Entering service a full ten months ahead of Titanic, the Olympic was a near identical sister ship,the fi rst of a class of three liners, two of which would sink. Wade Sisson tells the story of the Olympic on the fateful night of April 14 - 15 1912, how she was 500 miles away, outbound from New York, when her wireless operator first heard Titanic's distress calls. Olympic's Captain Herbert J. Haddock and his crew prepared their ship for a rescue mission, and for the next several hours steam...

'Goodbye Miss Young. Good luck to you and don't forget to remember me to the folks back home.'Major Archibald Butt (1865-1912)The sinking of the Titanic on her maiden voyage in 1912 is one of the most dramatic stories in maritime history. The largest passenger steamship in the world, fitted with more advanced safety features than any of her rivals, she was proclaimed to be virtually unsinkable.More than 1,500 people perished when th...

Richard Henry Dana's 'Two Years Before the Mast' is a seminal work that eloquently captures the rigors and realities of life at sea in the early 19th century. Written in a vivid, first-person narrative, the book blends travelogue, adventure, and maritime memoir, transporting readers into the harsh, yet transformative experiences of Dana's two-year voyage from Boston to California. His keen observations and rich descriptions reveal not only the challenges of seafaring—stormy weather, labori...

The New York Times –bestselling author of Unsinkable "recounts the disaster from the vantage point of nearby vessels" ( Publishers Weekly).A few minutes before midnight on April 14, 1912, the "unsinkable" RMS Titanic, on her maiden voyage to New York, struck an iceberg. Less than three hours later, she lay at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. While the world has remained fascinated by the tragedy, the drama of th...

This WWII naval history chronicles the development of small fighting boats as well as the evolution of their tactics and coastal warfare operations.Small, fast and highly maneuverable, gunboats and motor torpedo boats were a vital part of naval combat through the Second World War. Every major naval power built their own versions: The Germans had Schnellboote, the Royal Navy had MTBs and MGBs, and the Americans had PT boats. With their daring night raids and close-ra...

The story of HMCS Oakville, a corvette that fought U-boats in WWII and remains a hero to its hometown in Oakville, Ontario.This is an in-depth look at the history and legacy of HMCS Oakville, a Canadian World War II corvette that fought in the Battle of the Atlantic, and was one of the few corvettes to sink a U-boat. From its creation through its christening off the shores of its namesake town, its exploits at sea, the famous encounter with U9...

A devastating disaster at sea . . . an officer who refuses to hide the truth. . . a courtroom confrontation with far-reaching implications . . . The Perfect Storm meets A Civil Action in a gripping account of one of the most significant shipwrecks of the twentieth century.In 1983 the Marine Electric, a “reconditioned” World War II vessel, was on a routine voyage thirty miles off the East Coast of the United States when disaster struck. As the old coal car...

Shipwrecks have captured our imagination for centuries. Here acclaimed historian Sam Willis traces the astonishing tales of ships that have met with disastrous ends, along with the ensuing acts of courage, moments of sacrifice and episodes of villainy that inevitably occurred in the extreme conditions. Many were freak accidents, and their circumstances so extraordinary that they inspired literature: the ramming of the Essex by a sperm whale was immortalized in Herman Melville's

One hundred and fifty years ago the Royal Navy fought a daring campaign against ruthless pirates and won, killing The King of the Pirates, Bartholomew Roberts off the coast of Africa and capturing his fleet. Scores of his men were executed by the Admiralty Court. On the Barbary Coast of North Africa pirates preyed on shipping in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic as they had done for centuries and they terrorized the populations of the coastal towns. To them, piracy was a way of life, and ...

On 2 August 1708 Captain Woodes Rogers set sail from Bristol with two ships, the Duke and Duchess, on an epic voyage of circumnavigation that was to make him famous. His mission was to attack, plunder and pillage Spanish ships wherever he could. And, as Graham Thomas shows in this tense and exciting narrative, after a series of pursuits and sea battles he returned laden with booty and with a reputation as one of the most audacious and shrewd fighting captains of the age. He was then appoin...

The execution of Captain William Kidd on 23 May 1701 is one of the most controversial and revealing episodes in the long history of piracy. The legend that has grown up around Kidds final voyage, his concealed treasure and the dubious conduct of his trial, has made him into one of the most intriguing and misunderstood figures from the golden age of piracy. For either Kidd was a legal privateer or he was a wicked pirate indeed he has been described as one of the most feared pirates to sail ...

A cruise ship aficionado's guide to thirty of the most impressive modern vessels—from the Sovereign of the Seas to the Viking Longship.The cruise ship market serves tens of millions of passengers every year. What keeps these vacationers coming? Beyond the exotic ports and fabulous entertainment, they are drawn to experience the magnificent floating palaces themselves. In Giants of the Sea, Aaron Saunders showcases some of the most influential cruise ships o...