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Books by John Townley

Translation and interpretation of Paul Kammerer's 1919 Das Gesetz Der Serie, its implications and... more Translation and interpretation of Paul Kammerer's 1919 Das Gesetz Der Serie, its implications and applications from chaos and complexity theory to multiple aspects of anomalism and the generally ineffable...co-authored with Robert Schmidt, copyright 1991-2014...introduction only...
The complete text has now been uploaded and available here as Cause and Coincidence: The Serial Structure of Reality, q.v....

Papers by John Townley

The International Journal of Maritime History, Dec 1, 2010

International Journal of Maritime History

period drawings, illustrations, and the occasional diagram that are stylistically redolent of the... more period drawings, illustrations, and the occasional diagram that are stylistically redolent of the period. But footnotes, a bibliography, and other go-to sources are not included, leaving the reader aroused but unable to continue the journey. Still, the book overall reveals a distinct cultural flavour and attitude toward the sea (and in particular, Britain’s sea heritage) that is uniquely Victorian, a period window into attitudes that weren’t there before or after that period. In her introduction, the author writes of poet William Cox Bennett, whose pieces abound here, that he was trying to bring back to memory Britain’s maritime greatness for forgetful future generations to admire – something that his often-pedantic poetry doesn’t really succeed in doing. But her compilation of both prose and poetry combined does nicely encapsulate a nineteenth century, aspiring middle-class, vision of the sea that was highly romantic, steeped in would-be gentility, and seriously out-of-touch with the realities of the actual sailor. The misty, sentimental view of life, together with an infatuation with new technology (highlighted by some hilariously-silly, failed inventions) nicely paints that transitional century between classicalism and modernism reflected in its view of the already-mythic sea. To make that remoteness more clear, the selection is sprinkled with just enough choice examples of the horrors of real life and death to highlight by contrast the disjointed world-view of the time. So all in all, this collection is an entertaining and curiosity-arousing read, which would be more fulfilling if there were more documentation, sources, and ways to follow up the experiences included in the volume. There are lots of doors and windows here, but to get to the other side of them, you’ll have to construct your own journey of research and discovery.

International Journal of Maritime History, 2005

International Journal of Maritime History, 2009

International Journal of Maritime History, 2001

The company is called Taalee, brainchild of Indian semantic savant Amit Sheth, PhD and Pinnacle f... more The company is called Taalee, brainchild of Indian semantic savant Amit Sheth, PhD and Pinnacle founder Ajay Chopra. It does something that other search engines do not do, which is infer meaning when you do a search, rather than simply find a given metadata keyword or image. In a way, it's designed to read your mind. And, in the process, it both shrinks Internet data overload and then expands it in quite another way.

International Journal of Maritime History, 2000

International Journal of Maritime History, 2003

Thesquadron greatlyreduced the flowof stapleproducts out of,andwarmateriel into, Charleston and S... more Thesquadron greatlyreduced the flowof stapleproducts out of,andwarmateriel into, Charleston and Savannah, but successful blockade-runners embarrassed DuPont and Dahlgren. Still, the blockade wasneverseriously threatened, despitemomentary setbacks. Browning might have providedadditional information on the blockade effects upon the Charleston and Savannah economies and residents. Amajorfeature of thiscampaign wastheprevalence of ironclads. GideonWelles andhis Assistant Secretary, Gustavus VasaFox,hopedthat ironclads couldroamalongthe Atlantic coastline anddestroykeycoastalfortifications, leadingto the capitulation of such essential portsasCharleston, Savannah andWilmington. Aftera fewearlyvictories against ill-prepared defences, the Monitorclass of ironclads proved unable to destroy well-built fortifications. TheMonitors'bigguns,whileformidable, wereinsufficient innumbertooutduel largenumbers of land-based guns. In addition, because the Monitors' deckswerenot heavilyarmoured, the vessels provedvulnerable to plungingfire. Mostofthe bookrevolves around the campaign to captureCharleston. Generals andadmirals haddiffering agendas, although allhopedforindividual glory. Welles andFox hoped to gamer favourable publicityfor the navy's efforts; sometimes they pressed the admirals to attackwithoutarmysupport, even though such efforts were inadequate. The army, too, hopedto gainas muchhonouras possible. Because of the inter-service rivalry, the armyandnavyusuallyfailed to cooperate, and their individual effortscameto naught: eitherthe armybemoaned a lackof infantry, or the navybelieved it lackedsufficient ironclads.Browning believes thatmorecoordinated efforts mighthaveledto success. Although the officers proved competent, none displayed the vigour and imagination marking the effortsof the mostillustrious leaders of the war. EvenRobertE. Lee,duringhis shortstint as coastal defender, failed to reveal his genius for war. Browning's recounting of the campaign andleadership compares favourably withStephen Wise'srecentTheGateofHell, Campaign for Charleston Harbor, 1863. Readers willdiscover somelittle-known battles,suchas OlusteeandHoneyHill. Although Federal resources greatlyexceeded thoseoftheConfederacy, suchpreponderance could not always be advantageously applied in everycase. Olustee and HoneyHill were sharprebukes for the Yankees. Finally, the sailorsmanning the blockading vessels facedmonotony, bad food, brackishwaterand discomfort, especially those serving on ironclads. Browning paints an accurate pictureof the miserable conditions enduredby Unionsailors. Browning'slatestbookisa goodcompanion piecetohisearlierworkontheNorth Atlantic Blockading squadron. Forbothgeneral readers andnavalhistorians, thisworkwill providemuch information and pleasure. Navalhistorians will appreciate the well-written battledescriptions and discussions of logistics.

