4 December 1872: The brigantine Dei Gratia chances upon another brigantine out on the Atlantic near the Azores. She is the Mary Celeste. She is under sail. But she is deserted. Silent as a drowned cadaver. For 150 years since then, the mystery of why the Mary Celeste was abandoned, and what happened to the ten souls on board, has spawned thousands of conjectures, conspiracy theories, fictions and fantasies. Some have thought they solved the mystery. Some have just spun yarns. One, at least, has claimed it was all a hoax. The Mysterious Case of the Mary Celeste: 150 Years of Myth and Mystique unveils those stories - the 'fake news', 'alternative facts' and the myths fabricated from fractured truths. These are the real facts in search of a truth that remains unfathomable to this day.

The bestselling guides to Britain's canals and rivers for over 50 years. This established, popular and practical guide covers the canals and waterways in Wales and to the south of Liverpool. Contains essential information for walking, cycling, canoeing and paddleboarding. Covered in this guide are: Caldon Canal, Llangollen Canal, Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, Neath & Tennant and Swansea Canals, Montgomery Canal, Shropshire Union Canal, Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal, Trent & Mersey Canal, River Weaver. The detailed Ordnance Survey (R) maps clearly show the location of essential features such as locks, towpaths and boating facilities, as well as pubs, shops and restaurants in the area. There are comprehensive navigational notes and descriptive text on the history of each canal, and on local services and places of interest, for which postcodes are included - ideal for use with sat-navs. Useful information for canoeing and paddleboarding. In print for 50 years, the Collins/Nicholson guides to the waterways have always been a vital part of journeys along Britain's canals and rivers. These bestselling guides are designed for anyone and everyone with an interest in Britain's inland waterways - from experienced boaters to those planning their first boat trip, as well as walkers, cyclists and visitors.

Explores the history of the US Navy's 11 new steel warships, built during the late 19th century to advance American naval supremacy. After the American Civil War, the powerful US Navy was allowed to decay into utter decrepitude, and was becoming a security liability. In 1883, Congress approved four new steel-constructed vessels called the "ABCD" ships. The three protected cruisers Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago were the first steel warships built for the US Navy, whose 1880s-1890s technological and cultural transformation was so total it is now remembered as the "New Navy". This small fleet was joined by a succession of new and distinctive protected cruisers, culminating in the famous and powerful Olympia. These 11 protected cruisers formed the backbone of the early US steel navy, and were in the frontline of the US victory in the 1898 Spanish-American War. It was these warships that fought and won the decisive Battle of Manila Bay. These cruisers also served faithfully as escorts and auxiliaries in World War I before the last were retired in the 1920s. Written by experienced US naval researcher Brian Lane Herder, and including rare photographs, this book explores the development, qualities, and service of these important warships, and highlights the almost-forgotten Columbia-class, designed as high-speed commerce raiders, and to mimic specific passenger liners. All 11 protected cruisers are depicted in meticulously researched color illustrations with one depicting the Olympia deploying her full sail rig.

A fully revised and expanded edition of the only resource you'll need for choosing, owning and maintaining a narrowboat. The UK has over 2000 miles of navigable canals and rivers which are home to an estimated 35,000 licensed boats. Although canal boats can look much the same to the novice, there are some very important differences to be aware of. If you're new to boating you have some important choices to make. This comprehensive book examines the options available to different types of boaters. From those who choose to live aboard their boats and constant cruisers to fair-weather cruisers, hire boating and share boat syndicates - each will need a different type of boat if they are to fully enjoy their time afloat. Packed with case studies and advice from real boaters with years of experience to share, this second edition has been thoroughly updated throughout and includes new information on liveaboard costs and considerations, eco-friendly boating options, shared ownership and tax-free boat building, as well as: - The cost of boating - Choosing the ideal boat for your boating profile - Buying a boat and the legalities of purchase - Choosing suitable internal fittings and features - Heating, lighting, toilets and hot water options - Boat electrics and solar power - Finding a mooring - Boating health and safety - Locks, swing-bridges and the boating 'highway code' - Boat maintenance - Boating etiquette and best practice

Large, lavish and record-breaking, RMS Mauretania remains one of the most remarkable ships ever built. She was to be the fastest and the most beautiful - with six huge turbines and interiors designed and created by the most fashionable of architects - but she would soon find herself pressed into service in the Great War. From the ships that inspired her build to her very final journey, Illustrated Mauretania (1907) fills in the gaps in the Mauretania's established literature. Through fifteen episodes, with over 200 images between them, acclaimed maritime historian David F. Hutchings explores the life and times of 'The Grand Old Lady of the North Atlantic'.

