James Lees (born 13 June 1924) was a British maritime expert and writer who was curator of the ship collection and Senior Conservation Officer at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
Born in 1924, James Lees served both in the Royal Navy aboard destroyers and on tankers in the Merchant Navy. [1]
In addition to his active service, Lees (often referred to as "Jim") [2] had a passion for ship modelling, leading him to construct and restore many models of historic vessels. Many of these are displayed across the world, most notably at the collection of the National Maritime Museum, of which Lees was curator and Senior Conservation Officer. [3] His expertise on model restoration was utilised on items in "The Tradescant Collection", held at the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. [4]
Lees’ 1979 publication The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War: 1625–1860, drawn from 15 years of research, is widely regarded as an authority and the definitive study of its respective field. [5] The author’s intention was to "assist restorers of marine paintings in the difficult task of replacing obliterated rigging, as well as providing a handbook of technical information for the maritime and war historian". [1]
Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support and control a sailing ship or sail boat's masts and sails. Standing rigging is the fixed rigging that supports masts including shrouds and stays. Running rigging is rigging which adjusts the position of the vessel's sails and spars including halyards, braces, sheets and vangs.
A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the latter part of the 19th century. In commercial use, they were gradually replaced by fore-and-aft rigged vessels such as schooners, as owners sought to reduce crew costs by having rigs that could be handled by fewer men. In Royal Navy use, brigs were retained for training use when the battle fleets consisted almost entirely of iron-hulled steamships.
A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Hulk may be used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, an abandoned wreck or shell, or to refer to a ship whose propulsion system is no longer maintained or has been removed altogether. The word hulk also may be used as a verb: a ship is "hulked" to convert it to a hulk. The verb was also applied to crews of Royal Navy ships in dock, who were sent to the receiving ship for accommodation, or "hulked". Hulks have a variety of uses such as housing, prisons, salvage pontoons, gambling sites, naval training, or cargo storage.
The French ironclad Gloire was the first ocean-going ironclad, launched in 1859. She was developed after the Crimean War, in response to new developments of naval gun technology, especially the Paixhans guns and rifled guns, which used explosive shells with increased destructive power against wooden ships. Her design was also influenced by the Anglo-French development of ironclad floating batteries to bombard Russian forts during the same war.
A studding sail, or stun'sl is an extra sail on a square rigged vessel for use in fair weather. It is set outside the square sails, using stun'sl booms which run out along the yards. They came into use some time in the middle of the 17th century and by the beginning of the 19th century were usual on all square rigged sailing vessels. They started to become less common in the last quarter of the 19th century, as the economies of smaller crews and avoidance of damage to the ship's gear became more important than a fast voyage.
Takao (高雄) was an unprotected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The name Takao comes from the Mount Takao, near Kyoto. Takao was used by the Imperial Japanese Navy primarily as an aviso or dispatch boat, for scouting, reconnaissance and the conveying of important messages.
Rurik was an armoured cruiser built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the early 1890s. She was named in honour of Rurik, the semi-legendary founder of ancient Russia. She was sunk at the Battle of Ulsan in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05.
John Tradescant the Elder, father of John Tradescant the Younger, was an English naturalist, gardener, collector and traveller. On 18 June 1607 he married Elizabeth Day of Meopham in Kent, England. She had been baptised on 22 August 1586 and was the daughter of Jeames Day, a Vicar, also of Meopham.
A dolphin striker is a small vertical or near vertical ancillary spar spanning between the bowsprit and martingale thereby redirecting the tension in the forward end of the martingale slightly more vertically. This vertical component is necessary to more effectively oppose the forestays' mostly upward tension on the forward end of the bowsprit than would be the case in the absence of the dolphin striker.
HMS Dragon was a Banshee-class destroyer of the Royal Navy.
The Durandal class was a group of four destroyers built for the French Navy between 1896 and 1900, used during the First World War. These vessels were France's first true destroyers rather than torpedo boats. Two units were launched in 1899 while another two followed in 1900. Another four destroyers of the similar Samsun class were laid down in 1906 and completed in 1907 for the Ottoman Navy, they also served in the First World War.
Brian Lavery, is a British naval historian, author, and Curator Emeritus at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, England.
Conway Publishing, formerly Conway Maritime Press, is an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing. It is best known for its publications dealing with nautical subjects.
Karl Heinz Marquardt FASMA was a German-born marine modeller, artist and author.
A jibboom is a spar used to extend the length of a bowsprit on sailing ships. It can itself be extended further by a flying jib-boom. The heel end of the flying jib-boom is attached to the jib-boom, and the heel of the jib-boom to the bowsprit. The point of the flying jib-boom is generally the fore-most extent of a ship. The jib- and flying jib- booms carry the tacks of the jib and flying jib sails, respectively, and the stay for the fore topgallant mast and the royal stay.
The Arab-class gunvessels were a pair of composite gunboats built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1870s.
HMS Arab was an Arab-class composite gunvessel built for the Royal Navy in 1874. She served in the East Indies and was sold in 1889.
HMS Lily was an Arab-class composite gunvessel built for the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1874, saw service in Chinese and North American waters, and was wrecked on the coast of Labrador on 16 September 1889.
HMS Ettrick was a River-class destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1901 – 1902 Naval Estimates. Named after Ettrick Water in the Scottish Borders area south of Edinburgh, she was the first ship to carry this name in the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1903 and served during World War I. She was torpedoed by UC-61 in 1917.
Roger Charles Anderson was an independently-wealthy English maritime historian, collector, and a leading figure in the early years of the Society for Nautical Research and of the Navy Records Society. Four times editor of the Mariner's Mirror, Anderson was also a founder trustee, and later chairman of the board of trustees, of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. He was a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and held the higher Doctor of Letters degree. In 2005, the Swedish naval historian Jan Glete characterised Anderson as "one of the most important naval historians of the twentieth century. He mainly wrote about early modern warship technology and used his linguistic skills to write books and essays based on the literature from several countries."