Ships Shipbuilding category: 835 books

The Frances Smith was not only the first steamboat to be built in Owen Sound, but also the largest vessel on Georgian Bay at that time. By far the most luxurious vessel to sail the Upper Great Lakes from a Canadian port, she was known as a "palace steamer." In the mid-to-late-19th century,...

The Thousand Islands' very name conjures up images of great natural beauty and nautical wonders. They are forested islands replete with storybook stone castles. Exquisite mahogany runabouts can be seen speeding across the placid surface of the mighty St. Lawrence. Names like Boldt, Bourne, Emery,...

U.S. Navy Supply Corps Ensign Ross Hofmann had no idea what was in store for him when he arrived at Cavite Naval Base in October 1941. Two months later, Japanese forces struck the Philippines, destroying the base and forcing U.S. personnel to retreat to Bataan. There, Hofmann joined a makeshift unit...

Biographical profile of Cornelius Vanderbilt entrepreneur shipping and railroad magnate and one of the wealthiest and best known tycoons in American history. Uneducated and coming from a poor background Vanderbilt built an empire beginning with sailboats before graduating to steamships. His shipping...

Daniel Drew was a robber baron in every sense of the term. He loved to be hated. He was into money for the game. Making money was great, but making it while stabbing someone in the back was better, and if the victim was his partner, electrifying. Yet, he could defraud someone one day and somehow wheedle...

“Maxtone-Graham’s take on the Titanic will be catnip to the ship’s dedicated buffs.”—Publishers Weekly This is a book unlike any other. Rather than offering simply a detailed retelling of the Titanic sinking on her maiden voyage, John Maxtone-Graham devotes his considerable knowledge...

The woman who made the first solo transatlantic crossing, the invention of navigation lights, the story behind the invention of the compass, how Francis Beaufort devised the Beaufort wind scale, and why William Petty invented the catamaran in 1662—it's all in here, and much more Many sailing and...

On October 20, 1910, RMS Olympic was launched at Belfast. She was the first of a trio of steamships constructed for the White Star Line and, when built, was the largest ship in the world. Although she has frequently been overshadowed by the tragedy of her younger sister Titanic, Olympic had a long...

The America's Cup has always been a hotbed of unbridled ambition, personal agendas, intrigue, spying and, more recently, hardfought court cases – and that's before the boats even get out on the water to race. Exposed: The Dark Side of the America's Cup lifts the lid on this unique contest for the...

More than 150 rare photographs reveal stages in the ship's construction and its christening, as well as intimate views of modern lounges with paneled walls and fireplaces, staterooms and dining rooms, a gymnasium and pool, theatres, a ballroom with cocktail bar, and play decks. Extensive captions provide data on tonnage, size, speed, and other characteristics.

On February 18, 1952, off the coast of Cape Cod, a fierce nor'easter snapped in half two 503-foot oil tankers, the Pendleton and the Fort Mercer. Human grace and grit, leadership and endurance prevail as Theresa Mitchell Barbo and Captain W. Russell Webster (Ret.) recount the historic, heroic rescue...

When the Titanic started sinking, who would make it off alive? The two cousins who had been so eager to see their first iceberg? The maid who desperately tried to escape with the baby in her care? The young newlyweds who'd booked passage despite warnings not to? More than one hundred years...

In 1825, the Schuylkill Navigation Company completed a waterway of 108 miles, linking Port Carbon to Philadelphia. The waterway, known as the Schuylkill Navigation but commonly referred to today as the Schuylkill Canal, consisted of a system of interconnected canals (often called reaches), locks, and...

It was a snowy, stormy night, that February 23, 1918, when the sturdy S.S. Florizelsteamed out of St. John's harbour, bound for Halifax and New York. Captain William Martin, a cautious and competent skipper, encountered thick ice and heavy winds as he headed down the treacherous Newfoundland coast....