Review
One of the most riveting parts of the account is the details about the archaeological recovery of a large collection of well-preserved sailors' clothing from the wreck, providing insights into the seamen and their links to coastal towns in northeastern England ...The book would be a useful complement to anyone interested in English maritime history, especially the coastal trade.
--Northern Mariner Vol XXI No 1 January 2011
... the General Carleton is the main focus of a recent book by Stephen Baines. This Whitby-built vessel
sank in 1785, and has been the subject of extensive archaeological excavations and research in recent years
(see review of W. Ossowski (ed.), The General Carleton Shipwreck, 1785, IJNA 38.1, 202-03). As Baines points
out, it is important in being a merchant vessel, rather than a Royal Navy ship. The artefacts it yielded to researchers were discovered in excellent condition due to their being preserved in a mixture of pine-tar (part of the ship's cargo), sand and Baltic seawater. The General Carleton, as one of the most important 18th-century shipwrecks, has been written about extensively. But Baines does not seek to go over this territory again. Instead, he uses the example of the General Carleton to tell a broader story about the lives of merchant seamen in the late-18th century. The knitting-pattern developed from a sailor's hat found on the wreck (the original is in the `Northward Ho!' exhibition and illustrated on p.61 of the catalogue), and details such as the double lives of chamber pots on board, will be sure to make this an interesting read. As he points out, although the General Carleton is now very important to archaeologists, there was nothing very special about her in her lifetime; she was similar to many other contemporary merchant vessels. But Baines has turned this to his advantage,
painting a picture of ordinary lives, using everyday objects and not a little contextual research.
JOHN McALEER
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
--International Journal of Nautical Archaeology
--Northern Mariner Vol XXI No 1 January 2011
... the General Carleton is the main focus of a recent book by Stephen Baines. This Whitby-built vessel
sank in 1785, and has been the subject of extensive archaeological excavations and research in recent years
(see review of W. Ossowski (ed.), The General Carleton Shipwreck, 1785, IJNA 38.1, 202-03). As Baines points
out, it is important in being a merchant vessel, rather than a Royal Navy ship. The artefacts it yielded to researchers were discovered in excellent condition due to their being preserved in a mixture of pine-tar (part of the ship's cargo), sand and Baltic seawater. The General Carleton, as one of the most important 18th-century shipwrecks, has been written about extensively. But Baines does not seek to go over this territory again. Instead, he uses the example of the General Carleton to tell a broader story about the lives of merchant seamen in the late-18th century. The knitting-pattern developed from a sailor's hat found on the wreck (the original is in the `Northward Ho!' exhibition and illustrated on p.61 of the catalogue), and details such as the double lives of chamber pots on board, will be sure to make this an interesting read. As he points out, although the General Carleton is now very important to archaeologists, there was nothing very special about her in her lifetime; she was similar to many other contemporary merchant vessels. But Baines has turned this to his advantage,
painting a picture of ordinary lives, using everyday objects and not a little contextual research.
JOHN McALEER
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
--International Journal of Nautical Archaeology
Product Description
The ship 'General Carleton' was built in Whitby in 1777 and sank off the coast of Poland in 1785. When she was excavated in the 1990s a wide range of artefacts were recovered many of which, due to being coated in tar from the ship's cargo, were in a remarkable state of preservation - most notably a unique collection of sailors' clothing. It is because of the picture these objects give us about life, both aboard and ashore, for 18th-century mariners from Whitby and other coastal towns in the North-East, that 'General Carleton' has been called the 'Yorkshire Mary Rose'. This book is the story of 'General Carleton', of those who built her, owned her and sailed on her in an age of war, shipwreck, privateers and press-gangs; it is the tale of an ordinary merchant ship in extraordinary times.
About the Author
Stephen Baines is Yorkshire born and bred, and has ancestors who were mariners of Whitby in the 18th and 19th Centuries. After studying at Cambridge University he did a post-graduate year at Oxford before training as a teacher in London. After his marriage he moved to East Anglia where he has lived ever since, within easy reach of the North Sea. He taught for several years in a local comprehensive school before moving to the Sixth Form College at Colchester where he introduced the International Baccalaureate. After retiring from full-time teaching in 2006 he worked for two years part-time at the University of Essex, lecturing in Philosophy.
He has written articles on problem-solving, educating very able children, Anglo-Norman sculpture, the sheep-breeder Jonas Webb, mediaeval drinking habits and on the ship 'General Carleton'. His other interests include gardening, ornithology and croquet. He has three children and three grandchildren.
He has written articles on problem-solving, educating very able children, Anglo-Norman sculpture, the sheep-breeder Jonas Webb, mediaeval drinking habits and on the ship 'General Carleton'. His other interests include gardening, ornithology and croquet. He has three children and three grandchildren.
