Reprint of the original, first published in 1930.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

By choosing to concentrate upon discovering what forest resources were available to the French navy during the ancien regime and what use it was able to make of them, Mr. Bamford has not only provided the first monograph on that subject in the English language, but has gone far toward explaining why France was the loser in the long duel with England for the control of commerce and the extension of empire. Two years of research in the Archives Nationales and in the Archives de la Marine in Paris, Toulon, and Rochefort enabled him to draw on contemporary sources of information of which little, if any, use has been made before, and a further year of research in the libraries of New York City, particularly in the rich Proudfit Naval Collection, also yielded new material. It is Mr. Bamford's achievement to have handled this vast store of primary sources with such skill and judgement that the reader, by turning over letters from disgruntled forest proprietors, reports from harassed maitres on the trickery and recalcitrance of the peasants, instructions from the top echelon of the navy to inspectors in the forests, and a variety bills, receipts, and memoranda, is given at first hand an appreciation of the difficulties faced by the navy in trying to obtain timber and masts of the choice quality required for building ships-of-the-line. The navy had to compete with the merchant marine and with industrial and private users of fuel for supplies that were continually being depleted by mismanagement and by the conversion of forests to arable land. Measures, superficially admirable, for conserving the forests are found on closer examination to be at once over-precise and not properly enforced. Transport, even in a country so abundantly supplied with navigable rivers as France, was expensive and difficult. Not only historians, but scholars in the field of forestry, economics, geography, agriculture, and transport will find this book illuminating.

"The Guide," as it is referred to in Panama includes specific piloting instructions covering all of coastal Panama, its major navigable rivers that reach the coast, as well as the San Blas Islands and Las Perlas.

The Panama Guide, 2nd ed. contains 187 charts, an 8-page color section with Tom Zydler's photography of Panama, plus GPS waypoints, instructions for transiting the Panama Canal, lists of navigational aids, local services, customs regulations, recommendations for on-shore activities, and a detailed index. It will make the waters surrounding Panama more accessible to yachtsmen by clearly showing routes for safe navigation, anchorages, rules and regulations, and suggestions for polite interaction with the Panamanian people.

The "Top 25 Shipping KPIs of 2011-2012" report provides insights into the state of shipping performance measurement today by listing and analyzing the most visited KPIs for this functional area on smartKPIs.com in 2011. In addition to KPI names, it contains a detailed description of each KPI, in the standard smartKPIs.com KPI documentation format, that includes fields such as: definition, purpose, calculation, limitation, overall notes and additional resources. While dominated by KPIs reflecting cost performance and material handling, other popular KPIs come from categories such as transportation, time performance, delivery quality and warehousing. This product is part of the "Top KPIs of 2011-2012" series of reports and a result of the research program conducted by the analysts of smartKPIs.com in the area of integrated performance management and measurement. SmartKPIs.com hosts the largest catalogue of thoroughly documented KPI examples, representing an excellent platform for research and dissemination of insights on KPIs and related topics. The hundreds of thousands of visits to smartKPIs.com and the thousands of KPIs visited, bookmarked and rated by members of this online community in 2011 provided a rich data set, which combined with further analysis from the editorial team, formed the basis of these research reports.

For anyone who has ever fallen under the spell of the Mississippi, it is hard not be a little jealous of Bob Deck. A deckhand as a teenager and a Harbor Captain by the tender age of 22, Deck worked the big river during the 1970's and 1980's, a boom time for the Twin Cities barge business. Like Mark Twain and George Merrick before him Deck paints a vivid and nostalgic portrait of a working life on the river. And for budding river rats, he also provides practical tips on how best to guide barges through certain tricky stretches of water in St. Paul. -Mike Mosedale, reporter and river lover Ride on the Mississippi River with Captain Bob and share in his adventures as he navigates through floods, weather and curious passengers aboard tugboats and sternwheelers at the head of commercial navigation for the Western Rivers. Meet the pilots and deckhands that make their lives and living on the Mighty Mississippi. See the river through the eyes of a man who grew up on riverboats.

