When David Lyon died tragically in 2000 the naval-history world lost one of its great characters – but it nearly lost one of its great works of reference as well. Probably best known for his monumental listing of British warships in the age of sail, David left unfinished a follow-up intended to cover the period of transition from sail to steam. This was every bit as significant a piece of research as the earlier Sailing Navy List, because the design and evolution of so many nineteenth-century warships was complex and poorly understood. No publisher in the maritime field would have given up on such a potentially valuable book, but for Robert Gardiner of Chatham Publishing the problem became personal as well as professional: all of David’s research files and papers were transferred to the company by his widow, in the hope that some of his work might see publication. David had spent his working life as curator of the National Maritime Museum’s vast collection of ships’ plans, so his depth of knowledge could never be matched. However, he was also a great encourager and facilitator of other people’s research, and one of his like-minded coterie was Rif Winfield. Rif had already worked with David on the compilation of accurate and detailed listings of British warships, so when offered the chance to complete the Lyon magnum opus he accepted the challenge with enthusiasm. This left one final piece in the jigsaw: the illustrations. For the earlier book David, as a member of staff, had obtained concessionary rates on fees, and had been ideally placed to do his own picture research. Clearly these conditions no longer applied, but in recognition of his lifetime’s contribution the Museum gracefully agreed terms that allowed the new book to be as well illustrated as the first, and also made arrangements to smooth the path of the picture research. Most of the illustrations are original draughts, published for the first time, so forming a showcase of one of the least-known areas of the Greenwich collections. The work has taken longer than expected. New research was required to complete whole chapters, but much of the existing material was also revised and extended as new information came to light. However, The Sail and Steam Navy List is now published, and although, as Mrs Malaprop would say, comparisons are odorous, for many people this will be the most important book published by Chatham for some time. Back to Greenhill Military Book News No. 129 Table of Contents Back to Greenhill Military Book News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by Greenhill Books This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com