Maritime History & Piracy

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER *LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 BALLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION* *SELECTED AS ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVOURITE BOOKS OF 2023* 'The beauty of The Wager unfurls like a great sail... one of the finest nonfiction...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER & THE TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF 2021 'Astonishing and compelling' Bernard Cornwell 'This superb book is like a classical symphony, perfectly composed and exquisitely performed' THE TIMES Books of the Year ...

The official celebration of the 100th anniversary of The Shipping Forecast There's a sea lover in every Brit. The Shipping Forecast on Radio 4 has been keeping people up to date with the latest changes to British weather for a century, and capturing our...

A thought-provoking and important book that raises essential issues crucial not only for understanding our past but also the present day.In this panoramic history, Jeremy Black tells how slavery was first developed in the ancient world, and reaches all...

A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR'As brilliant a history of the Vikings as one could possibly hope to read' Tom HollandThe 'Viking Age' is traditionally held to begin in June 793 when Scandinavian raiders attacked the monastery of Lindisfarne in Northumbria, and...

THE #2 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'As gripping as any thriller. History doesn't get any better than this' BILL BRYSON 'A brilliant read ... Game of Thrones but in the real world' ANTHONY HOROWITZ ...

In the early hours of 15 April 1912, after the majestic liner Titanic had split apart and the 1,500 men, women and children struggled to stay alive in the freezing Atlantic, the sea was alive with the sound of screaming. Then, as the ship sank to the...

Sunday Times Bestseller and Blackwell's Non-Fiction Book of the Month.Over one hundred years after its wreck, Endurance, Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship, was found in the depths of the most hostile sea on Earth. The Ship Beneath the Ice is the astonishing...

'There is no danger that Titanic will sink. The boat is unsinkable and nothing but inconvenience will be suffered by the passengers.' - Phillip Franklin, White Star Line Vice-PresidentOn April 15th, 1912, Titanic, the world's largest passenger ship, sank...

The Command of the Ocean describes with unprecedented authority and scholarship the rise of Britain to naval greatness, and the central place of the Navy and naval activity in the life of the nation and government. It describes not just battles, voyages...

As remarkable as Columbus and the conquistador expeditions, the history of Portuguese exploration is now almost forgotten. But Portugal's navigators cracked the code of the Atlantic winds, launched the expedition of Vasco da Gama to India and beat...

'A joyously peculiar book' - The New York Times'A fascinating insight into Icelandic culture and a fresh perspective on her global influence. Warning: may well make readers wish they were Icelandic, too.' - Helen Russell, author of The Year of Living...

'Masterful and entrancing - this is big history at its best.' Professor Alice Roberts, author of Ancestors'A real-life Indiana Jones takes readers on a dive through these underwater museums, revealing the sunken secrets of the past' The Times'Fascinating...

'An epic of survival' -- MICHAEL PALIN'A "grade-A classic"' -- SUNDAY TIMES'Utterly enthralling' -- GEOFF DYER, GUARDIAN'Deeply engrossing' -- NEW YORK TIMESLISTED AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, SUNDAY TIMESThe harrowing, survival...

The Sunday Times bestseller 'One of the most dramatic forgotten chapters of the war, as told in a new book by the incomparable Max Hastings' DAILY MAIL In August 1942, beleaguered Malta was within weeks of surrender to the Axis,...

On the night of 14/15 April 1912, a brandnew, supposedly unsinkable ship, the largest and most luxurious vessel in the world at the time, collided with an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage. Of the 2,208 people on board, only 712 were saved. The rest...

The Midway-class were the US Navy's biggest carriers built during World War II. Superbly illustrated, this explains how they became the backbone of the Cold War fleet. Entering service in September 1945, the Midway-class aircraft carrier was the US...

The 2024 edition of Warship, the celebrated annual publication featuring original research on the history, development, and service of the world's warships. For over 45 years, Warship has been the leading annual resource on the design, development,...

**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**An inventive biography of one of the most famous ships of all time - recently discovered off the coast of America- Endeavour is an alluring combination of history, adventure and science. From Johnson's Dictionary to...

The Number One best-selling, epic true-life story of one of the most notorious maritime disasters of the 19th century, beautifully reissued alongside Philbrick's new paperback, Sea of Glory. The sinking of the whaleship Essex by an enraged...

