This study focuses on the Royal Navy’s use of American naval stores, especially New England masts, during the Seven Years War. It highlights the significance of the eastward naval logistics of American naval stores across the Atlantic, based on records revealing the navy’s constant effort to sustain these logistics in the British Atlantic world. Drawing on hitherto neglected official manuscripts relating to the Navy Board, this article throws new light on how the Royal Navy procured them across the war-torn Atlantic Ocean during this war. This investigation into the transport of naval stores to Britain in wartime broadens our understanding of the co-operation of the naval administrations with contractors and the role of America within the empire as the source of naval commodities, in addition to better-known cases of lucrative commodities such as sugar and tobacco. Given the contribution of natural resources to forming and maintaining supremacy, the navy’s use of American naval stores is a suggestive case of exploiting an empire’s natural resources within the context of Atlantic history.

中文翻译：

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在七年战争期间通过新英格兰桅杆维持英国海军力量

这项研究的重点是皇家海军在七年战争期间对美国海军储备的使用，尤其是新英格兰桅杆。它强调了横跨大西洋的美国海军储备向东海军后勤的重要性，其依据是显示海军在不列颠大西洋世界中不断努力维持这些后勤的记录。本文利用迄今为止被忽视的与海军委员会相关的官方手稿，对皇家海军如何在这场战争中跨越饱受战争蹂躏的大西洋采购这些手稿提出了新的看法。这项对战时向英国运输海军物资的调查扩大了我们对海军行政部门与承包商的合作以及美国在帝国内作为海军商品来源的作用的理解，除了糖和烟草等利润丰厚的商品的更广为人知的案例。鉴于自然资源对形成和维持霸权的贡献，海军使用美国海军储备是在大西洋历史背景下开发帝国自然资源的一个有启发性的案例。