Michael Baizerman Author

 I have made good progress on Chapter 2. covering many issues, such as s peed and watering of the crews, coastal shipping and beaching, s hipworm and life expectancy, v isibility, and s eaworthiness.  I am currently checking the section dealing with Byzantine  innovations: full deck, dromons, and galea. Though I filtered the data from my previous search, I resolved to look for more info. The chapter  comprises 13 pages (about 5 K words) and will probably be much longer. I would like to add a section of transport galleys carrying supplies and horses.  I have requested and received John E. Dotson's article, " Safety Regulations for galleys in mid-fourteenth century Genoa: Some thoughts on medieval risk management." The report was unavailable in my search engine, and I asked the author to send me a copy. John is the emeritus professor at Southern Illinois University. He agreed to answer my questions, and for the first time, I have a correspondent who studies the s...

  The following is an update of my work on a new chapter.  Due to all sorts of distractions, I continue assessing the data on light galleys. The good news is that I will finish the evaluation soon. I skip the material concerning other matters and concentrate all my findings in a single file for further consideration. I also decided to make an exclusive vocabulary in this chapter to facilitate possible corrections.  I still have reservations about the scope of the material. Most of the things I collect cite the same facts in a new manner. I will decide later which version is preferable or will make a mix. I may save some of these repetitions for the concluding section of my paper. I will also reduce citations. Sometimes, I can paraphrase the idea since the original one is not so bright (at least, in English translation). In other cases, I will look for an original citation instead of citing secondary sources.  At this stage, I also check the value of some facts. For e...

 I began to estimate the collected material on light galleys, the ultimate warships of the medieval Mediterranean. In truth, many articles I picked concern other subjects, and I will retain them for the future. There are a lot of corrections and additional notes; some of them refer to Chapter 1. The previous chapter studies the main differences between galleys and round ships. While reading each file, I write "bits and pieces," even on familiar topics. That allows me to reconsider some paragraphs and add valuable data. I watch the growth of additional branches of the main issue and sometimes research them to realize if I can propose new developments to my storyline.   I am a little worried about the scope of my project. Chapter 1, designed as an introduction, grew very large, whereas Chapter 2 appears to be enormous. I wonder what I will do with this monster to make it readable. I can relentlessly cut the material, though I will lose essential facts.  I hope that I w...