I’m glad you enjoyed it! I definitely recommend “A Place Called Freedom” by Ken Follett if you found this at all interesting :D Please report back if you happen to read it.
Will do! "For Want of a Nail" caught my eye as well. Also, I really enjoyed the info about Frank Gowen. Though it made me wonder if Henry Gowen (who is a bit of a oil-owning bad guy turned good guy on "When Calls the Heart") is somewhat based on him. Could be just a name coincidence, but time period is right :)
I haven't read When Calls the Heart, but "for want of a nail" used to be a page on TV Tropes that listed out a bunch of books that kicked off a major change because of something small. There was an entry for the Codex Alera, which kicked off huge societal change basically because a boy skipped out on a chore to pick flowers for a pretty girl. Until I was writing this article I had no idea the phrase came from a poem!
>Coal powered the navy’s ships, yes, but coal ships were considered the “chief nursery” for English seamen.
Pretty sure these were quite separate. Steam didn't really appear in the fleet until the 1840s. And there was never any overlap between that and use of impressment. I also suspect that the importance of the coal ships is overstated, but don't have good evidence to back that up.
This was SO INTERESTING! Thank you! Added a few more of your references to my TBR pile :)
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I definitely recommend “A Place Called Freedom” by Ken Follett if you found this at all interesting :D Please report back if you happen to read it.
Will do! "For Want of a Nail" caught my eye as well. Also, I really enjoyed the info about Frank Gowen. Though it made me wonder if Henry Gowen (who is a bit of a oil-owning bad guy turned good guy on "When Calls the Heart") is somewhat based on him. Could be just a name coincidence, but time period is right :)
I haven't read When Calls the Heart, but "for want of a nail" used to be a page on TV Tropes that listed out a bunch of books that kicked off a major change because of something small. There was an entry for the Codex Alera, which kicked off huge societal change basically because a boy skipped out on a chore to pick flowers for a pretty girl. Until I was writing this article I had no idea the phrase came from a poem!
>Coal powered the navy’s ships, yes, but coal ships were considered the “chief nursery” for English seamen.
Pretty sure these were quite separate. Steam didn't really appear in the fleet until the 1840s. And there was never any overlap between that and use of impressment. I also suspect that the importance of the coal ships is overstated, but don't have good evidence to back that up.
hummm... well, I trust you about the British navy more than this author! Thanks for flagging it.