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This collection of papers is from the 2009 annual conference of The Naval Dockyards Society. The meeting was concerned with the role of dockyards, shipbuilding and eighteenth-century warfare; five papers were presented.Ann Coats argued that HMS Victory, whose keel was laid in 1759, was part of an historical continuum involving politics, both national and international, finance, bureaucracy, ship design and indeed individual endeavour. She also showed how the design of the ship influenced subsequent building at the time of the American War of Independence and the French and Napoleonic Wars.Using a fruitful source of information -- the Admiralty List Books -- Richard Harding examined the logistic situation during the war of 1739-48. He demonstrated the way the number and type of vessel available for operations in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and home waters effectively underpinned political endeavour. In retrospect this seems an obvious relationship, yet doubtless because little specific research has been undertaken on the supply of ships, the emphasis has formerly been placed on foreign policy rather than the means of achieving it. Roger Morriss examined the significant contribution of long term credit, part of a sophisticated financial system made use of by both the private and state sectors to their mutual benefit, during the Seven Years' War. We may be aware of the complexity of present-day financial arrangements, but that financiers were similarly involved, to the benefit of the Royal Navy, two and a half centuries ago, is particularly revealing.Few members of the Naval Dockyards Society are technically inclined, so it was with considerable interest that after describing the decision-making that preceded the construction of Victory, Peter Goodwin went into the details of the various components of the iconic vessel as she was first constructed. No quarter was given regarding technical terms; this was an educational exercise in itself. Although they were not presented at conference, a series of letters relating to Victory in 1780 and 1803, trawled during the Society's Navy Board Project, coordinated by Susan Lumas, are included in this issue. They certainly add to the understanding of some of some of the issues facing the working of a first rate ship.Focusing on Marc Brunel's pulley blockmaking mill at Portsmouth, Katariina Mauranen explored the ways in which an exhibition of the equipment might be used to improve public awareness, not only of the machinery, but also of the need for pulley blocks for men of war, the process of proto-industrialisation in the dockyard and in the country, and indeed in maritime and social history. Such an holistic approach is admirable, representing the gradual appreciation of the close interrelationships that exist between political, economic and social structures.
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