"A truly comprehensive publication, running the gamut from the first Atlantic sail-enhanced steamers to today's remaining handful of combi-liners." — Maritime MattersBefore the advent of the jet age, ocean liners were the principal means of transport around the globe, and carried migrants and business people, soldiers and administrators, families, and lone travelers to every corner of the world. Though the ocean liner was born on the North Atlantic it soon...

A hippy Sell Up and Sail , this entertaining and inspiring book is more than just a cruising narrative - it is an instructive account showing how anyone can circumnavigate (or even sail for an extended period) without huge funds. Lars Hassler originally set off intending to sail for three years, but by judiciously using his funds, and topping them up by taking charter guests on cruises, he sailed around the world for ten years. Woven into the book is advice on costs, distances, timing, pow...

At a turning point in his life, George Fetherling embarked on an adventure to sail round the world on one of the last of the tramp freighters. The four-month voyage carried him 30,000 nautical miles from Europe via the Panama Canal to the South Pacific and back by way of Singapore, Indonesia, the Indian Ocean, and Suez.Written with dash, colour, and droll humour, Fetherlings narrative is peopled by a rich cast of characters, from the Foreign Legionnaires of French Polynesia to the ...

Some people dream of radically changing their life-styles and never do. Eric Mold and his family did. They sold up their worldly possessions, bought a boat with the money and set out for a life on the high seas. From the decision as to what type of boat to have, to the problem of making money to stay afloat, this book chronicles the pitfalls and pleasures which beset this adventurous family. Their experiences both ashore and on board Superstar are frankly described. Interesting enc...

On 15 April 2012, 100 years will have passed since the Royal Mail Steamer Titanic hit an iceberg and foundered in the North Atlantic with the loss of 1,503 lives. Had the disaster not occurred, what is now the best-known ship in the world would have lost the title of the largest liner within just two years. She was certainly not the fastest passenger ship of the time and can be considered a technological throwback, yet Titanic captures the imagination like no other. This b...

100 Catastrophic Disasters is an astounding compendium of natural and man-made disasters. The range of entries is extraordinary, from the bizarre to the horrific, and from the heartbreaking to the ridiculous.The book includes some of history's most incredible disasters and tells in vivid detail the story of events of people involved, the impact of particular disasters and the destruction and sorrow they left in their wake. From the eruption of Vesuvius and destruction of P...

Since the end of the nineteenth century there has been a stunning succession of transatlantic liners, from the White Star Line's Oceanic of 1899 to the Cunard Line's Queen Mary 2 of 2004. These floating palaces often contained luxurious staterooms, ballrooms and lounges for the rich, and noticeably more modest and basic accommodation for poorer travellers. Their designs and powerplants were often cutting-edge as each competed to be the largest, most luxurious and fastest ship on the Atlant...

For more than 5,000 years, the sea has challenged, rewarded, and punished the brave sailors who set forth to explore it.This history of the sea and sailing tells the remarkable story of those individuals--whether they lived to tell the tale themselves or not.From the early Polynesian seafarers and the first full circumnavigations of the globe, to explorers picking their way through the coral reefs of the West Indies, this book tells the compelling story of ...

In this unparalleled investigation that deconstructs the modern hindsight that has tainted Titanic's legacy, Allen Gibson presents a comprehensive history with a refreshing argument, that Titanic represented a considerable achievement in maritime architecture.Telling the story of the 'unsinkable' ship against a backdrop of a tumultuous and rapidly emerging technological world, he exposes the people and the circumstances that contributed to the dis...

This book charts the development of the ocean liner from the 19th century to the present day. It explores the golden years of transatlantic shipping and the competition from the jet passenger aircraft. The book looks at the history and development of the early ocean-going steamships, and the competition between shipping companies by the end of the 19th century to build liners that were extreme in luxury and aimed for the very wealthy. The book traces the history of the ocean liner through ...

Under Canadian Pacific's red-and-white-checkered flag, the company's founders, George Stephen and William C. Van Horne, created a rail-sea service from Liverpool to Hong Kong. Boasting sternwheelers, Great Lakes bulk carriers, ferries, and luxurious ocean-going liner leviathans, the Canadian Pacific shipping line sailed around the globe. In both world wars the entire fleet served gallantly as Allied troop carriers. After the Second World War, the company staved off the realities of the jet...

From the 1890s, the German shipping lines had begun to build the fastest and most luxurious liners. It had started when Kaiser Wilhelm had visited Spithead and been transported on White Star Line's Teutonic and had mentioned that Germany must have ships like this. The first four stacker, the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, had been named in his honour and the ships that followed were faster and more magnificent than the last. Introducing the Ritz Carlton restaurants aboard ship as well as other...