Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice set in great condition. Book in excellent unused condition. Plans also in unused condition comes with 25 plans but plan 8 and 13 appear to be missing so sold as only good condition. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> In 1985 however I was prevailed upon by a combination of circumstances to set aside my other work and to undertake the attempt myself treating it not simply as a research project but as the basis for a further volume in the series of monographs for shipmodellers which I have published over the last ten years and indeed for a second book of more general historical interest?. At this point a word about such reconstructions of historic ships may not be out of place. It is important to realise that when talking about a specific ship no historian can affirm that “this was so” or “this looked like this” without direct archaeological evidence in the hand. Since the wreck of the Bonhomme Richard lies today at the bottom of the North Sea I am forced to express myself in terms of probabilities: that the general appearance of my reconstruction is accurate I have no doubt but when we come to all the small details of stores rigging and fittings I can only say that what I have illustrated conforms to contemporary practice and is consistent with the somewhat meagre information provided by contemporary accounts of the ship. Perhaps one day the wreck itself will yield positive archaeological proofs and confront hypothesis with fact: such a confrontation can only be of benefit to any historian and one thing which my years of research has taught me is that reality is often very different from theory! Having expressed this caveat I humbly submit the reconstruction in the pages which follow to the critical appreciation of you my most attentive readers the model-makers: like the shipwrights of the 18th century you will put my drawings to the test through the sweat of your brow and the skill of your hands. May you derive as much pleasure from that labour as I have experienced in piecing together the jigsaw of clues whi provided the basis for my work on the Bonhomme Richard. I wish you patience and skill and above all enjoyment. (MP)