The book provides the first, complete overview of the American merchant marine during World War I: the rapid expansion of trans-Atlantic shipping; a record of shipbuilding between 1914-1918, including the revival of sailing vessel construction and wood and concrete freighters; profiles of the companies that operated ships; a record of all losses at sea from enemy action; highlights of the experiences of mariners with U-boat commanders and crews, mines, and aircraft attacks; and the role of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service.

While numerous studies have examined Woodrow Wilson's policy of neutrality prior to U.S. entry into World War I, none has focused on the actual merchant ship losses that created the final casus belli. This work focuses on what the president knew and when he knew it concerning the loss of ten ships between February 3 and April 4, 1917. By looking at the specifics, Rodney Carlisle offers new explanations for the reasons that led the president, the cabinet, the public, and Congress to decide for war. Sovereignty at Sea not only adds much to our understanding of maritime and diplomatic history during the First World War period but also speaks to contemporary concerns with issues surrounding the U.S. justification for wars.

HMS Victory is probably the best-known historic ship in the world. A symbol of the Royal Navy's achievements during the great age of sail, she is based in Portsmouth and seen by tens of thousands of visitors each year.As is the case for many historic ships, however, there is a surprising shortage of informative and well illustrated guides, for reference during a visit or for research by enthusiasts - ship modellers, naval buffs, historians or students. This new series redresses the gap. Written by experts and containing more than 200 specially commissioned photographs, each title will take the reader on a superbly illustrated tour of the ship, from bow to stern and deck by deck. Significant parts of the vessel - for example, the capstan, steering gear, armament, brody stove, cockpit, stern cabins - are given detailed coverage both in words and pictures, so that the reader has at hand the most complete visual record and explanation of the ship that exists.In addition, the importance of the ship, both in her own time and now as a museum vessel, is explained, while her design and build, her fighting career and her life prior to restoration and exhibition are all described. No other books offer such superb visual impact and detailed information as the Seaforth Historic Ship Series - a truly groundbreaking concept bringing the ships of our past vividly to life.Nominated for the 2011 Mountbatten awards.

England and Wales have long been captivated by the lighthouse, with many of the towers built at the countries' extremities seen as iconic structures. Lighthouses have seized the imagination for centuries, and have cut striking figures wherever they stand. Newly revised and wholly redesigned, Lighthouses of England and Wales is a complete guide to the lighthouses of England, Wales and the Channel Islands in one spectacular volume. Alongside stunning photographs are pocket histories and statistics for each lighthouse, tower and aid to navigation - large or small - as well as details of how to visit them. Whether you are a lighthouse aficionado, coastal walker, or just someone with an eye for a beautiful view, this is a book not to be missed.

Oceanic was the largest ship in the world when she was launched in 1899. The White Star Line's 'Ship of the Century', she was their last express liner before the Olympic and Titanic and her lavish first-class accommodation became renowned among Atlantic travellers. Serving on the company's express service for fifteen years, she earned a reputation for running like clockwork. Days after the outbreak of war, she was commissioned into the Royal Navy and converted into an armed merchant cruiser. However, her new-found status was not to last - she grounded on the rocks off Foula, in the Shetlands, within weeks and became a total loss. When she was wrecked, she had on board Charles Lightoller, Titanic's senior surviving officer. Oceanic: White Star's 'Ship of the Century' is the first book that looks at the entire career of this one-of-a-kind flagship. With human anecdotes, hitherto unpublished material and rare illustrations, Mark Chirnside's book is a beautiful tribute to a unique ocean liner.

Whether she is to be rowed or sailed independently, or will be the tender to a larger vessel, nothing feels or looks quite like a traditional clinker-built dinghy, 'done right'. And those two words are the key to a boat which will truly grace the water, charm all who use or see her, and maintain her value. In Details of Dinghy Building Will Stirling painstakingly describes and illustrates the many arcane yet vital tasks which can daunt the beginning boatbuilder. Will has been building clinker dinghies professionally for many years and has made, and learned how to avoid, all the mistakes which lie in wait for the unwary. Take advantage of his experience, and some 'tricks of the trade', and draw inspiration from the many mouthwatering photographs of finished boats which punctuate the book. If you're building a boat, this textual guide and photographic reference will pay for itself many times over in the time, frustration and embarrassment it will save you. If you're not, you'll find it a fascinating verbal and visual window into a time-honoured traditional craft.