International Journal of Maritime History, 2003

International Journal of Maritime History, 2010

International Journal of Maritime History, 2002

The sailor songs of English songwriter Charles Dibdin and their influence and effect on maritime ... more The sailor songs of English songwriter Charles Dibdin and their influence and effect on maritime music and history...

Songs and shanties sung aboard Confederate ships and about the Confederate Navy

Maritime history and images in early hymnody

Drafts by John Townley

Paul Kammerer's 1919 "Das Gesetz der Serie" translated and interpreted for the modern reader, the... more Paul Kammerer's 1919 "Das Gesetz der Serie" translated and interpreted for the modern reader, the original structural foundation of inquiries into synchronicity, serendipity, and other connected incidents without a known clearly-connecting causality. Kammerer named it "seriality" but its brief popularity in the 1920s was eclipsed by his untimely death in 1926. Jung and Pauli later speculated on it (coining the term "synchronicity") but limited it to personally-meaningful events rather than a universal phenomena. Translated by Robert Schmidt and explained and interpreted by Robert Schmidt and John Townley in 1989. A summation was presented in the magazine Fortean Studies Vo. 1 in 1994.

Translation and interpretation of Paul Kammerer's 1919 Das Gesetz Der Serie, its implications and... more Translation and interpretation of Paul Kammerer's 1919 Das Gesetz Der Serie, its implications and applications from chaos and complexity theory to multiple aspects of anomalism and the generally ineffable...co-authored with Robert Schmidt, copyright 1991-2014...introduction only...
The complete text has now been uploaded and available here as Cause and Coincidence: The Serial Structure of Reality, q.v....

The International Journal of Maritime History, Dec 1, 2010

International Journal of Maritime History

period drawings, illustrations, and the occasional diagram that are stylistically redolent of the... more period drawings, illustrations, and the occasional diagram that are stylistically redolent of the period. But footnotes, a bibliography, and other go-to sources are not included, leaving the reader aroused but unable to continue the journey. Still, the book overall reveals a distinct cultural flavour and attitude toward the sea (and in particular, Britain’s sea heritage) that is uniquely Victorian, a period window into attitudes that weren’t there before or after that period. In her introduction, the author writes of poet William Cox Bennett, whose pieces abound here, that he was trying to bring back to memory Britain’s maritime greatness for forgetful future generations to admire – something that his often-pedantic poetry doesn’t really succeed in doing. But her compilation of both prose and poetry combined does nicely encapsulate a nineteenth century, aspiring middle-class, vision of the sea that was highly romantic, steeped in would-be gentility, and seriously out-of-touch with the realities of the actual sailor. The misty, sentimental view of life, together with an infatuation with new technology (highlighted by some hilariously-silly, failed inventions) nicely paints that transitional century between classicalism and modernism reflected in its view of the already-mythic sea. To make that remoteness more clear, the selection is sprinkled with just enough choice examples of the horrors of real life and death to highlight by contrast the disjointed world-view of the time. So all in all, this collection is an entertaining and curiosity-arousing read, which would be more fulfilling if there were more documentation, sources, and ways to follow up the experiences included in the volume. There are lots of doors and windows here, but to get to the other side of them, you’ll have to construct your own journey of research and discovery.

