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Books > Sport & Leisure > Transport: general interest > Ships & shipping: general interest
Twenty years have passed since the Rochdale Canal reopened
following a restoration scheme that faced almost impossible
hurdles. One of three commercial waterways across the Pennines, the
canal links the industrial North West and North East, flowing
through mill towns, beneath dramatic bridges and traverses
spectacular hilly scenery. Its ninety-one locks present a strenuous
challenge for boaters, while it has become popular with walkers,
cyclists, houseboat residents and casual sailors. The revival of
the canal has helped to bring new life to the towns and villages
along its route. This book tracks its 32-mile length, telling its
story in colour through historians, canals users, lock keepers and
all those who today utilise the canal in ways its originators never
conceived.
Sink into the depths... The great oceans of the world have long
been considered alien environments said to harbor strange creatures
and unfathomable mysteries. This new book from full-time monster
hunter Neil Arnold examines the maritime-rich heritage surrounding
the coastline of Britain and the mysterious activity said to take
place there. Shadows on the Sea explores eerie stories of phantom
ships upon frothing waves, sailor's stories, fishermen's tales and
impossible monsters said to hide within the inky depths, not
forgetting weird tales of USOs - unidentified submarine-type
objects - and other mysterious lights witnessed out at sea.
Compiling hundreds of stories and many eyewitness accounts, from
the spine-chilling to the utterly bizarre, this volume is an
exploration of the unknown that takes the reader on a voyage
through strange tales and roaring seas.
Despite being a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water
Colours and of the British Society of Poster Designers, Kenneth
Denton Shoesmith (1890 - 1939) is little known today, yet his
maritime art perfectly captures the romance and adventure of ocean
liner travel in the early 20th century. In 1918 he left a career at
sea to devote himself to painting, and much of his art celebrates
the ships of the Royal Mail Line, for whom he produced a vast
amount of paintings and sketches for advertising purposes, but
perhaps the pinnacle of his career was working on the interiors of
Queen Mary. Shoesmith died at the early age of 48 just before the
outbreak of war in 1939. An obituarist wrote: 'As a poster artist -
he was quite definitely in the front rank of those who are content
to paint what they see and know. He was direct in his methods,
sound in his drawing and brilliant in his colour. His ships were
not only correct in detail but they were always in and not on the
water, for he painted with a seaman's knowledge as well as an
artist's perception.' Glyn Evans has spent many years researching
this elusive artist and rediscovering his works to share with a
wider public. The selection of works included here are a fond
tribute to Shoesmith's talent, and an expression of the author's
personal delight in having discovered a maritime artist so gifted
in the skill of bringing ships to life and imbuing them with such
character as to make one wish to rush out and book passage on the
next available sailing!
To celebrate 60 years of sailing Scottish waters, the author
single-handedly sailed Halcyon, a 32' wooden yawl, from Fairlie on
the Clyde, round the Mull of Kintyre by way of numerous inner
islands to Barra in the Outer Hebrides and to the Atlantic side of
the islands, not often visited by cruising yachts. Bad weather
forced a diversion to explore the sea lochs of the west coast of
Harris and Lewis, the islands of Taransay (of the BBC's Castaway
series) and Scarp, famed for its ingenious 'Rocket Post'
experiment. While visiting these numerous islands, he met local
people and experienced the sometimes violent extremes of weather
such as when he was storm-bound in Stornoway for several days.
There are stories galore about the island people, snippets of
interesting history, legends and folklore, tales of the sea and
island life, the Hebridean fishermen and lighthouses - thus
uncovering another dimension of island life. Bob recounts his
travels and tales, some previously unpublished, in a relaxed and
highly-readable style. As well as being a unique travel book, it is
an insight into the rapidly-changing ways of island life and a
useful sailing guide to the Western Isles and anchorages in the
Hebrides. It would be of immeasurable help to sailors keen to
venture into some of the lesser-known sailing areas of Western
Scotland. This vivid and entertaining story of adventurous sailing
among Scotland's beautiful but challenging Western Isles will be
enjoyed by keen sailors and armchair travellers alike - a truly
memorable journey of over 1000 miles!
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Deep Devil
(Paperback)
Nick Sullivan
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R513
R440
Discovery Miles 4 400
Save R73 (14%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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While a large number of books have dealt with the navies and war at
sea during the World Wars, the immediate aftermaths have generally
received only minimal coverage. However, the fates of defeated
navies are of enormous interest from a number of perspectives.
These include the relative priorities of the victorious powers,
acquisition and testing of ex-enemy materiel and the intended
future capabilities of those ex-enemy navies that were to be
allowed to continue to exist. This new book traces the histories of
navies and ships of the defeated powers from the months leading up
to the relevant armistices or surrenders through to the final
execution of the appropriate post-war settlements. In doing so, it
discusses the way in which the victorious powers reached their
final demands, how these were implemented, and to what effect. The
later histories of ships that saw subsequent service, either in
their original navies or in those navies which acquired them, are
also described. In doing this, much use is made of material drawn
from archival, and in some cases archaeological, sources, some of
which has never previously been used. Through these, a wide range
of long-standing myths are busted, and some badly distorted modern
views and assessments of events in the wake of the conflicts put
right. The fascinating narrative will be accompanied by tabulated
lists of all major navy-built (and certain significant
ex-mercantile) enemy ships in commission at the relevant date of
the armistice or surrender, or whose hulks were specifically listed
for attention in post-Second World War allied agreements. These
will include key dates in their careers and their ultimate fates.
This highly original book, drawing on archaeological evidence as
well as archival sources, and including numerous photographs will
become an essential reference tool for all those interested in the
naval history of the two World Wars.
Belfast has a long and proud shipbuilding heritage, this industry
holding a strong place in Belfast's identity and popular culture.
There were three main shipbuilders, Harland & Wolff, Workman
Clark and the little-known McIllwain & Co., all of whom had
fascinating and often turbulent histories. Despite this, little is
known about the vessels they produced, beyond the world-famous
story of Titanic. In this impeccably researched book, Dr John Lynch
endeavours to change this, revealing the fascinating stories of the
many ships to be built and launched from Belfast over 140 years,
from the late 1850s to the twenty-first century. Including an
alphabetical ship index, building lists, details on vessel name
changes and many illustrations of the ships, this book also details
the yards themselves and key characters in shaping their journeys
from hey-day to decline.
The Erie Canal was dying. Adirondack sawmills were falling silent.
And in the final years of the nineteenth century, the upstate New
York town of Forestport was struggling just to survive. Then the
canal levees started breaking, and the boom times returned. The
Forestport saloons flourished, the town's gamblers rollicked, and
the politically connected canal contractors were flush once more.
It was all very convenient until Governor Theodore Roosevelt's
administration grew suspicious and the Pinkerton National Detective
Agency began investigating. They found what a lawman called one of
the most gigantic conspiracies ever hatched in New York. In The
Forestport Breaks, Michael Doyle illuminates a fresh and
fascinating chapter in the colorful history of the Erie Canal. This
is the canal's shadowy side, a world of political rot and plotting
men, and it extended well beyond one rough and tumble town. The
Forestport breaks marked the only time New York officials charged
men with conspiring to destroy canal property, but they were also
illustrative of the widespread rascality surrounding the canal. For
Doyle, there is a story with a personal dimension behind the drama
of the canal's historical events. As he uncovered the rise and fall
of Forestport, he was also discovering that the trail of
culpability led to members in his own family tree.
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