An Interesting Project - ACW

In the past I have taken part in a couple of Zooniverse projects (one was transcribing naval logs from the First World War, the other was identifying features in photos of the surface of Mars).  Because of that I'm on the mailing list and am advised of various projects.  

This message came through this afternoon, and it immediately struck me that it would be of interest to the readership of this blog

Volunteers wanted!  

Come be a witness to the United States Civil War by transcribing and deciphering messages and codes from the United States Military Telegraph on Decoding the Civil War. 

We seek to engage experts and amateurs alike - our DCW Volunteer Corps - in a unique collaboration to transcribe and decipher a collection of almost 16,000 telegrams and 32 code books from The Thomas T. Eckert Papers, an archive thought lost at the end of the war. You will be transcribing the daily telegram communications among Union officers, Cabinet members, telegraph operators, and others. The transcriptions, and ultimately the decoding, will contribute to national research, creating materials that will give insight into telegraphy, cryptography, civilian-military relations, and many other aspects of the war and American history more generally.  

Perhaps the most meaningful outcome is the public access to previously unavailable historical records and the building of inquiry-based educational modules to bring history alive to classroom students. Help build a deeper understanding of the United States Civil War—Join our DCW Volunteer Corps now at www.decodingthecivilwar.org 

Zooniverse started out as 'citizen science' but it now has a variety of projects - from space exploration (do you fancy discovering a comet?), natural history to the humanities.  There's plenty to see on their blog.

Edit

Just done my first two pages.

1. telegrams from Maj Gen John Adams Dix during the Siege of Suffolk
2. a page from a code book

The Anthony Roll of Henry VIII's Navy

This post is in fulfillment of a promise to David Crook I made in response to a post on his blog, A Wargaming Odyssey.  David, like a few other naval wargamers I follow, is developing an interest in the Tudor navy.  He's building up a reference library, and I recommended a copy of The Anthony Roll.

This is a record of Henry VIII's navy compiled in 1546 by Anthony Anthony, a surveyor in the ordnance office*.  Comprising three vellum rolls, the work consists of drawings of each of the 58 ships in the fleet, together with notes on their guns, shot and related equipment.  The first roll begins with the largest ship, Henry Grace à Dieu, and lists the carracks and a pinnace.  The second lists galleasses, (oared vessels also rigged for sail) and a galley.  The third roll consists of pinnaces and 'rowbarges'.

*And a founder member of the Honourable Artillery Company.

Samuel Pepys, Secretary of the Admiralty

Two of the three rolls* were given by Charles II to Samuel Pepys (who among other things had an antiquarian interest in the history of the Royal Navy) in 1680.  As was common practice at the time, Pepys had the rolls chopped up and bound into a single volume, which has resulted in the loss of some detail.  These, along with the rest of Pepys' 3,000 volume library were bequeathed by him to his old college, Magdalene College, Cambridge, where they are still housed in his original bookcases in  the Pepys Building.  The Library is open to the public, and is well worth visiting if you're in Cambridge.**

* The first and third.
**If visiting college libraries is your cup of tea!

The Pepys Library (photo from the College website)

The third part of the roll was thought lost, but turned our to have remained in royal hands until William IV (another naval figure worth blogging about) gave it to his illegitimate daughter, Mary Fox, who was married to a bibliophile and Surveyor-General of the Ordnance.  She sold it to the British Museum in the 1850s, and it now resides in the British Library.

In 2000, the Navy Records Society published the three rolls together for the first time in facsimile form with scholarly apparatus.  I was fortunate enough to attend the launch at Magdalene and to see the original rolls, which had been brought together for the occasion.

Henry Grace à Dieu

The Mary Rose and The Peter

The Lartyque and The Mary Thomas

The Swallowe and The Galie Subtille

The Thre Ostryde Fethers and
The Fawcon in the Fetterlock