Age of Sail Naval Commands

Nelson's Navy by Brian Lavery has a lot of detailed info about the ships/the weapons/the men/life onboard etc.

mrsmig said:

Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin novels (inspiration for the movie Master & Commander) are meticulously researched and entertainingly presented.

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Seconded, plus there's a companion book:
http://www.deanhking.com/works/a-sea-of-words/

The Hornblower and Bilitho series are also good sources.

But even better for you is the amount of resources available to you in London. There's the National Maritime Museum and the Cutty Sark in London, as well as some other ships scattered throughout your country. To understand the constraints of life aboard these ships, you really need to see them and get the best tour you can get. Ideally you go from the bilges to the crow's nest.

Remember that on tiller boats, rudder commands are backwards, and going to port causes the boat to go to starboard. This carried over into the 1900s and causes some confusion to people interested in what happened with the Titanic.

Jim Clark-Daw

Have you reached out to the Museum of the Royal Navy? Shoot, they might have a pdf online somewhere or an outreach coordinator who might be glad to help.

Also, see if you can connect to an online enthusiast community. Surround yourself with the nerds who eat, drink, and breathe this stuff! I know of this writer's community called Absolu-- oh, right.

Patrick O'Brian did an incredible job of researching his books, but Douglas Reeman (Alexander Kent) actually served in the British Navy in the North Atlantic and off the French coast during World War II. There's a certain level of feel for the ocean that you can never get from reading about it.

I don't know the rules for the Greenwich archives. I know that they are willing to copy material. But research facilities will tell you their broad policies. Special collections can have even more rules, and can drastically restrict access. Covid imposes additional restrictions. Check their website and then, if you don't understand it, contact them. Usually you'll find them incredibly helpful.

Exploring the non-public areas of museums is difficult. You have to establish your bonafides, which often includes knowing as much as the museum staff does about the ship. But there are also tourist tall ships that are an option. Again, that feel of going up a mast and looking down and only seeing water is best understood by actually doing it.

Jim Clark-Dawe