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Neptune's Trident: Spices and Slaves 1500-1807 (A History of the British Merchant Navy) by
Richard Woodman
The first of five volumes, first published by the Tempus Publishing Ltd in 2008.
By the 19th century, Great Britain truly ruled the waves.
But where did the journey to dominance began?
Starting in 1500, the narrative begins with the emergence of the Tudor navy during the Elizabethan period when England defied the might of the Spanish Empire on the world stage.
It continues through 1707 when Great Britain was created and the point when the naval and mercantile sea-services parted company.
It provides an overview of the 18th century merchant navy and the Seven Years War and ends with an account of the slave trade until its abolition in 1807.
Captain Richard Martin Woodman LVO is an English novelist and naval historian who retired in 1997 from a 37 year nautical career, mainly working for Trinity House, to write full-time. His main work is 14 volumes about the career of Nathaniel Drinkwater, and shorter series about James Dunbar and William Kite, but he has also written books about 18th century and WW2 history.
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