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France has a rich and extensive heritage of military architecture facing the sea. The nation built numerous fortifications from the 17th to 19th Centuries along its Atlantic and Channel coasts between the Belgian and Spanish borders. Their purpose was to protect French ports, harbours and estuaries from attack by sea or land, but increasingly from the sea and particularly from Britain. This thesis has a dual focus: first, the architecture of the forts and batteries along the geographical coastline that faces the Atlantic and Channel; second, the interdictions, raids and blockades carried out by the British Royal Navy against them, and the consequences that resulted. The theme that runs through the thesis is ship versus shore, where two quite different types of architecture - one naval and the other military - met in conflicts that resulted in different outcomes. Naval architecture and military architecture are separate disciplines that are rarely discussed and debated together in the field of historical research and there is a knowledge 'grey area' and information gap that results. The main aim of this thesis is to fill that gap with reference to the experiences of Britain and France and the ship-versus-shore engagements that took place between them. The thesis timespan runs from the mid-16th to the mid-19th Centuries. It begins in the 1560s after the loss of Calais when France ejected England from its domains and pushed the front line between the two countries out into the sea. It ends in the 1860s when Britain and France were at peace and sail was overtaken by steam as the source of ship motive power. Overlaying the historical timespan on the geographical coastline generates a range of ship-versus-shore dates, places and events that warrant investigation. Chief among these are the English naval expeditions to relieve La Rochelle in the 16th Century, the Royal Navy's coastal attacks in the Seven Years' War in the 18th Century, and its blockades of Brest in the 18th-19th Centuries. The thesis covers, first, these dates, places and events in a chronology of thirteen chapters, and secondly, two subjects that demand detailed research with the aim of extracting significant results. The first of these is a study of sailing ship tactics under battery artillery fire using an innovative 'war game' calculation methodology developed for the purpose. The war game simulates a series of hypothetical engagements between British ships and French batteries under different conditions of wind and tide at a site with three shore batteries on the Gironde estuary. Described and compared are shot weights fired and potential hits scored by each side. The second detailed subject concerns the defences at Cherbourg and includes the first comprehensive account in English of the seventy-year development of the two versions of Cherbourg's 3.6 kilometre long sea barrier to protect its harbour. Built under severe sea conditions, the first prefabricated timber version failed whereas the second masonry version succeeded and gave Cherbourg the world's second largest artificial harbour that flourishes today.

The use of catalytic systems operating on waste products such as biogas offers a potentially attractive alternative for renewable and sustainable energy generation. To investigate the potential viability of such catalytic systems for operation on biogas, a detailed study of nickel-based catalysts for the reforming of simulated biogas (methane:carbon dioxide = 2) to synthesis gas has been undertaken. The influence of oxygen addition in varied concentrations to the simulated biogas mixture has been investigated with regards to catalyst activity, selectivity and stability. This influence has been studied over an extended temperature range from room temperature to 1000 °C. Additionally, the effect of H2S within the simulated biogas mixture on the catalyst activity, selectivity and stability has been studied. Also, the influence of ceria-doping of the nickel catalyst on catalytic behaviour has been investigated. Temperature programmed and conventional catalytic reaction measurements have been used to analyse the catalytic behaviour and long term stability of the catalyst system over a full range of reaction temperatures. Carbon deposits from the simulated biogas reforming were analysed using post-reaction temperature programmed oxidation to assess the extent and nature of carbon deposition. The addition of oxygen significantly increases catalyst activity and shows a variation in product selectivity with temperature. Increased catalyst stability through reduced carbon deposition and increased sulfur tolerance is also observed with oxygen addition. Doping of the nickel catalyst with ceria enhances the influence of oxygen, apart from at high oxygen levels where total oxidation of methane is prevalent. Catalyst regeneration from sulfur poisoning has also been shown through oxygen addition to the simulated biogas mixture and ceria-doping of the nickel catalyst. Fuel cell studies have shown the successful operation of solid oxide fuel cells on simulated biogas and the substantial improvements in electrical performance through addition of oxygen and increased temperature.