Roger Charles Anderson, Litt.D., F.S.A. (23 July 1883 - 3 Oct 1976)
Dr Anderson wrote extensively in the Mariner's Mirror with which he was closely associated [including the use of nom-de-plume 'South Goodwin']. Educated at Winchester and Clare College, Cambridge, he served in the RNVR during WW1, including Mine Layers based in Gibraltar, he was a founding member of the Society for Nautical Research and President from 1931-1960, Honorary Editor of the Mariner's Mirror 1913-23, 1931-32 and 1939-46. He was also an original member of the Board of Trustees of the National Maritime Museum in 1927, and the second Chairman (after Lord Stanhope).
His own collection of "manuscripts" mainly relating to the Royal Navy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries but also including papers on merchant shipping and on the French, Dutch, Spanish, Swedish and Venetian navies are held by the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, as are many of his books and models which he graciously donated.
Considered as an expert in early sailing ship rigging and building, his writings are occasionally dull, but always thoroughly trustworthy. George Naish, in his obituary notes on Dr Anderson, noted: "He thrived on facts and figures. He always named the ships, stated the guns they carried, and supplied the Captain with his Christian names." He was often assisted by by his wife, Romola, whom he married in 1916; she passed away in 1990.
Bibliography - partial
1910 - Naval wars in the Baltic, 1522-1850
1910 - Canoeing and camping adventures
1926 - Book of examinations, 1601-1602, with a list of ships belonging to Southampton in the years 1570-1603. Edited by R. C. Anderson.
1926 - The Sailing-ship
1927 - Rigging of ships in the days of the spritsail topmast, 1600-1720
1929 - The Journal of Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, admiral and general at sea, 1659–1665
1939-40 - The Journals of Sir Thomas Allin (2 Vols.)
1946 - Journals and Narratives of the Third Dutch War
1952 - Catalogue of ship-models (scale-models)
1952 - Naval Wars in the Levant 1559-1853
1955 - Seventeenth Century Rigging
1955 - Seventeenth-century rigging: a handbook for model-makers
1959 - List of English men-of-war, 1509–1649
1971 - A short history of the sailing ship (see 1926, this is a reprint) by Romola & R. C. Anderson
1962 - Oared fighting ships from classical times to the coming of steam
1964 - List of English naval captains, 1642-1660. Compiled by R. C. Anderson.
2001? - Short history of the sailing ship (see 1926 and 1962) Romola Anderson and R.C. Anderson.
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