Figureheads developed from an ancient tradition of decorating vessels with painted eyes, carved figures and animal heads. Vikings in Northern Europe adorned the bows of their ships with dragon heads, which were thought to help ships see their way through the sea. But what other purposes did sailors believe figureheads served? What stories do these beautiful objects tell? And what do the different characters symbolise? Exploring the history and traditions associated with figureheads, this illustrated guide contains 60 examples from the National Maritime Museum, home to the world's largest collection of figureheads. With a selection of short in-focus studies, the book looks at mythology, memorial, gender, empire, politics and literature surrounding these unique carvings. The National Maritime Museum is part of Royal Museums Greenwich.

Britain has a history of producing and using a wonderful array of fishing boats, some of which still sail under private ownership. These older vessels developed in their own unique ways, dependent on local traditions, the type of fishing, their place of operation and innovation from fishermen and boatbuilders alike. Later, with motorisation, they changed dramatically through the steam era until the advent of the internal combustion engine. Today fishing boats old and new attract scores of people to fishing harbours everywhere, inspired by picturesque scenes, the life on board or the new breed of vessels with their modern technology in an ever-increasing competitive market.

Fifty years ago the last British-built transatlantic liner was launched. Christened by HM the Queen on 20 September 1967, the 963ft-long vessel was named Queen Elizabeth 2. By the end of that same day, she was already known by her famous nickname: QE2. Fast, smart and sleek, QE2 sailed over 5.6 million miles and carried more than 2.5 million passengers during a magnificent career spanning nearly forty years. Put simply, she carried more people further than any ship before her and remains the longest serving express liner in history. Having sailed both as a liner and as a cruise ship, served her country in the Falklands conflict and undergone multiple makeovers, she also has one of the most fascinating histories of any vessel and remains one of the best loved and most celebrated. With stories from captains, crew and passengers, and an unparalleled collection of photographs, Chris Frame and Rachelle Cross bring the majestic QE2 to life in this commemorative tribute.

Why does the story of the Titanic retain such a hold on the popular imagination, one hundred years after it sank on the night of 15 April 1912? In this new centenary edition, Howells explores the myths around the Titanic legend, showing what they reveal about the culture of their time, as well as the role that myth still plays in our lives today.

During the War of 1812, the U.S. Navy numbered several dozen ships and captured fewer than 200 British vessels. American privateers, on the other hand, commanded more than 200 vessels and captured more than 1,000 British ships. The privateers proved the only American force that consistently threatened Britain throughout the Atlantic, especially along the coasts of the British Isles. Although privateers had a far greater impact on the British merchant marine and the economy of Great Britain than the U.S. Navy, they have received relatively little scholarly attention. This welcome work addresses this shortcoming by providing an accounting of all 241 American privateers during the war and a comprehensive list of all captures made by American forces--including privateers, Navy, and others--during that conflict.

In 1881, dynamic Baltimore businessman Bernard N. Baker established the Atlantic Transport Line, an American-owned but British-operated steamship company with service from London to New York that became famous for shipping expensive livestock and for carrying only first-class passengers. Although moderately sized, the company remained a significant presence in international shipping until a failure to recover from business disruptions during World War I forced its closure early in the Great Depression. This volume chronicles the history of the line and its absorption into J.P. Morgan's gargantuan and ill-conceived International Mercantile Marine Company against the background of efforts to revive the American mercantile marine. Descriptions of life on board Atlantic Transport Line vessels, individual histories of every vessel owned by the line, and biographies of key figures associated with the company make this the most complete account of this important but overlooked player in the history of American trade.

The steamboat evokes images of leisurely travel, genteel gambling, and lively commerce, but behind the romanticized view is an engineering marvel that led the way for the steam locomotive. From the steamboat's development by Robert Fulton to the dawn of the Civil War, the new mode of transportation opened up America's frontiers and created new trade routes and economic centers. Firsthand accounts of steamboat accidents, races, business records and river improvements are collected here to reveal the culture and economy of the early to mid-1800s, as well as the daily routines of crew and passengers. A glossary of steamboat terms and a collection of contemporary accounts of accidents round out this history of the riverboat era.

