Customer Reviews

Galleons and Galleys

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This is a beautiful book, richly illustrated, so much that it seems at first glance like it belongs in the category of "coffee table" books, with nice pictures but shallow detail. Not so. The illustrations are magnificently assembled and well presented, but they accompany masterful information content. The social, political, and technological backgrounds in which the galley and galleon (and their contemporaries, the carrack, caravel, nau, etc., and successor, the ship of the line) arose and drove their evolution are set out. Examination of naval gun technology, a driving force in this progression, is here. History outside of the famous Mediterranean and English Channel scenes are here: the incursion of the Portuguese into the Indian Ocean, and the campaigns of Korea's great Yi Sun-shin. The brief episode of the Chinese navigations is mentioned, but only briefly, probably because the Chinese fought no serious naval battles and established no lasting maritime empire before their politics stifled and suppressed their fleet. For a view of naval power up to the coming of age of the northern European nation-states, this is a choice work.

The turn of the sixteenth century witnessed the beginning of a revolution in warfare at sea, a revolution caused by the marriage of artillery to ships capable of true oceanic navigation. As a result, the countries of Europe spread their influence across the globe and made the world we live in today. But the galleons which carried black powder and European hegemony across the seas did not spring like Athena, full blown from the brow of Zeus. They evolved from oar-driven galleys as a result of a combination of technical and historical factors which historian John F. Guilmartin examines in his latest work, Galleons and Galleys. In concise analytical chapters interspersed with case studies, he traces the history of ships and gunpowder across 350 years from the mid-Atlantic to the South China Sea. I enjoyed the way Professor Guilmartin (Ohio State University) developed his thesis, and I learned a lot about obscure actions like the War of Chioggia and Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea.

The turn of the sixteenth century witnessed the beginning of a revolution in warfare at sea, a revolution caused by the marriage of artillery to ships capable of true oceanic navigation. As a result, the countries of Europe spread their influence across the globe and made the world we live in today. But the galleons which carried black powder and European hegemony across the seas did not spring "full blown from the brow of Athena." They were the result of a combination of technical and historical factors which historian John F. Guilmartin examines in his latest work, Galleons and Galleys. In concise analytical chapters interspersed with case studies, Guilmartin traces the history of ships and gunpowder across 350 years from the mid-Atlantic to the South China Sea.

Readers familiar with Dr. Guilmartin's earlier masterpiece, Gunpowder and Galleys, will recognize the format of alternating topical chapters and battle descriptions. As with the earlier work, many of the battles may be unfamiliar to lay readers like myself, but Guilmartin does an impressive job of putting the whole picture together.

The first time ever I saw a cannon underwater was in Northern Ireland in 1976. At the time, I thought I was looking at something that would have archaeologists jumping to for joy, but it was later dismissed as an old iron demi-culverin of no importance. The following year, however, I was asked to help recover the front 2 feet of a bronze weapon discovered off Gibraltar. It later turned out that an incoming cannonball had hit this cannon at a time when it was hot from repeated use - thus causing it to break. Only last year I was visiting St. Paul Island in Nova Scotia where we came across several remnants from early vessels - including cannon and a large pile of cannonballs.

It is, therefore, with a little experience (and I do mean "little.") but plenty of interest in such matters that I took delivery of "Galleons and Galleys" by John F. Guilmartin - published by Cassell & Co - to be released for general sale on 18 February 2002.

Professor John Guilmartin is a leading authority on military and maritime history specialising on the 16th and 17th Centuries. Whilst many would describe the turn of the 20th Century as a time of revolution in terms of warfare at sea, historians like Guilmartin know how such radical changes happened in an earlier age - albeit on a different scale, at the turn of the 16th Century.

Galleons and Galleys is a hardback book measuring 10½in x 8in and packed with over 220 pages of fascinating historical detail essential to anyone with an interest in this period of maritime history. Beginning with an introduction which explains the age of the Galleon and Galley, Guilmartin then takes the reader on a journey which incorporates Warfare at Sea 1300-1453, Weapons of War 1300-1650, the evolution of European sailing ships - such as the Caravel and Carrack, to the development of the War Galley right through to the heyday of the supreme Galleon.

In a thorough and very professional piece of work, the author includes all the peripheral information such as; Warfare at sea before Gunpowder, World Trade and the emergence of major maritime powers, the gunpowder revolution and the development of naval ordnance, the rise of Swedish sea power, strategies and tactics of the day, Anglo-French confrontations and Anglo-Spanish rivalry - thus giving as complete a portrayal of the subject as one could hope to find.

With numerous famous paintings and portraits reproduced alongside line drawings of everything from the various types of ship to a description of the mould used for making cannon, this is indeed a scholarly work made all the more important because it is so easy to read and follow.

NM

Excellent review of the changeover in naval power. Author writes in a clear, readable style that is easy to read and understand. Highly recommend to those intrerested in expanding their knowledge of history.