The Boatyard Book is a practical, comprehensive reference manual that provides sensible, accessible advice for boatowners on planning and carrying out annual maintenance, repairs, upgrades and refits of sailing yachts and motorboats, up to 20 metres in length. Beginning with all the information owners will need to care for their boat, including how to budget and plan tasks to be done through the year, The Boatyard Book goes on to help them choose the best boatyard for their needs, then provides essential how-to reference material and ideas for a comprehensive range of projects large and small to be carried out ashore. There's advice and tips from highly respected boatyard owners, specialists and surveyors, as well as from the author's own 25 years' experience of boat ownership, all fully illustrated with step-by-step photos and illustrations. Topics covered include: - laying up - hull and deck care - mast and rigging - sail care - engines - electrics - maintenance of plumbing and gas systems - more complex projects, including re-wiring a boat, overhauling an engine, how to treat osmosis and how to go about a complete refit. This is a book to be kept at the yard, or on the boat, and used time and time again by those who are either happy to keep things ticking along with the minimum of effort or by those who want to get stuck into bigger projects.

Flying Boats: Air Travel in the Golden Age sets out to do justice to a time of glamorous, unhurried air travel, unrecognisable to most of today's air travellers, but sorely missed by some. During the 1930s, long-distance air travel was the preserve of the flying boat, which transported well-heeled passengers in ocean-liner style and comfort across the oceans. But then the Second World War came, and things changed. Suddenly, landplanes were more efficient, and in abundance: long concrete runways had been constructed during the war that could be used by a new generation of large transport aircraft; and endless developments in aircraft meant they could fly faster and for further distances. Commercial flying boat services resumed, but their days would be numbered.

The Viking ship is one of the most iconic images of the Viking Age. As well as including well-known vessels such as the spectacular ship-burials from Gokstad and Oseberg in southern Norway, Viking Ships introduces the newly-conserved Roskilde 6 ship from Denmark. Measuring at over 37 metres, this is the longest Viking ship ever discovered and will form the core of the touring exhibition Vikings: life and legend. The Vikings used their shipbuilding skills to command the sea; their famous ships permitted the exploration, colonization and the raids for which they are best known. This book will explore the evolution of their sea-going vessels and celebrate this outstanding feature of the Viking Age.

Loran and GPS notwithstanding, there will always be a place for the sextant aboard any blue-water boat, if for no other reason than the thrill and mystery of finding ones position on earth by gazing at the heavens. Here is the indispensable reference that should accompany the instrument aboard. Cmdr. Bruce Bauer, a professional navigator and master mariner with the U.S. Merchant Marine, has distilled years of hands-on experience into an eminently readable guide to buying, adjusting, using, and repairing sextants.

The Sextant Handbook is dedicated to the premise that electronic navigation devices, while too convenient to disregard, are too vulnerable to rely on exclusively. The book is designed to make beginner and expert alike conversant with this most beautiful and functional of the navigators tools. Topics include:

• Assembly and Disassembly
  
• Vital Adjustments
  
• Avoiding Problems
  
• Rough Weather Sightings
  
• Oiling and Cleaning
  
• Immersion Baths
  
• Emergency Silvering
  
• Finding and Buying Used Sextants
  
• And Much More
  

Youll also find a list of distributors, manufacturers, and dealers worldwide, a discussion of future trends, and numerous helpful hints, including sighting with eyeglasses and using a Rude starfinder. All in a thoroughly revised edition of a book acclaimed by navigation professionals.