The 'ShipCraft' series provides in-depth information about building and modifying model kits of famous warship types. Lavishly illustrated, each book takes the modeller through a brief history of the subject class, highlighting differences between sister-ships and changes in their appearance over their careers. This includes paint schemes and camouflage, featuring colour profiles and highly detailed line drawings and scale plans. The modelling section reviews the strengths and weaknesses of available kits, lists commercial accessory sets for super-detailing of the ships, and provides hints on modifying and improving the basic kit. This is followed by an extensive photographic survey of selected high-quality models in a variety of scales, and the book concludes with a section on research references - books, monographs, large-scale plans and relevant websites.The subject of this volume is the seven-ship New Orleans class, probably the US Navy's most hard-fought heavy cruisers of the War - three were sunk in action but others survived massive damage, and by 1945 three out of four of the navy's most decorated ships were of this class. Although designed within treaty limitations, they proved powerful and well-balanced ships, and their unparalleled fighting record makes them popular modelling subjects.

'I saw that ship sink, I never closed my eyes. I saw it, I heard it, and nobody could possibly forget it. I can remember the colours, the sounds, everything. The worst thing I can remember were the screams.' EVA HART This is the amazing story of how Eva survived the sinking of the Titanic - the disaster that claimed the life of her father. The events of a few hours during her childhood had a huge impact on Eva. Her vivid memories of being bundled into a lifeboat and of watching the unsinkable ship slip beneath the surface remained with her for the rest of her life, although it was nearly forty years before she could talk openly about the tragedy. A Girl Aboard the Titanic is the only eyewitness description we have from a child of this famous maritime disaster.

Fifty years ago-on April 26, 1956-the freighter Ideal X steamed from Berth 26 in Port Newark, New Jersey. Flying the flag of the Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company, she set out for Houston with an unusual cargo: 58 trailer trucks lashed to her top deck. But they weren't trucks-they were steel containers removed from their running gear, waiting to be lifted onto empty truck beds when Ideal X reached Texas. She docked safely, and a revolution was launched-not only in shipping, but in the way the world trades. Today, the more than 200 million containers shipped every year are the lifeblood of the new global economy. They sit stacked on thousands of "box boats" that grow more massive every year. In this fascinating book, transportation expert Brian Cudahy provides a vivid, fast-paced account of the container-ship revolution-from the maiden voyage of the Ideal X to the entrepreneurial vision and technological breakthroughs that make it possible to ship more goods more cheaply than every before. Cudahy tells this complex story easily, starting with Malcom McLean, Pan-Atlantic's owner who first thought about loading his trucks on board. His line grew into the container giant Sea-Land Services, and Cudahy charts its dramatic evolution into Maersk Sealand, the largest container line in the world. Along the way, he provides a concise, colorful history of world shipping-from freighter types to the fortunes of steamship lines-and explores the spectacular growth of global trade fueled by the mammoth ships and new seaborne lifelines connecting Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Masterful maritime history, Box Boats shows how fleets of these ungainly ships make the modern world possible-with both positive and negative effects. It's also a tale of an historic home port, New York, where old piers lie silent while 40-foot steel boxes of toys and televisions come ashore by the thousands, across the bay in New Jersey.

From about the middle of the seventeenth century the Navy's administrators began to commission models of their ships that were accurately detailed and, for the first time, systematically to scale. These developed a recognized style, which included features like the unplanked lower hull with a simplified pattern of framing that emphasized the shape of the underwater body. Exquisitely crafted, these were always rare and highly prized objects - indeed, Samuel Pepys expressed a profound desire to own one - and today they are widely regarded as the acme of the ship modeler's art. As benefits its subject, Navy Board Ship Models is visually striking, with numerous color photographs that make it as attractive as it is informative to anyone with an interest in model making or historic ships.

In the midst of the Blizzard of 1978, the tanker "Global Hope" floundered on the shoals in Salem Sound off the Massachusetts coast. The Coast Guard heard the Mayday calls and immediately dispatched a patrol boat. Within an hour, the Coast Guard boat was in as much trouble as the tanker, having lost its radar, depth finder, and engine power in horrendous seas. Pilot boat Captain Frank Quirk was monitoring the Coast Guard's efforts by radio, and when he heard that the patrol boat was in jeopardy, he decided to act. Gathering his crew of four, he readied his forty-nine-foot steel boat, the "Can Do, " and entered the maelstrom of the blizzard.
Using dozens of interview and audiotapes that recorded every word exchanged between Quirk and the Coast Guard, Tougias has written a devastating, true account of bravery and death at sea.