Customer Reviews

Dictionary of disasters at sea during the age of steam,: Including sailing ships and ships of war lost in action, 1824-1962

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Just as soon as I start to research any ship lost at sea I head for one of two books. If the date in question is before 1963 I head straight for this book - which is (or should be!) the first point of reference for anyone on such a quest.

Laid out in an encyclopaedic form, the ships are covered in strict alphabetical order. There are no photographs or drawings - just facts about those ships. Each of these commences with a résumé of the technical details followed by a brief account of the loss of the vessel itself. In some cases, this narrative is nothing more than a few lines comprising all the available information. In the case of other, often more famous, losses the narrative runs to a number of pages.

Because this is a book published by Lloyd's of London, the ships listed are predominately those which were insured by Lloyd's at the time of their loss. Other ships which were either uninsured or simply insured with another agency are not, therefore, included. Many people find this either confusing or disappointing. Whilst it would be nice to have a single tome detailing "all" the shipping losses in all the world, that was never the objective of this excellent book and is probably impossible to achieve in any event.

Altogether an excellent record of the overall subject for which 5 stars are not enough.

NM.