Showcasing photographs and illustrations from a variety of collectors' archives, The Unseen Mauretania 1907 reveals the Cunard company's most luxurious ocean liner of the early twentieth century as you have never known her before. When the Mauretania took to the North Atlantic for the first time in November 1907, she was the largest and fastest ship in the world, serving with her sister ship, the Lusitania, for nearly eight years. Although the Lusitania's life was cut short during the First World War, the Mauretania continued to have an impressive presence at sea, holding the Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing until 1929. This evocative visual history by maritime expert J. Kent Layton follows her glorious career, which spanned four decades of the twentieth century.

Anyone who owns a fibreglass boat (GRP or FRP, yacht or dinghy) knows that it can get damaged in the rough and tumble of everyday use. Sometimes the damage is serious enough to warrant a professional repair (which the insurance company will probably pay for). But at other times it is more minor, and you might want to repair it yourself. But how do you repair it, so you can't see the repair - get that really professional-looking finish? If you've ever asked that question, then this is the book for you. Long-term boat repairer, Pete Vincent, shares the trade secrets of making a lasting, strong and invisible repair. Penni Vincent, who does not share Pete's experience, got him to explain it to her and together they have created this book - written by an expert, but understandable by a novice. They take you through the equipment, tools and materials you need and then explain the 8 stages of a glass fibre repair job: from the vital initial preparation to the final polish. This is followed by a step-by-step guide to making different repairs including small nicks, scratches and scuffs, star-crazing and deeper areas requiring fibreglassing. They also cover repairing deck / hull joints, non-slip surfaces, moving fittings and leak testing and repair. Given that the first bit of advice is that you need to make the damage worse before repairing it, it is reassuring to be able to follow the steps that they outline, amply illustrated by many photographs and diagrams. Splash-proof and spiral bound - allowing you to lay it out flat beside your repair - this little book will be a valued companion as you set about repairing your boat.

The Big Book of Boat Canvas is a thorough revision and updating of Karen Lipes two popular earlier books, Boat Canvas Cover to Cover and More Boat Canvas, combined with a whole new section on below-decks sewing projects. In this latest volume Lipe ranges well beyond the boundaries of traditional canvas work to create a comprehensive guide to fabric work on board. Youll find dozens of traditional canvas projects--sail covers, awnings, duffel bags, dodgers, and Biminis, wind chutes, winter covers--all with clear, step-by-step instructions, generously illustrated. Youll also find dozens of not-so-traditional fabric projects to add comfort and a touch of elegance to your below-decks spaces: custom interior cushions, fitted sheets and daycovers, privacy curtains, lee cloths, even a tablecloth to fit your varnished table. Lipe offers a veritable minicourse in interior yacht decoration, dozens of useful sewing tips, a careful detailing of materials nad tools needed for each project, and an extensive discussion of modern fabrics appropriate for exterior and interior use. In short, this handy book covers everything you need to know to sew comfort, utility, and style into your boat.

A treasure of functional and fanciful projects you can sew yourself.--Multihulls

Youll find this book of the utmost practical help.--The Ensign

It passed what is for me the acid test of a how-to book: The Big Book of Boat Canvas made me want to get at some long-neglected projects and even to try some that I never thought I could manage.--SAIL

Explore the history of ocean liners through the objects that bring them to life. Liners represented the ambitions of their nations in peace and war; their design, interiors and fittings incorporated the finest contemporary technological and artistic features. In peacetime they carried celebrities, vacationers and emigrants; while in war they carried thousands of troops – and then war brides seeking new lives. A History of Ocean Liners in 50 Objects takes in evolving technology, supreme luxury and fine cuisine, as well as hardship and the burning hope for a better life. There is peril, disaster and death, international pride and competition, glory and war. The objects tell a fascinating story, showing how the functional sea voyage has evolved from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to the huge cruise industry we have today.