No one knows the maritime history of the Northeast any better than Jeremy D'Entremont, and with this small volume he begins a series of histories about the shipwrecks, lighthouses, and sea heroes of New England. The book begins with the hurricane of 1635, one of the worst recorded hurricanes in regional history, and the ship Angel Gabriel, which sank at anchor off of Pemaquid during the hurricane. Other accounts include a 1710 wreck at Boon Island which, in its day, was as sensational as "Mutiny on the Bounty." Four men were killed and the remaining two dozen had to resort to extraordinary measures to survive. Also here are the Penobscot Expedition, America's worst naval defeat until Pearl Harbor; a famous circus ship that foundered off Vinalhaven in 1836; and the mysterious explosion of a motorboat in 1941, which killed all 34 people on board. D'Entremont's authoritative history and skillful storytelling are illustrated by archival black-and-white photographs and etchings.

The story of HMCS Oakville, a corvette that fought U-boats in WWII and remains a hero to its hometown in Oakville, Ontario. This is an in-depth look at the history and legacy of HMCS Oakville, a Canadian World War II corvette that fought in the Battle of the Atlantic, and was one of the few corvettes to sink a U-boat. From its creation through its christening off the shores of its namesake town, its exploits at sea, the famous encounter with U94, and the ship’s lackluster end, Oakville’s is a story that showcases not only our nation’s proud naval heritage, but also the importance of remembrance. Oakville’s Flower sets the scene of naval war in the Atlantic — the battles between convoys, stealthy U-boats, and the lowly corvettes that formed the backbone of the Royal Canadian Navy. We follow Oakville, one of those corvettes, through its rise and fall as a Canadian naval legend, to its revival in the town of Oakville, championed by the local Sea Cadet Corps that shares its name and safeguards its legacy.

The best of the Logan Marshall classics have been researched and edited by authors Bruce M. Caplan and Ken Rossignol and presented in this new book. The Titanic's secret fire is explained in great detail. The early days of World War I and the savage sinking of the Lusitania which caused over 1,000 civilians to die on an unarmed passenger vessel are brought to life. Great photos of both ships and the people who survived along with the war posters which boosted the efforts of the United States, Britain and France to rally their countries to stand up to the German aggression.

Over many centuries, wars have been lost due to lack of food and proper supplies for the troops. Without a way to survive, the troops had to retreat rather than stay and fight. The same need applied to ships at sea. "New York to Okinawa Sloooooowly" is the true story of a soldier who served on one of the supply ships that were vital to the survival of the troops in battle during Wolrd War II.John Barnes graduated from high school in 1941. While many of the kids in his class headed off to college, that was not John's plan. He wanted to join the marines, but when he discovered that his mother would not sign the papers, he set his sights on the US Coast Guard, the same service as his favorite cousin, Frank. After his basic training, he and his shipmates headed out on a journey that would ultimately take them to Okinawa. Through the severe storms, typhoons and enemy aircraft attacks, they got the job done come hell or high water.

In 1975 at the tender age of 17 a very wet behind the ears Bob Deck left high school to learn the art of being a deckhand on Mississippi River towboats with the goal of becoming a "harbor pilot." The men who trained him were colorful and unique characters. Men like "Steamboat" Bill Ruport a grizzled River Rat at the ripe old age of 24who learned Bob how to handle the lines (what rivermen call ropes) and "lay riggin" (wire barges together) into "tows" (rafts of barges to be pushed downriver from St. Paul to St. Louis). Bob learned that rivermen have a whole different nautical vocabulary. Later decking under the iron-fisted Captain Crash provided danger and humor to a young man's coming of age. If you have ever driven across a bridge over the river and wondered what life on those Mississippi riverboats is like then this is one view that is enlightening and entertaining.