History

On 26 December 1900, the vessel Hesperus arrived at Eilean Mor in the remote Outer Hebrides with a relief lighthouseman and fresh provisions. The lighthouse had been in operation for a year, but it had been noted that no light had been seen from Eilean...

The origins of a permanent French sailing navy can be traced to the work of Cardinal Richelieu in the 1620s, but this naval force declined rapidly in the 1650s and a virtually new _Marine Royale_ had to be re-created by Colbert from 1661/. Thereafter,...

The vast majority of period ship models are built from kits, usually primarily of wood with some ready-made fittings. Although these commercial offerings have improved significantly in recent years, all of them can be enhanced in accuracy or detail by an...

This amusing insight into Cunard's legendary liners begins more than fifty years ago when Paul Curtis joined the original Queen Mary as entertainments officer. Over a Cunard high tea in the Queens Room, Paul recounts the stories of these iconic ships...

An illustrated history of the long Cold War careers of the US Navy's last gun destroyers, from the modernized World War II-era Fletcher-class to the Forrest Sherman-class. The finest American destroyers of World War II had surprisingly long careers...

An absorbing study of the duels fought between the US Navy's escort warships and Hitler's U-boats between December 1941 and May 1945. Although the Battle of the Atlantic lasted several years, its most critical phase began once the United States...

Launched as the pride of British shipbuilding and the largest vessel in the world, Olympic was more than 40 per cent larger than her nearest rivals: almost 900ft long and the first ship to exceed 40,000 tons. She was built for comfort rather than speed...

The Great Lighthouses of Ireland is a collection of striking images and fascinating stories about the lighthouses around Ireland's coast and the extraordinary men and women who lived and worked in them. The book, published to accompany the TV series...

In August 1914 the two greatest navies in the world confronted each other across the North Sea. At first there were skirmishes, then battles off the coasts of England and Germany and in the far corners of the world, including the Falklands. The British...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781905472161Author Anthony SlavinFormat HardbackPage Count 352Imprint Crucible BooksPublisher Crucible Books

This concise but authoritative story of RMS Titanic, the most famous ship of all time, is packed with fascinating facts.About the AuthorDavid Hutchings is the librarian of the Vosper Thornycroft Archive at Portsmouth. He is an authority on the RMS...

The Kriegsmarine's Scharnhorst was a German capital ship, described either as a battleship or battlecruiser, and the lead ship of her class, which included one other ship, Gneisenau. She was launched on 3 October 1936 and completed in January 1939, armed...

Lt Cdr Julian Stockwin shares his love and knowledge of the sea in this entertaining collection of maritime stories and little-known trivia. Featuring nautical facts and feats, including superstitions at sea, the history of animals on the waves - until...

A history of the small, mass-produced warships that defended the Atlantic convoys from U-boats and secured Britain's lifeline to the United States. As the Battle of the Atlantic grew fiercer, Britain and the Commonwealth needed large quantities of...

In November 1859, the French warship La Gloire was launched. She was the world's first seagoing ironclad - a warship built from wood, but whose hull was clad in a protective layer of iron plate. Britain, not to be outdone, launched her own ironclad the...

How the miracle on the beaches saved a nation. A gripping account of one of the most famous episodes of the Second World WarIn May 1940 British and Allied troops on mainland Europe were in a perilous situation: cut off and surrounded, at the conclusion...

Discover the enthralling story of the HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Navy's largest ever aircraft carrier and SUBJECT OF THE MAJOR NEW BBC DOCUMENTARY SERIES THE WARSHIP'Fascinating, often funny and sometimes moving . . . Terrill takes us deep into the...

A uniquely detailed visual representation of the legendary Japanese warships. Equipped with the largest guns and heaviest armour and with the greatest displacement of any ship ever built, the Yamato proved to be a formidable opponent to the US...

The curiously named HMS Pickle was the second-smallest British ship in Nelson's fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar. She acquired enduring fame, however, as the ship that carried Lord Collingwood's dispatch announcing the death, in the midst of battle, of...

