A unique view of the revolution: from the ocean The only foreign writer to portray things Cuban as a volunteer merchant marine, Ron Ridenour sailed six months on five Cuban ships around the island nation delivering petroleum, and to and from Europe with container goods, to tell Cuban sailors' views of their society and the world. Follow the crew through a gale, catching a giant shark, struggling with a life boat gone amuck, night life ashore... 108 pages with photos.

Trammel's Trace tells the story of a borderlands smuggler and an important passageway into early Texas. Trammel's Trace, named for Nicholas Trammell, was the first route from the United States into the northern boundaries of Spanish Texas. From the Great Bend of the Red River it intersected with El Camino Real de los Tejas in Nacogdoches. By the early nineteenth century, Trammel's Trace was largely a smuggler's trail that delivered horses and contraband into the region. It was a microcosm of the migration, lawlessness, and conflict that defined the period. By the 1820s, as Mexico gained independence from Spain, smuggling declined as Anglo immigration became the primary use of the trail. Familiar names such as Sam Houston, David Crockett, and James Bowie joined throngs of immigrants making passage along Trammel's Trace. Indeed, Nicholas Trammell opened trading posts on the Red River and near Nacogdoches, hoping to claim a piece of Austin's new colony. Austin denied Trammell's entry, however, fearing his poor reputation would usher in a new wave of smuggling and lawlessness. By 1826, Trammell was pushed out of Texas altogether and retreated back to Arkansas Even so, as author Gary L. Pinkerton concludes, Trammell was "more opportunist than outlaw and made the most of disorder."

Any who think that the end of the long coastal excursions by paddle steamers of yesteryear brought a halt to a trip on the briny may be surprised to learn that there are still more than eighty vessels with Maritime and Coastguard Agency passenger certificates offering cruises on the South Coast today. There are the big beasts taking passengers across the Channel or to the Channel Islands. There are their more modest cousins ferrying passengers to the Isle of Wight including the latest state of the art ferry Victoria of Wight, driven by hybrid battery technology. Then there is the plethora of smaller local vessels carrying between twelve and 350 passengers on shorter hops, often viewing some of the most spectacular South Coast scenery. Take a trip to Brownsea Island. View the Needles or the Jurassic Coast close up. Glide down Christchurch Harbour on boats with only 6 inches' draft. Sail from Weymouth to Portland, passing break-waters and forts on a boat which delivered guns, ammunition and stores to them in the Second World War. With pictures and details, this book explores all the passenger vessels operating today in an area bounded by Weymouth in the west and Newhaven in the east.