Bøker av John Barrow

Richard, Earl Howe (1726-99) participated in some of the Royal Navy's most significant conflicts. As captain of the Dunkirk, he fired the first shots of the Seven Years' War off the eastern coast of North America in 1755. After being forced to juggle the demands of the American Revolutionary War with the British government's reluctance to put the ships he needed at his disposal, he resigned his command of the North American Station, but later made a comeback, masterminding the battle against the French on the 'Glorious First of June' in 1794. Prolific author Sir John Barrow (1764-1848) drew on more than 400 of Howe's personal letters in preparing this substantial biography, first published in 1838. Several of Barrow's other works have also been reissued in this series, including his autobiography and accounts of the early years of polar exploration.

Later famous as Second Secretary to the Admiralty and a supporter of Arctic exploration, Sir John Barrow (1764-1848) joined Lord Macartney's British embassy to China in 1792-4. During this time he visited Cochinchina (now Vietnam). This 1806 illustrated travelogue covers the embassy's voyage via Brazil and Java.

First published in 1831, this account of a notorious event in the history of the navy makes extensive use of letters, papers and the testimony of those involved. Sir John Barrow (1764-1848) was Second Secretary to the Admiralty, and so had unrivalled access to official documents. He begins with a chapter detailing the first visit to Tahiti by Captain Cook. The mutiny, Bligh's 4,000-mile voyage in an open boat, the capture and court martial of some of the mutineers and the fate of the remainder who settled on Pitcairn Island are described with clarity and even-handedness. Whilst acknowledging that Bligh was 'a man of coarse habits' with 'mistaken notions with regard to discipline', Barrow is unequivocal that the episode 'ought to operate as a warning ... to our brave seamen, not to be led astray ... either by order or persuasion of some hot-brained, thoughtless, or designing person'.

English writer and explorer Sir John Barrow (1764-1848) spent 1797-8 exploring the recently acquired Cape Colony. His observations were published in two volumes, with the first appearing in 1801 and the second following in 1804. Volume 1 covers his journey around much of the territory's vast interior.

Sir John Barrow (1764-1848) was Second Secretary to the Admiralty for forty years. He was responsible for promoting polar exploration, and published two books on the subject for general readers. A Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions appeared in 1818, and this 1846 publication continues the story. Drawing on the explorers' own accounts, Barrow describes twelve voyages connected with the search for the North-West Passage. These include two voyages by Sir John Ross, four by Sir William Parry, and two by Sir John Franklin (whose last, fatal expedition was under way when the book was published). Barrow documents the Arctic landscape, fauna and climate, the explorers' clothes and provisions, scurvy (cured by preserved gooseberries and freshly grown mustard and cress), frostbite (necessitating amputations), on-board entertainments, and encounters with 'Esquimaux', providing fascinating insights into the realities of polar expeditions in the mid-nineteenth century.

In 1818 the diplomat Sir John Barrow (1764-1848) published this history of Arctic exploration from the Viking period to the early nineteenth century. Quoting from eye-witness accounts, Barrow describes the landscape, fauna and climate, the explorers' battle against extreme cold, disease and starvation, and their encounters with the Inuit.

In 1792, a British embassy headed by Earl Macartney travelled from Peking (Beijing), China, to Canton (Guangzou) with the aim of improving trade with China. The complete account of the mission was recorded by the Earl's private secretary, Sir John Barrow, in Travels in China (1804), a work intended to 'shew this extraordinary people in their proper colours' as well as to 'divest the court of the tinsel and tawdry varish' which Barrow thought that missionary accounts promoted. Both a paean to British imperial ambitions and a compelling example of early nineteenth-century travel literature, Travels in China presents an account of Chinese government, trade, industry, and cultural and religious practices through the eyes of one of England's most ardent expansionists. Barrow would go on to write an account of the mutiny on H.M.S. Bounty (1831), but Travels in China remained by far the more significant work in his lifetime.

The British statesman George Macartney (1737-1806) had a long and distinguished career, holding posts including the governorships of Grenada and Madras. He also undertook high-profile diplomatic missions to Russia and China. This two-volume 1807 biography was based on official records and Macartney's own writings.

The British statesman George Macartney (1737-1806) had a long and distinguished career, holding posts including the governorships of Grenada and Madras. He also undertook high-profile diplomatic missions to Russia and China. This two-volume 1807 biography was based on official records and Macartney's own writings.

Sir John Barrow (1764-1848) was a distinguished British government diplomat whose career took him to China and Africa, and who in forty years as Secretary to the Admiralty was responsible for promoting Arctic and Antarctic exploration. A close friend of Sir Joseph Banks, he served on the Council of the Royal Society and as President of the Royal Geographical Society. Sketches of the Royal Society and Royal Society Club was published posthumously in 1849, as a supplement to Barrow's autobiography (also published in this series). It consists of a brief history of the societies, followed by a series of memoirs of presidents of the Royal Society of Barrow's time, and of other leading members of the Society and the Royal Society Club, the elite dining club associated with it. The biographies provide abundant evidence of the central importance of the Royal Society to scientific life in nineteenth-century Britain.