Overview

The age of maritime expansion and the Anglo-Spanish War have been analyzed by generations of historians, but nearly all studies have emphasized events and participants at the top. This book examines the lives and experiences of the men of the Elizabethan maritime community during a particularly volatile period of maritime history. The seafaring community had to contend with simultaneous pressures from many different directions. Shipowners and merchants, motivated by profit, hired seamen to sail voyages of ever-increasing distances, which taxed the health and capabilities of 16th-century crews and vessels. International tensions in the last two decades of Elizabeth's reign magnified the risks to all seamen, whether in civilian employment or on warships. The advent of open warfare with Spain in 1585 resulted in a privateering war against the Spanish Empire, seen by some seamen as one of the few boons of the conflict. The other major development was the introduction of impressment, a deeply resented aspect of any naval war and one that brought great hardship to seamen and their families. The relationship between the Crown and its seafarers was a pull-haul between a state beset by financial problems of fighting a protracted war on several fronts and employees forced to work in dangerous conditions for substandard wages. The stresses of the war years tell us much about the dynamic of the maritime community, their expectations, and their coping strategies.

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9780313319488

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Reviews

This is a major contirbution to matitime and military history. It is much more than > at the time when the Island Race had to rely on seamen not only for exploration and state piracy but for the safety of the nation. The author brilliantly decribes life at sea and life ashore. She makes the case that seamen were struggling to retain their traditions and their livelihoods at the very same time that they served as the best defense of a realm which was facing new threats from abroad. This is a very learned but at the same time exciting read. -BHR LXV (2003: 1), 167 L.R.N Ashley

[a]s entertaining and informative as any cinematic creation. Prior to this book most of the available information on this fascinating topic had to be gleaned fromnumerous journal articles and in biographies devoted to the great captains like Drake, Raleigh, or Hawkins. Professor Fury draws all these threads together in a study as sturdy as a well-tied sheet bend. -The Sixteenth Century Journal .. this book provides an uncommon perspective on Elizabethan maritime history. All levels and collections. -CHOICE [s]oundly founded on a careful study of much of the available evidence and makes a largely successful effort to place the world of the mariner within the larger context of contemporary society. -Souther History Society [t]his is a valuable contribution to English maritime history which helps to fill a gap in the literature while at the same time raising issues that will provoke further discussion on the subject. -International Journal of Maritime History Fury's book fills an important gap in our appreciation of life afloat during the development of English Maritime Expansion....Fury has definitely produced a comprehensive book for social and maritime historians of the early modern period, postgraduates, and the more perceptive undergraduates. -Albion Encompassing not only the men of the Royal Navy, but the whole of England's maritime community, including merchant mariners, fisherman, and privateersmen, Tides in the Affairs of Men addresses recruiting, training, social relations, organization, victualling, health, and much else beside, including spoils, life ashore, and so forth. -NYMAN Newsletter Tides in the Affairs of Men is a good book and approaches a fascinating subject with energy and a commitment to answer a lot of questions. Its virtues lie in a sympathetic use of a wide variety of sources and a sensible comparitive perspective. I am sure it will be well received by students of both maritime history and early modern European history more generally. -The American Neptune �s�oundly founded on a careful study of much of the available evidence and makes a largely successful effort to place the world of the mariner within the larger context of contemporary society. -Souther History Society �t�his is a valuable contribution to English maritime history which helps to fill a gap in the literature while at the same time raising issues that will provoke further discussion on the subject. -International Journal of Maritime History �a�s entertaining and informative as any cinematic creation. Prior to this book most of the available information on this fascinating topic had to be gleaned fromnumerous journal articles and in biographies devoted to the great captains like Drake, Raleigh, or Hawkins. Professor Fury draws all these threads together in a study as sturdy as a well-tied sheet bend. -The Sixteenth Century Journal ?..this book provides an uncommon perspective on Elizabethan maritime history. All levels and collections.?-CHOICE ?[s]oundly founded on a careful study of much of the available evidence and makes a largely successful effort to place the world of the mariner within the larger context of contemporary society.?-Souther History Society ?[t]his is a valuable contribution to English maritime history which helps to fill a gap in the literature while at the same time raising issues that will provoke further discussion on the subject.?-International Journal of Maritime History ?Fury's book fills an important gap in our appreciation of life afloat during the development of English Maritime Expansion....Fury has definitely produced a comprehensive book for social and maritime historians of the early modern period, postgraduates, and the more perceptive undergraduates.?-Albion ?Encompassing not only the men of the Royal Navy, but the whole of England's maritime community, including merchant mariners, fisherman, and privateersmen, Tides in the Affairs of Men addresses recruiting, training, social relations, organization, victualling, health, and much else beside, including spoils, life ashore, and so forth.?-NYMAN Newsletter ?Tides in the Affairs of Men is a good book and approaches a fascinating subject with energy and a commitment to answer a lot of questions. Its virtues lie in a sympathetic use of a wide variety of sources and a sensible comparitive perspective. I am sure it will be well received by students of both maritime history and early modern European history more generally.?-The American Neptune ?[a]s entertaining and informative as any cinematic creation. Prior to this book most of the available information on this fascinating topic had to be gleaned fromnumerous journal articles and in biographies devoted to the great captains like Drake, Raleigh, or Hawkins. Professor Fury draws all these threads together in a study as sturdy as a well-tied sheet bend.?-The Sixteenth Century Journal ?This is a major contirbution to matitime and military history. It is much more than > at the time when the Island Race had to rely on seamen not only for exploration and state piracy but for the safety of the nation. The author brilliantly decribes life at sea and life ashore. She makes the case that seamen were struggling to retain their traditions and their livelihoods at the very same time that they served as the best defense of a realm which was facing new threats from abroad. This is a very learned but at the same time exciting read.?-BHR LXV (2003: 1), 167 L.R.N Ashley ., this book provides an uncommon perspective on Elizabethan maritime history. All levels and collections. -CHOICE This is a major contirbution to matitime and military history. It is much more than > at the time when the Island Race had to rely on seamen not only for exploration and state piracy but for the safety of the nation. The author brilliantly decribes life at sea and life ashore. She makes the case that seamen were struggling to retain their traditions and their livelihoods at the very same time that they served as the best defense of a realm which was facing new threats from abroad. This is a very learned but at the same time exciting read. -BHR LXV (2003: 1), 167 L.R.N Ashley

Author Information

CHERYL A. FURY teaches British and European History at the University of New Brunswick and St. Stephen's University. Born and raised in Fredericton, New Brunswick, she attended the University of New Brunswick, obtaining a B.A. (English and History Honours) in 1988 and an M.A. (History) in 1990. She obtained her Ph.D. at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1998.

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