International Journal of Maritime History, 2005

International Journal of Maritime History, 2009

International Journal of Maritime History, 2001

The company is called Taalee, brainchild of Indian semantic savant Amit Sheth, PhD and Pinnacle f... more The company is called Taalee, brainchild of Indian semantic savant Amit Sheth, PhD and Pinnacle founder Ajay Chopra. It does something that other search engines do not do, which is infer meaning when you do a search, rather than simply find a given metadata keyword or image. In a way, it's designed to read your mind. And, in the process, it both shrinks Internet data overload and then expands it in quite another way.

International Journal of Maritime History, 2000

International Journal of Maritime History, 2003

Thesquadron greatlyreduced the flowof stapleproducts out of,andwarmateriel into, Charleston and S... more Thesquadron greatlyreduced the flowof stapleproducts out of,andwarmateriel into, Charleston and Savannah, but successful blockade-runners embarrassed DuPont and Dahlgren. Still, the blockade wasneverseriously threatened, despitemomentary setbacks. Browning might have providedadditional information on the blockade effects upon the Charleston and Savannah economies and residents. Amajorfeature of thiscampaign wastheprevalence of ironclads. GideonWelles andhis Assistant Secretary, Gustavus VasaFox,hopedthat ironclads couldroamalongthe Atlantic coastline anddestroykeycoastalfortifications, leadingto the capitulation of such essential portsasCharleston, Savannah andWilmington. Aftera fewearlyvictories against ill-prepared defences, the Monitorclass of ironclads proved unable to destroy well-built fortifications. TheMonitors'bigguns,whileformidable, wereinsufficient innumbertooutduel largenumbers of land-based guns. In addition, because the Monitors' deckswerenot heavilyarmoured, the vessels provedvulnerable to plungingfire. Mostofthe bookrevolves around the campaign to captureCharleston. Generals andadmirals haddiffering agendas, although allhopedforindividual glory. Welles andFox hoped to gamer favourable publicityfor the navy's efforts; sometimes they pressed the admirals to attackwithoutarmysupport, even though such efforts were inadequate. The army, too, hopedto gainas muchhonouras possible. Because of the inter-service rivalry, the armyandnavyusuallyfailed to cooperate, and their individual effortscameto naught: eitherthe armybemoaned a lackof infantry, or the navybelieved it lackedsufficient ironclads.Browning believes thatmorecoordinated efforts mighthaveledto success. Although the officers proved competent, none displayed the vigour and imagination marking the effortsof the mostillustrious leaders of the war. EvenRobertE. Lee,duringhis shortstint as coastal defender, failed to reveal his genius for war. Browning's recounting of the campaign andleadership compares favourably withStephen Wise'srecentTheGateofHell, Campaign for Charleston Harbor, 1863. Readers willdiscover somelittle-known battles,suchas OlusteeandHoneyHill. Although Federal resources greatlyexceeded thoseoftheConfederacy, suchpreponderance could not always be advantageously applied in everycase. Olustee and HoneyHill were sharprebukes for the Yankees. Finally, the sailorsmanning the blockading vessels facedmonotony, bad food, brackishwaterand discomfort, especially those serving on ironclads. Browning paints an accurate pictureof the miserable conditions enduredby Unionsailors. Browning'slatestbookisa goodcompanion piecetohisearlierworkontheNorth Atlantic Blockading squadron. Forbothgeneral readers andnavalhistorians, thisworkwill providemuch information and pleasure. Navalhistorians will appreciate the well-written battledescriptions and discussions of logistics.

International Journal of Maritime History, 2003

International Journal of Maritime History, 2010

International Journal of Maritime History, 2002

The sailor songs of English songwriter Charles Dibdin and their influence and effect on maritime ... more The sailor songs of English songwriter Charles Dibdin and their influence and effect on maritime music and history...

Songs and shanties sung aboard Confederate ships and about the Confederate Navy

Maritime history and images in early hymnody

Paul Kammerer's 1919 "Das Gesetz der Serie" translated and interpreted for the modern reader, the... more Paul Kammerer's 1919 "Das Gesetz der Serie" translated and interpreted for the modern reader, the original structural foundation of inquiries into synchronicity, serendipity, and other connected incidents without a known clearly-connecting causality. Kammerer named it "seriality" but its brief popularity in the 1920s was eclipsed by his untimely death in 1926. Jung and Pauli later speculated on it (coining the term "synchronicity") but limited it to personally-meaningful events rather than a universal phenomena. Translated by Robert Schmidt and explained and interpreted by Robert Schmidt and John Townley in 1989. A summation was presented in the magazine Fortean Studies Vo. 1 in 1994.