The cruiser evolved from a whole range of powered sailing warships, emerging in response to the sheer size and cost of larger vessels. The impact of rapid technological advance during the Victorian era saw the cruiser quickly assume the familiar forms in which it fought with distinction through two World Wars. This encyclopedia is unique in charting the forces that brought about the cruiser's evolution, as well as providing a country-by-country visual directory of more than 260 of the most significant examples, spanning a period of nearly 150 years. From the Alabama of the American Civil War to the Royal Navy's last conventional cruisers, the Tigers, all the major ships are included. The book opens with a history section illustrating the technological development of the cruiser from 1865 to the present day, together with accounts of some of the many uses to which the ships were dedicated. The main part of the book consists of three country-by-country directories, focusing on pre-World War I, World War I, then World War II and beyond. Within these directories the author defines each ship's significance and its relative success or failure under service conditions. It traces the development from ships with muzzle-loading broadside armament, through casemates and turrets, to the age of guided missiles. There are fascinating quotes from military leaders, plus a detailed glossary explaining key military terms and abbreviations. Specification boxes provide at-a-glance information about each cruiser's most important features: the builders, date of commissioning, displacement, length, beam, draught, armament, machinery, power, endurance, protection and crew numbers. With its huge volume of information and its unique collection of more than 500 archive photographs, this book provides both enthusiasts and historians with everything they need to know about the cruiser through its history. As well as being an essential reference work, it is also an exciting read for anyone interested in these great vessels. An illustrated history of cruisers, including Naniwa, Pennsylvania, Blu cher, Vindictive, Belfast, California and many more.

On the night of 14-15 April 1912, Titanic, a brand-new, supposedly unsinkable ship, the largest and most luxurious vessel in the world at the time, collided with an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage. Of the 2,208 people on board, only 712 were saved. The rest perished in the icy-cold waters of the North Atlantic, and the tragedy has fascinated and perplexed the world ever since. This stunning book tells the story of not just the Titanic, but also of its sister ships, Olympic and Britannic. Maritime experts J. Kent Layton, Tad Fitch, and Bill Wormstedt tell the stories of these legendary liners with a compelling narrative alongside original artwork from up-and-coming artists, bringing to life the design, construction and service of the ships together with the wrecks of the ill-fated Titanic and Britannic. From the cold, starry night when Titanic collided with her iceberg to the tragic wartime loss of Britannic and the impressive reliability of the long-lived Olympic, this cinematic and immersive new study captures all of the glory and drama of the Olympic-class age and allows readers to visualise Titanic and her sisters like never before.

For generations, coastal fishermen, working at the very fringe between land and sea, have fished salmon and herring using methods passed down from father to son. Some of these ancient traditions have been traced back as far as the days when the men from Scandinavia colonised these lands in the eighth and ninth centuries; others are simply nineteenth century in origin. Sadly, in recent years stocks have dwindled and regulations limit local fishing practices. Today, some surviving methods, such as haaf-netting, are in danger of dying out, whilst other traditional fisheries now lie abandoned. Though herring stocks have recovered from their late twentieth-century decline, the Atlantic salmon is now under immense threat and more danger of extinction than ever before. Tracing and describing his own journey from North Devon, through Wales and up to the top of Scotland, along with interviews with many fishermen, both retired and working, Mike Smylie explores the social history of these indigenous fishing traditions and communities, presenting a picture of their lives, past, present and future.

SS Nomadic was commissioned by White Star Line to serve the Olympic-class liners Olympic, Titanic and Britannic when they called in Cherbourg. Built in Belfast alongside Titanic, she was made with the same steel, built by the same workers and decorated by the same craftsmen. Because her duties were to serve first- and second-class passengers, she was fitted out far more luxuriously than other tenders of that time and she was considered by the White Star Line as a window into the sumptuous new transatlantic liners. While Titanic is commonly described as the ill-fated White Star Liner, SS Nomadic can without any doubt be qualified as the lucky tender, having survived both world wars and escaped destruction many times. She is now restored to her former glory as a tourist attraction in Belfast.

Journeying along London's waterways on a canal boat called Pike, Helen Babbs puts down roots for two weeks at a time before moving on. From Walthamstow Marsh in the east to Uxbridge in the west, she explores the landscape in all its guises: marshland, wasteland, city centre and suburb. From deep winter to late autumn, Babbs explores the people, politics, history and wildlife of the canals and rivers, to reveal an intimate and unusual portrait of London - and of life.

