K. Jack Bauer, Surfboats and Horse Marines: U.S. Naval Operations in the Mexican War, 1846-1848.

George Buker, Swamp Sailors: Riverine Warfare in the Everglades, 1835-1842.

Howard Chapelle, The History of the American Sailing Navy.

Jack Coggins, Ships and Seamen of the American Revolution.

Wade G. Dudley, Splintering the Wooden Wall: The British Blockade of the United States, 1812-1815.

R. Blake Dunnavent, Brown Water Warfare: The U.S. Navy in Riverine Warfare and the Emergence of a Tactical Doctrine, 1775-1970

Eugene Ferguson, Truxtun of the Constellation.

William Fowler, Jack Tars and Commodores: The American Navy, 1783-1815.

Chester Hearn, George Washington's Schooners: The First American Navy.

Tyrone Martin, A Most Fortunate Ship: A Narrative History of Old Ironsides.

David Syrett, Shipping and the American War, 1775-1783.

Naval Infrastructure and Administration in the Age of Sail

Robert G. Albion. Forests and Sea Power: The Timber Problem of the Royal Navy, 1652-1862.

Paul Bamford, Forests and French Sea Power, 1660-1789.

Nicholas A.M. Rodger, The Admiralty.

Daniel Baugh, British Naval Administration in the Age of Walpole.

Stephen Gradish, The Manning of the British Navy During the Seven Years War.

Richard Harding, The Evolution of the Sailing Navy, 1509-1815.

Roger Morriss, The Royal Dockyards during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

________. Naval Power and British Culture, 1760-1850:  Public Trust and Government.