The Rescue Ships and the Convoys tells the history of one of the least known aspects of Second World War maritime history. Despite the threat of heavy losses of ships and lives, no hospital ships, which had to be lit, could accompany the convoys as they...

'An acerbic, compelling and always accessible account of how opium corrupted the world' TLS'The writing is sublime, the research thorough, the eye for story superb' Sunday TelegraphWhen Amitav Ghosh began the research for his monumental cycle of novels...

'Wise, compassionate, and urgent.' Robert Macfarlane, author of Underland A Bookseller Nonfiction Editor's Choice for March 2024 Plunge into the depths of the unknown in this thrilling work of nonfiction that combines science, history, and nature...

__________Available now: the biggest and best quiz book about the deep blue!__________Think you know the difference between a ship and a boat? Do you really understand the shipping forecast? And what do all the different flags at sea mean?The Nautical...

Hands-on science in the Age of Exploration.Winner of the John Lyman Book Award in Naval and Maritime Science and Technology by the North American Society for Oceanic History and the Leo Gershoy Prize by the American Historical AssociationThroughout the...

'An epic tale of exploration, daring and tragedy told by a fine historian - and a wonderful writer' - Peter Frankopan, author of the bestselling The Silk Roads. 'The name of William Barents isn't that familiar to us these days...but this enthralling,...

A compendium of fascinating information about the great waters that cover two-thirds of our Earth and the men and women that sailed them.Breverton's Nautical Curiosities is about ships, people and the sea. However, unlike many other nautical...

'I saw that ship sink, I never closed my eyes. I saw it, I heard it, and nobody could possibly forget it. I can remember the colours, the sounds, everything. The worst thing I can remember were the screams.' EVA HART This is the amazing story of how...

The Sunday Times bestseller 'One of the most dramatic forgotten chapters of the war, as told in a new book by the incomparable Max Hastings' DAILY MAIL In August 1942, beleaguered Malta was within weeks of surrender to the Axis,...

'Consistently illuminating ... Like all the best stories, it is about the timeless tides of power and influence ... trade deals can sometimes be sexy, thrilling and epic' Sinclair McKay, SpectatorLife in Europe was fundamentally changed in the 16th...

The latest edition of Warship, the celebrated annual publication featuring the latest research on the history, development, and service of the world's warships. For over 45 years, Warship has been the leading annual resource on the design,...

In Empire's Crossroads, Carrie Gibson offers readers a vivid, authoritative and action-packed history of the Caribbean. For Gibson, everything was created in the West Indies: the Europe of today, its financial foundations built with sugar money: the...

When the Dutch East Indiaman Batavia struck an uncharted reef off the new continent of Australia on her maiden voyage in 1629, 332 men, women and children were on board. While some headed off in a lifeboat to seek help, 250 of the survivors ended up on a...

The first account of Britain's convoys during the Napoleonic Wars-showing how the protection of trade played a decisive role in victory During the Napoleonic Wars thousands of merchant ships crisscrossed narrow seas and wide oceans, protected by...

An anthology of 17th and 18th century travel writing that inspired the hugely popular Aubrey/Maturin series, collected and introduced by Patrick O'Brian, beautifully repackaged to mark the centenary of his birth. Patrick O'Brian has unearthed...

Lighthouses have been used as aids to maritime navigation for centuries. They are highly recognisable and beloved features of our coastline and waterways, treasured by communities and captivating visitors. But how many are there and is it really possible...

An in-depth examination of the law and geopolitics of China's maritime disputes and their implications for the rules of the international law of the sea China's Law of the Sea is the first comprehensive study of the law and geopolitics of China's...

The age of exploration was drawing to a close, yet the mystery of the North Pole remained. Contemporaries described the pole as the 'unattainable object of our dreams', and the urge to fill in this last great blank space on the map grew irresistible.In...

An updated and expanded edition to celebrate the 150th anniversary of this iconic ship. The narrative spans her construction at Dumbarton in 1869; her famous tea voyages as well as those with other cargoes; her career under a Portuguese flag; her...

In 1845, British explorer Sir John Franklin set out on a voyage to find the North-West Passage - the sea route linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. The expedition was expected to complete its mission within three years and return home in triumph...