About

I read a lot of naval history; organisational, social, technical and political. Since I seldom know what I think about a subject until I write about it, I use these sketches as a way of developing my understanding and making connections. I also rather enjoy the discipline of writing a well thought out and researched piece to a word limit; the process allows me to practice and hone my craft. And since I am going to all this trouble, I might as well publish the results. This also gives me an audience; that is if anybody is actually kind enough to spend the time reading my musings.

Sketches

I call them sketches because they are intended to be short, readable, and light in tone. The aim is to entertain, but bear in mind I am writing them for myself, so your opinion on their entertainment value might vary! I reckon that if you are bothering to read this, you are very likely to be a bit of maritime history nerd like me, so hopefully I will strike the right note. There are a few ground rules I use:

• Sketches must be between 500 and 1000 words long, counting the main text only
• There must a relevant heading picture, preferably taken from contemporary sources
• The topic must be concrete: a ship, a person, an event no longer than a day, a place, or a specific historical document
• The concrete subject must be set in context; what was its importance? How did it they fit into contemporary events? How do they connect to other events and people?
• Opinions are allowed; or perhaps the whole point!

Contact me

Licensing

jon@ringbolt.net