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In English
In 1737, Blaise
Ollivier, Master Shipwright at Brest, was ordered
by Maurepas, the French Minister of the navy, to go
to Engnand and Holland in order to find out
everything possible about how ships were build
there, and what France might usefully imitate.
Ollivier's secret mission lasted nearly five
months, during which time he visited all the major
naval dockyards of both country except Plymouth. At
the conclusion he wrote a 360-page report entitled
"Remarks on the navies of the English and the
Dutch", discussing everything he had seen in
meticulous details, evaluting English and Dutch
practices and comparing them with techniques used
in France, illustrating his findings with 13 sheets
of drawings and plans.
Blaise ollivier's report provides a remarkable
insight into shipbuilding in the 1730's, a period
about which relatively little is know.
The book containt the full texte of the "Remarks"
in both the original French and in translation,
fully annotated and with a lenghly explanatory
introduction. It is lavishly illustrrated with
nearly 100 contemporary engraving, plans, ship
draughts and other iconographic material.
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