Sealink's antecedents go back to the packet boats of the days before steam. The invention of the steam engine greatly assisted the development of the railways and led to the growth of the packet boats. The private railway companies recognised the need for an integrated transport system which included operating services across the sea routes. The Big Four railway companies were nationalised in 1948 and their shipping services came under the control of the British Transport ommission. In 1968 a Shipping and International Services Division of the British Railways Board was formed. This separate division operated under the brand name of Sealink. In 1979 the assets of the Shipping and International Services Division were transferred to Sealink UK Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary company. With a wealth of previously unpublished images, Ian Collard tells the fascinating story of this unique shipping company.

The author aims to give 'a concise and practical presentation of the processes involved in designing a modern yacht'.... so that the operations can be grasped by men without a technical education. ...There are chapters on displacement, the lateral plane, design, stability, ballast, the sail plan, and construction. A thirty-foot cruiser is made the basis of the calculations, and a number of tables is appended to abridge the figuring of important details. The book is illustrated with numerous outline drawings and plates. The book will undoubtedly be serviceable to everyone interested in the subject and possessed of enough technical knowledge to understand it. -N. Y. Times

This is a masterly, immensely readable and totally convincing narrative of 500 years of this great and mightily important British industryIn fact, this new book describes with great insight and clarity the development, growth and decline of two industries: first, the highly skilled trade of crafting wooden sailing ships; and, second, the story of the iron and steel shipbuilding industry that took its place.At one time dozens of small yards were busy building the small wooden trading vessels that were the mainstay of British trade with the world, but with the advent of steam power, and of iron hulls, the British industry gradually became concentrated in a few great shipbuilding regions such as the North East, the Clyde and Belfast.

Queen of the Lakes, perfect for coffee tables, lakefront cabins, and boat lovers' bookshelves, tells the story of each of the ships that has been honored with the title ""Queen of the Great Lakes.

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."