The Restoration Warship: The Design, Construction and Career of a Third Rate of Charles II's Navy Hardcover – July 1, 2009

As the tittle suggests, this book is the story of a third rate ship of the line in the 17th century. What I did not appreciate until I opened it is the wealth of detail provided. The author has provided scaled drawings of most of the ship. Many construction details are accompanied by sketches to help explain the concept. But it is more than the construction, it deals with sourcing the materials, the manpower employed, and the influence of the politics of the day, and finally the service history of the completed ship.The only thing I was hoping for but is not in the book is a contrast between naval and merchant vessels of the period, but the author did such a fantastic job of what he set out to do, that I can not fault him.

This books unveals the step by step building of the 70-gun third-rate Lenox in restoration period (The Restoration of the English monarchy began when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II in 1660 ). Enriched with many original diagrams the reader will be completly inmmersed in the details and evolution of the building of this ship.The very intersting Chapters from the modelers point of view are:3. Building Lenox4. Carving & Finishing5. Ship Boats6. Anchors9. Sails and Rigging11. OrdnanceAnd one section with folded plans.

I can see why this book has got the reviews that it has got. It is simply a great read with fascinating insight into a little known period in british maritime history. The illustration are superb and the detail of day to day life and the machinations and going ons in the dockyards and the navy in general make for a diverse read.If you are after a broad look at the history of maritime affairs during this time and the minutiae of ship construction then you will not be disappointed.

A very complete description of a particular ship of the Restoration period (my favorite for ship designs), and in this it is very much in keeping with the books by the better-known author Foudriot. However, because of the completeness of the material available, the authors are able to give an exhaustive account of the service history of the 'Lenox' as well, do to the remarkable preservation of all of her original ships' logs, and this brings the ship ALIVE. My best recommendation!

"The Restoration Warship" shines the light of exhaustive archival research onto the Royal Navy created by such devoted public servants as the diarist Samuel Pepys during the reign of Charles II. The author follows the ordering, planning, construction, career and final destruction of a Restoration third-rate vessel (70 guns) with detailed construction notes, orders from the Admiralty, progress reports from the shipyard, logs & journal entries from commissioned officers, in all, a brilliantly executed microcosm of Restoration life. Well written and lavishly illustrated.

Richard Endsor's The Restoration Warship is the result of a decade's research and writing. Endsor is a trained aerospace engineer with long experience in analyzing technical issues. He also has been studying the records and the archeology of Britain's early imperial fleets for decades. The Restoration Warship is the result. The book give a reader a lot more than the simple story of a ship. It really is a window into the British monarch Charles II's Thirty Ship Programme which was one of the first modern naval building efforts where standards of key parts were regulated and organized. In addition inventories of large -arts and key portions of the logistical structure which was to support a century of War with France were put in place. The political background is sketched and the trail through the UK's national archives are both painted in carefully. The author also uses his remarkable artistic talent to illustrate the life and times of HMS Lennox which was a 70 gun third rate line of battle ship. The constellation of national talent around this fleet, which included Samuel Pepyss, among others as well was extraordinary. The book is richly illustrated and beautifully produced. Its drawbacks are the relatively small print--the readers here are one suspects a bit more myopic than they used to be as baby boomers--and the presentation and arrangement of the superb drawings from which a model builder of serious student of the ship might attempt a model. These are both sepia colored which makes details a bit harder to extract and placed inside the book's text as foldouts--an end-pocket might have been a better solution. That said this is a wonderful book which could well be at the carpenter's elbow should the English ever decide to match the Dutch and build a replica of these ancestor's of the Victory. It is laden with dozens of data wells for everything from Boats to Ordnance, and is already a well traveled source for details large and small on the Royal Navy of the era from 1660 to 1690. My copy was found on Amazon at a price which matched the publisher's institutional discount. It was certainly worth the price Tobias R. Philbin.