Dockyards as Nodes of Naval Architecture, Maritime Traditions and Cultural Heritage: Transactions of the Naval Dockyards Society Volume 17

This book contains the papers from the three-day hybrid conference of the Naval Dockyards Society in June 2022. This was long planned as a prestigious event to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the formal inauguration of Naval Dockyards Society in 1997. This conference presented twenty international speakers and averaged seventy delegates a day.This book contains the contributions of the twenty speakers – including five international presenters. They delivered a variety of enthralling images and perspectives which addressed the three daily themes signifying the complexities of dockyards. Locations ranged from Venice and Port Royal Jamaica to Copenhagen and Cartagena, topics from steam machinery to rebuilding a coastal motor boat.Day 1 ‘Building a warship’ illustrates the primary functions of dockyards and shipyards. Brian Lavery assesses the national significance of Navy Board Overseer Benjamin Furzer and Shoreham shipbuilding in the 1690s. Clare Hunt and David Bradley explore nineteenth-century construction techniques and the current conservation processes of HMS Trincomalee and HMS Unicorn respectively, both illustrating ship’s carpenters’ rase marks. Ian Buxton uncovers the complex networks of nineteenth- and twentieth-century commercial and dockyard suppliers of machinery for dockyard-built warships. Martin Marks discloses the Clyde Puffer’s evolution into the Second World War Victualling Inshore Craft, specifically VIC 56, while David Griffiths recounts building the replica of a World War I Thornycroft Coastal Motor Boat with BH4 volunteers. As the keynote speaker, Antony Firth reconnects warships and dockyards visually and digitally through the places where they were built, used and lost.Day 2 ‘Dockyards as heritage’ surveyed dockyard sites and their evolution. Federico Camerin critiques regeneration plans for Venice’s Arsenale and Jonathan Greenland updates Port Royal Jamaica Project’s progress since he introduced it to our 2019 Conference. Karoline Sofie Hennum tackles the challenges of balancing museum collection storage with the requirements of listed dockyard buildings at Chatham. Katarzyna Jarosz explores contemporary attitudes to former Soviet dockyards and Celia Clark compares how successfully different countries dispose of surplus defence land to serve their communities and provide sustain able reuse. Keynote speaker Sir Neil Cossons analyses social and political values affecting the conservation of historic docks and dockyards.Day 3 ‘Dockyards as global hubs and regional centres of maritime culture’ appraised the material culture of dockyards. Philip MacDougall scrutinises Russian trade connections which supplied vital British naval stores in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Catherine Scheybeler illustrates the problems of importing steam technology to drain Cartagena dry docks in the eighteenth century. Roger Morriss traces Samuel Bentham’s promotion of scientific technology from the 1790s to perform dockyard operations more quickly, cheaply and easily. Jakob Seerup and Mark Ericson connect fact-finding by a Franco-English diplomat in Copenhagen Royal Dockyards in 1702 and Japanese Samurai in British Royal Dockyards in 1865 respectively. Ann Coats explores cultural connections between royal dockyards and overseas communities over four centuries, while keynote speaker Professor Andrew Lambert emphasises the centrality of dockyards as sources and symbols of national power projection. Read more