This book, originally from 1912 deals with the history of the fore-and-aft-rig, which is the most common rig on larger sailing ships. The very detailed description explains in an unique manner the development of sail rigs from the beginning until today.

This story of sailing ships has been written primarily for the general reader, in the hope that the sons and daughters of a naval nation, and of an Empire that stretches beyond the seas, may find therein a record of some interest and assistance in enlarging and systematising their ideas on the subject, especially as regards the ships of earlier centuries. I trust that both the yachtsman and sailorman will find in these pages something of the same exiting pleasure which has been mine in tracing the course of the evolutions through which their ships have passed. A well written and beautifully illustrated historical account that starts with the early Egyptian ships from 6000 BC and covers the development of sailing ships until the beginning of the 20th century. Reprint of the original edition from 1909.

This volume is an attempt to trace the history of the Mercantile Marine, and to show the reader how much we owe to our ancestors for the ingenuity, enterprise, courage and perseverance by which the Merchant Service has been built up for the good of nations, the increase of trade and the spread of civilization. It is high time that the public appreciated all that is meant by the term Mercantile Marine. Edward Keble Chatterton, British marine expert and author of many naval books, describes in detail the history of the Mercantile Marine. Reprint of the original edition from 1923.