Daniel Owen Spence - A history of the Royal Navy : empire and imperialism

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Published in 2015 by

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Copyright 2015 Daniel Owen Spence

The right of Daniel Owen Spence to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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ISBN: 978 1 78076 543 3

eISBN: 978 0 85773 961 2

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

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A HISTORY OF THE ROYAL NAVY SERIES

A History of the Royal Navy: The Age of Sail

Andrew Baines ( ISBN : 978 1 78076 992 9)

The Royal Navy: A History Since 1900

Duncan Redford and Philip D. Grove ( ISBN : 978 1 78076 782 6)

A History of the Royal Navy: Air Power and British Naval Aviation

Ben Jones ( ISBN : 978 1 78076 993 6)

A History of the Royal Navy: The American Revolutionary War

Martin Robson ( ISBN : 978 1 78076 994 3)

A History of the Royal Navy: Empire and Imperialism

Daniel Owen Spence ( ISBN : 978 1 78076 543 3)

A History of the Royal Navy: The Napoleonic Wars

Martin Robson ( ISBN 978 1 78076 544 0)

A History of the Royal Navy: The Nuclear Age

Philip D. Grove ( ISBN : 978 1 78076 995 0)

A History of the Royal Navy: The Royal Marines

Britt Zerbe ( ISBN : 978 1 78076 765 9)

A History of the Royal Navy: The Seven Years War

Martin Robson ( ISBN : 978 1 78076 545 7)

A History of the Royal Navy: The Submarine

Duncan Redford ( ISBN : 978 1 78076 546 4)

A History of the Royal Navy: The Victorian Age

Andrew Baines ( ISBN : 978 1 78076 749 9)

A History of the Royal Navy: Women and the Royal Navy

Jo Stanley ( ISBN : 978 1 78076 756 7)

A History of the Royal Navy: World War I

Mike Farquharson-Roberts ( ISBN : 978 1 78076 838 0)

A History of the Royal Navy: World War II

Duncan Redford ( ISBN : 978 1 78076 546 4)

The fortunes of the British Empire and the Royal Navy were inextricably linked, the one entirely dependent on the other. But the navy was much more than just a fighting force, designed to defeat rivals and subdue subordinate peoples, for it performed many other functions. Its personnel were key in the pursuit of diplomatic ends, in the conveyance of leading political, administrative and royal travellers, in the protection of trade, in the development of both exploration and scientific research, in developing such policies as the export of convicts, in surveying and hydrographic work, in the development of marine, navigational and armaments technologies, and in simply flying the flag. As this concise yet wide-ranging and comprehensive book demonstrates, the navy also performed a vital psychological role, often on a global scale. It was celebrated in all sorts of visual, literary and cultural forms. In the twentieth century, its significance in both warfare and in relationships with indigenous peoples changed dramatically, and the decline of empire and of naval strength occurred in parallel. Few authors have described these connections more successfully than Daniel Owen Spence. John M. MacKenzie, Emeritus Professor of History, Lancaster University

This jaunty and comprehensive account of the navys association with Britains maritime empire contributes to a fine tradition of imperial and naval history-writing. A model of compression, sweeping yet with an eye for arresting detail, it captures the spirit of Britains engagement with the wider world and the navys intimate role in it. Daniel Owen Spence reveals how the Royal Navy was central to the rise of imperial Britain, its history entwined with commerce, culture, religion, science, exploration, and the accretion of knowledge and power to the British state. At every stage of the process, the navy was affecting the lives of people overseas, and recruiting them into its ranks. Ashley Jackson, Professor of Imperial and Military History, Kings College London

List of Illustrations

Tables

Opium imports to China from India (Jonathan D. Spence, Chinese Roundabout (London, 1992), pp. 2335)

Imperial defence expenditure, 190810 (Avner Offer,
The British Empire, 18701914: A waste of money?,
Economic History Review XLVI /2 (1993), p. 227)

Figures

The British Empire (and remaining Overseas Territories underlined) (The Red Hat of Pat Ferrick, 21 December
2008, Wikicommons)

Woodcut from Dees General and Rare Memorials
Pertayning to the Perfect Arte of Navigation (John Dee,
General and Rare Memorials Pertayning to the Perfect Arte of Navigation (London: John Daye, 1577))

Drakes hat being stolen by Indians near Rio de la Plata, c.1578 (Copperplate engraving from Johann Ludwig
Gottfried, Newe Welt vnd americanische Historien
(Frankfurt, 1655), p. 343, Wikicommons)

The Indians of California greet Drake (Engraving by
Theodore de Bry, Source: California State University
Long Beach, Wikicommons)

Captain Wallis meeting Queen Oberea of Tahiti (Signe
Howell and Marit Melhuus, Fjern og near (Oslo, 1996),
p. 2, Wikicommons)

Stephen Pearces The Arctic Council Discussing a Plan of
Search for Sir John Franklin (1851) (National
Portrait Gallery, London: NPG 1208, Wikicommons)

A whale crosses the line as HMS Agamemnon lays the
Atlantic telegraph cable in 1858 (R.M. Bryson lithograph
from a drawing by R. Dudley, Source: W.H. Russell, The Atlantic Telegraph (1865), Wikicommons)

HMS Powerful being coaled at Hong Kong, 1895
(NMRN)

Scotts party at the South Pole, January 1911 (H.R.
Bowers, Source: University of Southern California,
Wikicommons)

A Royal Navy carpenter saws off a slaves shackles
(NMRN)

Burning of slave establishments on the Solyman river