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Books > Sport & Leisure > Transport: general interest > Ships & shipping: general interest
Tom McCluskie followed his father and was apprenticed into Harland
& Wolff's shipyard on Queen's Island, Belfast. Harland and
Wolff was a hard working environment, and also dangerous but Tom
accepted this as the price to pay for working at such a famous
shipyard, the one that had built the Titanic and also the Canberra.
Slowly working his way up through determination and hard work, Tom
became passionate about the history of the yard and, at a time when
no-one in H &W cared, he managed to secure the company's
archive and was responsible for having it deposited at the Ulster
Folk and Transport Museum. As an acknowledged Titanic expert, he
was also seconded by H & W to help James Cameron make his epic
'Titanic' movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Tom
traces the history of one of the most famous of all shipbuilding
companies, from the arrival of Edward Harland in Belfast in 1854
through the building of the Titanic to the company in its
present-day form. In doing so he transports us back to the
glamorous 'golden age' of shipping and gives an intriguing new
perspective on British industry. A regular speaker at Titanic
conventions worldwide, Tom has written numerous books on the
Titanic and her two sister ships.
"Stop the presses One hundred thousand dollar reward offered for
the return of George Harley Rockham "
That's more than enough to turn Shanghai newspaperman Jimmy Vance's
head. Throw in the gorgeous dame who's offering the
reward--Rockham's daughter Virginia--and he might lose his head
altogether. As fast-talking as Jimmy Stewart in "The Philadelphia
Story," Vance jumps at the chance . . . the money . . . and the
girl.
But as Jimmy quickly discovers, there are several billion reasons
to watch his back. Because that's how much Rockham is worth, and
there are some very hard cases out there willing to kill to
separate the old man from his money.
Next thing Jimmy knows, Virginia's tied to a chair, and he's got a
couple of guns pointed at his head. But it'll take more than a
little rope and a couple of firearms to keep this reporter down.
The truth is tied to the mysterious fate of a steamship named
"Shanung"--and what Jimmy finds could be the biggest story of his
life . . . if he lives to tell it.
In the issue of "Smashing Novels" where this story first appeared
the editor wrote: ""Loot of the Shanung "is a soul-stirring tale of
the China Sea, a story of modern piracy set in the Far East. L. Ron
Hubbard wrote it. He knows China. He has been there. He traveled
through the country and met the people and observed their customs.
"Smashing Novels" will have other stories from him--stories of
far-off places and little known people. "He knows of what he
writes.""
In the early 1950s it seemed as if Greek shipping companies were
springing up everywhere. For a country almost unknown as a
passenger ship-owning state, the likes of the Greek Line, Chandris
and Epirotiki burst onto the scene, often using second hand tonnage
and ships acquired from the Western European fleets that were being
updated. The lines soon took advantage of the mass emigration from
Europe to Australia and New Zealand as well as cruising, which was
then in its infancy. Although many of the Greek lines such as Royal
Olympic Cruises are now gone, the likes of Chandris still survives
today as Celebrity Cruises. Bill Miller, the noted maritime
historian, brings together a collection of images of his favourite
Greek liners and tells of the history of the Greek fleets that made
the world of cruising so exciting in the last half century.
From its inception, P&A Campbell dominated steamer travel on
the Bristol Channel, both for tourism and trade between Bristol and
South Wales. The steamers of Campbell's were a regular sight as
they were down to the north Devon coast, Lundy Island, and the
Somerset piers. This book presents the history of the early P&A
Campbell years.
Kirkcaldy Harbour: An Illustrated History traces the story of
Kirkcaldy harbour from its sixteenth-century royal connections,
through the boom years of commercial shipping, to its recent rescue
from dereliction by the international grain ships servicing the
huge flour mill. The six fully illustrated chapters cover the early
days; the never-ending series of repairs and extensions, including
plans for two new harbours which were never completed; the
nineteenth century whaling industry; wealthy shipowners and their
grand houses (three of which remain); imports and exports; and the
present day. Importantly, the book includes extracts from a
never-before published local memoir that gives first-hand memories
of John Paul Jones' American ships in the Forth in 1778; the
Kirkcaldy captain on a trade mission to Russia in 1801 when Tsar
Paul I was assassinated; and a whaling captain's description of his
ship being frozen up in an Arctic winter.
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