By the 1970s it looked as if QE2 would be the last of the great transatlantic ocean liners. However, over three decades later the world watched in awe as Queen Mary 2, the largest, longest, grandest and most expensive ocean liner ever to be constructed, set sail on her maiden voyage in 2004. With 14 decks and beautiful lounges, dining rooms and a ballroom, QM2 evokes the glamour of the golden age of ocean travel. QM2: A Photographic Journey allows the reader to experience this unique vessel from the comfort of their own home, with numerous photographs of each of QM2's public rooms as well as stunning exterior shots and behind the scenes access. This revised edition has been extensively updated to reflect the 2016 refit, with many new photographs from around the ship.

An estimated 15,000 people live on board boats in the UK and at any one time thousands more are interested in doing so. The aim of this beautifully illustrated guide is to help people live the dream and not the nightmare, providing a useful step by step introduction to the basics of making a life afloat. Fully updated this new edition of A Beginners' Guide to Living on the Waterways covers different types of liveaboard craft suitable for canals, rivers and estuaries, and the good and bad points of the different options. It goes on to discuss practicalities such as moorings, engines (including basic maintenance and fault finding), heating and cooking, sanitation, furnishing a boat, survival tips and finances. This is a must-have guide for all those considering the alternative way of living that a boat offers, as well as those who are already there!

The whaling bark Progress was a New Bedford ship transformed into a whaling museum for Chicago's 1893 world's fair. Traversing waterways across North America, the whaleship enthralled crowds from Montreal to Racine. Her ultimate fate, however, was to be a failed sideshow of marine curiosities and a metaphor for a dying industry out of step with Gilded Age America. This book uses the story of the Progress to detail the rise, fall, and eventual demise of the whaling industry in America. The legacy of this whaling bark can be found throughout New England and Chicago, and invites questions about what it means to transform a dying industry into a museum piece.

The largest, most luxurious ship in the world, lost on her maiden voyage after colliding with an iceberg in mid-Atlantic, Titanic has become the stuff of legends. Built at the peak of the race between the British, French and Germans to build bigger and better ships, she was the achievement of 15,000 men in one of the world's most advanced shipyards. While everyone knows the new White Star liner was the most glamorous and was full of millionaires when she sank, few appreciate just how luxurious she was or how advanced her design was for her day. For the first time, Bruce Beveridge, Scott Andrews, Steve Hall, Daniel Klistorner and Art Braunschweiger look in detail at the ship herself, how she was built and what it was like inside. From the engine rooms to the First Class parlour suites, from the Doulton water closets to the cargo cranes, every area of Titanic is presented in stunning detail. Volume One covers the design and construction of Titanic, with individual chapters detailing such diverse areas as the riveting of the ship, her heating and ventilation systems, funnels, steering and navigation systems and more. Volume Two covers the interior design and fitting out of the ship and presents detailed deck-by-deck information, from the palatial rooms of First Class to areas of the ship seen only by the crew.

Not everybody is aware that the ships that rounded our coast over the past five centuries are as closely linked to the history of South Africa as gold and diamonds. They were treasures then, they are all treasures today. The difference is that about 3000 ships were lost rounding the Cape of Good Hope, some centuries ago on their way to and from the Spice Islands of the East. It has taken a rare brand of adventurer to discover the undersea locations of many of them and Al Venter and his friends detail their activities. These range from the earliest Portuguese sailing ships to more contemporary disasters like the sinking of the liner Oceanos off the Wild Coast a few decades ago. Venter has been diving for half a century, so he has a story or two of his own to relate. Contributors venture much further afield and chapters on a Roman galley sunk off a Tunisian island, a Portuguese Nao that went down in Mombasa harbour, the tragedy of the Royal Navy troopship HMS Birkenhead where the phrase “women and children first” was first used and left its legacy in the annals of maritime history are included. The first chapter is arguably the most interesting, the discovery in 2013 of the submarine HMS Otus, which lies at 110 metres off Durban. The author also tells us about diving on an old ship, a former Royal Navy Loch Class frigate, the SAS Transvaal. She now lies on the bottom of False Bay. This book covers scores of shipwrecks – East Indiamen, warships from before and after the Napoleonic era, nineteenth-century steamships, trawlers, some modern freighters that courted disaster, whalers and a handful that has never been properly identified.