Maggie Ballinger – författare

British fishermen, crusaders,Explorers, smugglers, traders,Inventors, convicts, settlers in the hold.Pirates, shipwrights, whalers,And our navies’ trusted sailors:Presented here, in verse, their histories told.Since before Great Britain became an island, through the agewhen supremacy at sea established the largest empire the world has known, andmoving right up to the present day, the nation’s maritime history is told in aunique way, in this celebratory gift book – Britannia’s Glory. Written inmemorable verse, with narrative side notes, quotations and a number of originaldrawings, it is designed to be easily digested and dipped into, (rather thanswallowed whole). Offering comprehensive coverage, its topics include piracy,privateering, disappearing villages, smuggling, seaside resorts, the iniquitousslave trade and why the seas round our coast afford limitless potential for theproduction of renewable energy. The reader will discover elements such as wars,battles and (sometimes unconventional) naval tactics, alongside shipdevelopment, fishing, trade, ports, dockyards, lighthouses, maps andnavigation. There are tales of settlers, mutineers, heroic explorers and daringsaboteurs, as well as ingenious inventors and other land-based folk earningtheir livings manufacturing rope or gutting herring. All contributed to ahistory that looks so very different when viewed from the sea. As a country, wemay not know where we’re going, but we certainly know where we’ve come from.