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THE COCKLESHELL CANOES
From my first impressinons i can recommend the book THE COCKLESHELL CANOES by Quentin Rees. This is about the British military canoes (kayaks) used in WW2, and is the first account and history of this branch of the military service and the developement of the craft. All paddlers should try and purchase one, the number is ISBN 978 1 84868 065 4 and published by Amberly publishing Plc. www.amberly-books.com
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by john allsop on -
I have found that if you click on the amberly-books site you don,t connect but if you type it in then you get through, but the site tells you if you want a book then e-mail sales@amberly-books.com this is a new company and it appears that they still have some sorting out to do. If anyone is interested in the book they should persevere it,s worth the effort.
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Permalink Reply by john allsop on
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I have now finished the book and it details the design and production of the canoes (kayaks) used by the British armed forces and allies, one suprise is the large numbers produced, the weight of them and the loads they could carry, they were paddled,sailed, had petrol engines (gas) which could be raised up along with the propeller into the hull so allowing beach landings without damage and one could submerge and run on an electric motor. It is not a story of raids carried out by canoes although the Frankton raid in Bordeaux Harbour is covered in an abridged form, see the book "Cockleshell Heroes" the sail they used looks like a close copy of the Lateen sail used in the MED by the Arabian people, it had a short mast and is tempting if i could find a place to obtain one, there is a good photograph in the book but to put it here would infringe the copyright, there are many photographs and all are good quality. The author QUINTEN REES should be congratulated on all the research he had to carry out and for seeing that a neglected and ignored aspect of military canoes is now in print. And as i said it,s in my opinion well worth the effort to obtain one.
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Permalink Reply by KEWDOS on -
Thought you might be interested inn this..
REVIEWS on 'The Cockleshell Canoes'
This from Prof. Eric Grove - Review in Navy News May 2009.
' this volume really is one of the most original, interesting and informative to have appeared recently'
'an excellent and ground breaking work',
'described in great detail'.
From 'The Croaker' April 2009 issue by M.J.A.
'Clarity of delivery'.
'Rees writes well and his narrative flows'
'a stimulating and revealing tract'
'fascinating and detailed accounts'
Globe and Laurel - March - April 2009 issue by G.A.D
'remarkable book',
' this great and important military and maritime story - which he tells very well',
'good looking and man sized book' with 'stunning photographs'
'Navy News' is a Uk based magazine highly rated. highly subscribed.
'The Croaker' is a Subscription only magazine especially for Special Forces past and present ONLY.
'The Globe and Laurel' is a magazine of the Royal Marines.
The Navy News does a free on line edition - review is on page 44.
BAD NEWS IS the 2nd reprint/edition is due out.. first published mid December 2008 second reprint MAy 2009!
Apologies to all those that have bought.. some small additional pieces of historical information added, some of great importance AND some additional photos inc those of the Mk 10 which has only just been found.
STOP PRESS..
Cachalot has been found in the UK.. see book...
Regards Q
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Permalink Reply by john allsop on
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Thank you for the review, Q told me that he would be adding info as and when he found it, i think he was adding additional info almost up to printing day of the first issue. These additions could be on going as no records were really ever kept. I will consider obtaining the second issue.
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Permalink Reply by KEWDOS on
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This book was first published FOUR months ago in December 2008. The second reprint is MAY 2009! 320 pages and 143 photos including new pictures of previously unseen canoe the MK10.
Sorry about this peeps.
Q
Heavy weight REVIEWS on 'The Cockleshell Canoes'
This from Prof. Eric Grove - Review in Navy News May 2009.
' this volume really is one of the most original, interesting and informative to have appeared recently'
'an excellent and ground breaking work',
'described in great detail'.
From 'The Croaker' April 2009 issue by M.J.A.
'Clarity of delivery'.
'Rees writes well and his narrative flows'
'a stimulating and revealing tract'
'fascinating and detailed accounts'
Globe and Laurel - March - April 2009 issue by G.A.D
'remarkable book',
' this great and important military and maritime story - which he tells very well',
'good looking and man sized book' with 'stunning photographs'
'Navy News' is a Uk based magazine highly rated. highly subscribed.
'The Croaker' is a Subscription only magazine especially for Special Forces past and present ONLY.
'The Globe and Laurel' is a magazine of the Royal Marines.
The Navy News does a free on line edition - review is on page 44.
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Permalink Reply by john allsop on
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In issue 69 spring 2009 ,"Tony Ford" in 'PADDLES PAST" the journal of the historic canoe and kayak association gives a very good review of the book and there is a good "cutaway" drawing of the "sleeping beauty". It looks like one had to be a hero just to get in it.I don,t know if i can send any copy,s of Tony,s report owing to copyright.
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Permalink Reply by john allsop on
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Incidentially for you kayak sailors and anyone interested in the book 'COCKLESHELL CANOES" there are a few good photographs of canoes (kayaks) with lateen sails,and they look great, going by the phtographs the angle of the sail between the foot and the luff is about 35 to 40*, of course i fancied one for my klepper so i spoke to a sail maker who said that angle should be more like 65* for efficiency so of course i said i am no sail designer and will you make me a lateen sail, what would you expect, he said yes, but first get your spars and check the deftection as this has to be built into the sail, this i did and to day a sail which looks to be of very good quality with first class workmanship arrived, now thats another another toy to play with. If anyone is interested in a custom sail and in my experience a reasonable wait time try www. dabblesails.com and no doubt he can make any sail you might want.
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Permalink Reply by john allsop on
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The book by Quentin Rees "The Cockleshell Canoes" which i recommended had a second edition with more facts and info than the first edition and was in "limp back" form. Another book by Quentin should be out in November titled " Cockleshell Heroes- The Final Witness" . Quentin has a pre-view in the latest edition of "Paddles Past"and he has once again done an enormouse amout of research, the book is hard back and anyone interested in the raid by kayak (canoes in the UK) into the harbour at Bordeaux France called "Operation Frankton" should buy one, i know i will. See Amazon uk.
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Permalink Reply by john allsop on
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If you want to see the "report" in the Telegraph try www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/world-war-2 and click on the photo of the submarine
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Permalink Reply by john allsop on
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The new book "Cockleshell Heroes-The Final Witness" is almost out and the ISBN is 9781848688612 available from Amazon. This will be worthy of any ones book shelf. Read how kayaks called canoes by the British and Cockleshells were used, this will make interesting reading.
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Permalink Reply by john allsop on
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Well i have now finished the book and from my view it,s very good, the author gives us the insight of all the people who somehow were connected with the raid, before, and some of their training, then the raid and the paddle to it, the capture and execution of the marines plus the escape of only two members with all the French people who, with disregard to their own safety helped them, and finally what happened afterwards. In hindsight was the raid worth it, only the reader can decide but it helped to show the French people that Britain was prepared to take action against the enemy what ever the cost.
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