New England Masts: And the King's Broad Arrow

Book excerpt: Author/illustrator Sam Manning has brought to life a period in history which makes this book valuable, but not simply because you will understand how the shipbuilding industry worked from the 1600s?1800s. Manning shows what governments were doing, why, and how it directly parallels the twentieth- and twenty-first century policies of nations to spend blood and treasure to ensure they can control the supply of natural resources for their national security. With 1600s Europe unable to supply the big tall masts needed for their navies, Great Britain established a policy of marking trees in New England which were specifically the Crown's, to be cut, processed, and shipped back to England. Without proper masts, the navy could not carry sails to propel their ships'much like the need for oil today.