{"title":"Robert S Hay","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"landsman-hay-book-robert-s-hay-9781848320680","title":"Landsman Hay","description":"In 1803, at the age of 14, Robert Hay ran away from home to join the Royal Navy, and for the next eight years experienced the trials and tribulations of a sailor's life. Intelligent, agile and willing, he became a boy servant to a series of officers, all of whom helped advance his education as was the practice of the day. But the taxing conditions of life onboard he found detestable and he was, after an action off the French coast, sorely tempted to desert but the well known and ruthless treatment of deserters, if caught, deterred him this time. He was then posted to the East Indies where he was badly wounded and nearly lost a leg before returning home after five years with GBP14 and fourteen days leave to look forward to. His next ship ran aground off Plymouth and, this time, he took the opportunity to desert but was then quickly taken by a press gang. Terrified of being identified, he managed to escape and reach the Scotland and home. As well as a wonderful yarn, the book is also an impressive description of early nineteenth-century naval life, and his ability as a writer was considerable. His descriptions of his remarkable experiences in the East Indies are full of the flavour of the region, while the sailor's natural inclination to drink and debauchery is told with verve. But also running through the narrative are many fine observations on nature and on the human condition. A true and vivid account of the sailor's life of this era.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49583999058193,"sku":"GOR003278414","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50401163313425,"sku":"CIN184832068XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50964021608721,"sku":"GOR010486046","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51752606794001,"sku":"CIN184832068XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/184832068X.jpg?v=1750899106"},{"product_id":"lismore-book-robert-hay-9781841585659","title":"Lismore","description":"From their first sight of Tirefour Broch, dominating approaches from mainland, visitors to the Isle of Lismore can explore an outstanding heritage of monuments to the past - Bronze Age cairns, medieval castles, the Cathedral of Argyll, carved graveslabs, deserted townships and watermills, not to mention a Stevenson lighthouse. Talking to islanders, they soon realise that there is also a long and unbroken tradition of Gaelic culture. This is a guidebook to the story of Lismore, placing the events in the context of the times. Because of its strategic position at the mouth of the Great Glen and its fertility, as a limestone island, Lismore played an important part in the prehistory and early history of the West Highlands and Islands, not least as the headquarters of the community of Celtic monks founded by St Moluag.Colonised by the Vikings, and forming part of the extensive empire of the Gallgael leader Somerled, it was at the centre of the complex power play between the rulers of Norway and the emerging Scottish nation.   The MacDougalls built castles and established the diocese of Argyll on the island, but lost possession in the Wars of Independence, and it passed through the hands of the Stewarts to the Argyll and Glenorchy Campbells, who protected it from the effects of warfare and raiding, including the Jacobite Rebellions. The enthusiasm of the Campbells for keeping records provides an opportunity to discover a great deal about the lives of the ordinary people, and the fact that there was limited immigration before the middle of the nineteenth century means that the census records give a clear picture of a closed community undergoing rapid change.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49724160311569,"sku":"GOR003585346","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50516637778193,"sku":"GOR008059649","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1841585653.jpg?v=1751091386"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-robert-s-hay.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}