Could these crystal clear waters hide the secrets of her past?Present dayFor years Shelly Summer has buried herself in her work, trying to forget her past. The only time she feels truly herself is when she's diving in the Mediterranean - the calm and...

Report into the Loss of the SS Titanic is a complete re-evaluation of the loss of Titanic based on evidence that has come to light since the discovery of the wreck in 1985. This collective undertaking is compiled by eleven of the world's foremost Titanic...

When the Titanic sank, so did the Edwardian age that created it. In this brilliantly original history, Gareth Russell recasts a tragedy we think we know to explore an era of seismic change. With new research and...

The Bismarck is perhaps the most famous - and notorious - warship ever built. Completed in 1941, the 45,000-ton German battleship sank HMS Hood, the pride of the British Navy, during one of the most sensational encounters in naval history. Following the...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780486264400Author Hervey Garrett SmithFormat PaperbackPage Count 256Imprint Dover Publications Inc.Publisher Dover Publications Inc.Weight(grams)...

AD 643. Anglo-Saxon Britain. A gripping, action-packed historical thriller and the sixth instalment in the Bernicia Chronicles. Heading south to lands he once considered his home, Beobrand is plunged into a dark world of piracy and slavery when an old...

On the night of 14-15 April 1912, Titanic, a brand-new, 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 Newport Medieval Ship is the most important late-medieval merchant vessel yet recovered. Built c.1450 in northern Spain, it foundered at Newport twenty years later while undergoing repairs. Since its discovery in 2002, further investigations have...

Scottish Arctic Whaling brings to light a previously little-known but important Scottish industry. The author's extensive use of original sources such as log-books and diaries shows that hundreds of whaling vessels, sailing variously from sixteen...

A compelling account of the heavily armed and highly mobile Soviet river gunboats which took on the Germans during World War II. Russia's enormous river system has long been its highway and, as early as 1908, the Tsar's armies were developing armoured...

SS Terra Nova was most famous for being the vessel to carry the ill-fated 1910 polar expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott, but the story of this memorable ship, built in wood to enable flexibility in the ice, continued until 1943, when she sank off...

'The story of "invasive species" is really the story of human history, and Eatherley tells it with great verve ... Fascinating' Daily Telegraph A unique history of plant and animal invaders of the British isles spanning thousands...

During the early twentieth century, professional gamblers were such a scourge in the smoking rooms of trans-Atlantic passenger liners that White Star Line warned its passengers about them. In spring 1912 three professional gamblers travelled from the USA...

For most of the twentieth century Britain possessed both the worlds largest merchant fleet and its most extensive overseas territories. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Royal Navy always showed a particular interest in the cruiser a...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781526777294Author Ian BuxtonFormat HardbackPage Count 320Imprint US Naval Institute PressPublisher US Naval Institute PressWeight(grams) 305g

An illustrated study of the design, development and eventual fates of the uncompleted super-battleships intended to be built before and during World War II. Before the start of World War II, the battleship was still king, and all the major powers...

The slave ship was the instrument of history's greatest forced migration and a key to the origins and growth of global capitalism, yet much of its history remains unknown. Marcus Rediker uncovers the extraordinary human drama that played out on this...

A monumental, wholly accessible work of scholarship that retells human history through the story of mankind's relationship with the sea. An accomplishment of both great sweep and illuminating detail, The Sea and Civilization is a stunning work of...

The self-propelled or locomotive torpedo was probably the greatest game-changer in the history of naval warfare. For the first time the largest warship could be sunk by a weapon carried by the smallest, and most navies were quick to see the potential...

The Royal Navy invented the fast motor torpedo boat during the First World War, and used it and other small coastal craft to great effect during the Second. This book tells the dramatic story of British coastal forces, both offensive and defensive, in...

Smuggling was rife in Britain between the seventeenth and mid-nineteenth centuries, and since then smugglers have come often to be romanticised as cheeky rogues - as highwaymen of the coasts and Robin Hood figures. The reality could be very different...