Ships and sailing reading list

Ships and sailors in general

• Earle, Peter

Sailors : English merchant seamen. London: Methuen, 1998

The author "has always had a passion for the history of ships and seamen. [This] book maintains his exceptionally high standards of both research and writing. He writes very fluidly and, in this book, gives the reader a vibrant account of life at sea in the merchant marine between 1650 and 1775. Inevitably, the book contains a great deal of material about life on board the East Indiamen, who plied back and forth between England and the Far East and, because it does, it is well worth reading. Taken together with some of the older works on life aboard the East Indiamen, for example The memoirs of William Hickey, Cotton and Fawcett's East Indiamen and Ann Maier's Free mariner, researchers and the general reader will enjoy a comprehensive account of life on board these ships. Peter Earle's book is highly recommended." The full review is on p. 33 of FIBIS Journal 1 (September 1999)

East Indiamen (the ships of the HEIC)

• Farrington, Anthony

Catalogue of East India Company ships' journals and logs 1600-1834. London: British Library, 1999

This compendium details no fewer than 4563 voyages by 1577 ships in the Company's service. Reviewed by Trevor W. Hearl on p. 31 of FIBIS Journal 7 (March 2002)

• Farrington, Anthony

A biographical index of East India Company Maritime Service officers, 1600-1834. London: British Library, 1999

This "provides career outlines, with varying amounts of personal detail, of some 12,000 'commanders, mates, surgeons and pursers'". Reviewed by Trevor W. Hearl on p. 31 of FIBIS Journal 7 (March 2002)

• Hardy, Charles

A register of ships employed in the service of the Honorable the United East India Company from the year 1760 to 1810, with an appendix containing a variety of particulars and useful information interesting to those concerned with East India commerce / by Charles Hardy ; revised by Horatio Charles Hardy. [Online version] London: Heseltine, 1811

This contains the names of the Indiamen, their captains, officers, surgeons and pursers, plus company regulations and instructions in a browsable and searchable format at Google Books

• Sutton, Jean

Lords of the East : East India Company and its ships. New ed. London: Conway Maritime Press, 2000

"For a richly illustrated, authoritative and eminently readable account of the East India Company and its ships there has been nothing to touch Jean Sutton's Lords of the East since its first appearance in 1981. Now Conway Maritime Press has published an even more sumptuous second edition, revised and extended, with sixteen pages of colour illustrations, describing the building, manning, financing, sailing and operating of a fleet totalling, over the years, some 1240 vessels chartered in the Company's service, including steamers and warships..." The full review by Trevor W. Hearl is on p. 31 of FIBIS Journal 7 (March 2002).

see also East India Company reading list

Navy

Please see the Navy section in the Military reading list