Macqueen's Legacy Volume One: A History of the Royal Mail Line (1)

As those who read my reviews will know, I admire exhaustive research (how else do we discover the full story) and abhor those who take short cuts. Research is complicated and convoluted - if only because all the information sought is not even under one roof! If you then consider those comments alongside the title of this book "A History of the Royal Mail Line" and either we have a masterly work or a complete bluff with many chapters of that history missing. I am certain my having allocated a full 5 Stars dispels any doubt as to which side of the divide this work belongs. The research in this book is so complete author Stuart Nicol even explains the different spellings if the surname McQueen, MacQueen and Macqueen as he leaves no stone unturned in his quest to reveal every element of this particular history.In the 1830s the British Empire was in the ascendancy with many people wishing to correspond with their family members who were serving abroad in various capacities - both civilian and military. The awarding of a mail contract to a shipping line became such a lucrative prospect that many companies eventually went on to add the prefix `RMS' (Royal Mail Steamer) to the vessels so employed. In those early days, however, a Scot called James Macqueen approached the government with a plan to deliver the mails to every corner of the British Empire. In his gloriously titled document; "General plan for the mail communication by steam between Great Britain and the eastern and western parts of the world; also to Canton and Sydney NSW, westward by the Pacific" he also created the embryo of an idea which eventually developed into one of the greatest shipping companies of the world - the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSP). This book is as complete a history of that company as one might hope to find. Volume 2, incidentally, is a book of equal size and stature detailing the many ships used by the RMSP.From the 16 chapters and 5 Appendices we find, as one might expect, the history set out in chronological order. Before that even commences, however, we have an 18-page introduction which explains a great deal more and sets the scene perfectly. The content is far too vast to explain here - except to show how the chapters bring the story forward from beginning to end. They are; Chapter 1. Raising Steam, 2. The Embryo RMSP, 3. The Caribbean; cradle of the RMSP, 4. South America, the early years, 5. Chaos amid consolidation, 6. The Kyslant years 1903-1931, 7. The question of new mail steamers, 8. Harland & Wolff and Pirrie, 9. Burgeoning markets, 10. War and post-war, 11. All aboard the `A' ships, 12. Towards the world's largest motor ships, 13. The RMSP/RMS transition, 14. RML to South America, 15. The Final chapter and 16. Aragon closes the book. The Appendices being; I. The origins of the meat trade, II. Cruising, III. The RMSP Group in 1927, IV. Flags and Crests and V. Fleet Lists.Photographs are not as plentiful as some might have wished but include important ships and personalities in addition to posters and the occasional document. I particularly liked the photographs of the two Commodores placed side by side on page 11. On the right is Captain J. H. Jellicoe (1825-1914) and on the left Captain G. S. Grant (1903-200). Although they never met (Grant would have been 11 years old when Jellicoe died), these two men gave great service to the RMSP and, together, spanned the entire life of the company - from beginning to end!Altogether, an excellent work and certainly one which answers a great may questions raised by my own research.NM

not read yet but I hope it is informative as his other book vol2