In April 1951, the disappearance of HM submarine Affray knocked news of the Korean War and Festival of Britain from the front pages of national newspapers. Affray had gone to sea on a routine peacetime simulated war patrol in the English Channel. She radioed her last position at 21.15 hours on April 16th, 30 miles south of the Isle of Wight--and preparing to dive. This was the last signal ever received from the submarine. When divers eventually discovered Affray, they found her resting upright on the sea bottom with no obvious signs of damage to her hull. Hatches were closed tight and emergency buoys were still in their casings. It was obvious that whatever had caused Affray to sink and end the lives of all on board had occurred quickly. Fifty-six years later, in this compelling maritime investigation, Alan Gallop uses previously top secret documents, interviews with experts, and contemporary news sources to explore how and why Affray became the last British submarine lost at sea--and possibly the greatest maritime mystery since the Marie Celeste. This is a fascinating recreation of the last mission of this doomed submarine, the effect it had on the families of those who perished, and on British public opinion at the time.

L.T.C. Rolt's fame was born from his unique ability to produce works of literature from subject matter seemingly ill suited to such treatment - engineering, canals, railways, steam engines, agricultural machinery, vintage cars - such as in his classic biographies of Brunel, Telford, Trevithick and the Stephensons, and in his superbly written volumes of autobiography. In this, the first part of his autobiography, Rolt tells of his childhood in Chester, on the Welsh border near Hay-on-Wye and in Gloucestershire; of an engineering apprenticeship and career which took him from a farm in the Vale of Evesham to a locomotive works in Stoke-on-Trent and from Dursley to the Wiltshire Downs until he finally settled in a Hampshire village, running a garage which specialised in veteran and vintage cars. Imbued with the author's love of England and his intense feeling for the beauties of the English countryside, the book reveals a landscape populated not only be men, but by machines: steam-ploughing engines, steam wagons, steam locomotives, canal boats and a variety of unusual motor cars. This vividly told tale of rural England sets the stage of a life that was to be consumed by preserving the best the country had to offer in landscape and the technology of a now bygone age.

The main focus of this book is the impact of maritime fraud on contracts for sale and carriage, documentary credits and marine insurance. It covers all varieties of maritime fraud, from the most serious downwards, describing the methods employed and the risks to traders and carriers. At the serious end of the spectrum, pirates capture an entire ship, often murdering the entire crew, in order to sell the cargo (to which of course they have no title), later to use the "innocent" ship to pose as innocent traders. Less serious (but perhaps of greater interest to lawyers) are misdescriptions of cargo in, or backdating of, bills of lading, and other deceptions, usually practised on purchasers and banks.

Recounts the sinking of the huge freighter the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald in the icy waters of Lake Superior in 1975 and describes subsequent expeditions to the wreck site to uncover clues to her mysterious disappearance.

"NAVIGATING AND ENGINEERING OFFICERS REQUIRED IMMEDIATELY FOR VERY LARGE CRUDE OIL CARRIER. TANKER EXPERIENCE PREFERRED." - Lloyd's List and Shipping Gazette The advertisement captured Ray Solly's attention whilst he was on leave and demanded direct action! Viewed from the bridge of dry-cargo ships, the sleek lines of VLCCs and their potential navigational challenges always intrigued Ray - so, without hesitation, he grabbed the chance, leaving his current employer, and setting out to fulfil a dream. Supertanker examines life at sea aboard a 1970s monster where reader and author meet on board, encountering and overcoming exciting new challenges in navigation, ship handling, and cargo control. All the while, overshadowing everything else, is the awareness that this loaded ship carries around 80 million gallons of oil every day. But Supertanker is more than just the record of a new adventure. It lifts the lid on the realities of life far out at sea handling such behemoths and reveals why international safety and competency bars had to be raised.