Customer Reviews

Ship - The Epic Story of Maritime Adventure

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This profusely illustrated book covers boats from the earliest Pre-historical times until the present. It includes everything from birch bark canoes to the latest commercial and military vessels, junks to dhows, clipper ships to cruise liners and boats built especially for the Americas cup. More than a coffee table book, the descriptions that go with the photographs enhance and explain the photographs.

In the section on the First Boats, there are drawings amd photographs from both ancient times and modern. From here the story continues and reflects the leastest research. For instance:

There are thirteen photographs of the Vasa, the Swedish ship that rolled over and sank on its maiden voyage in 1628. As the book puts it, this was "the largest and most elaborately decorated flagship, Sweden's VASA sailed into this arena for a few minutes." This is, of course the ship that was found and raised in 1961, teaching us a lot about 17th Century construction.

Also included is the story of Zheng He, the Chinese explorer who made seven discovery voyages in the early 1400's covering some 35,000 miles.

The drawing of the Hunley, the Confederate submarine reflect the latest discoveries made since it was found and raised only a few years ago.

All in all, this book is what you'd expect. Interesting writing, beautiful illustrations.

I have all titles written by Brian Lavery. Considering his other books this one is a great disappointment. The book is most valuable for nice period illustrations but the text is rather superficial and sometimes confused and misleading, with numerous mistakes and omissions. Although it is obvious that text covering such a wide period cannot be comprehensive the book could definitely be written much better.

My some remarks:
Ancient times described too general and too insufficient, same history of pirates. Too little on modern merchant ships. To find out the genealogy of e.g. frigate or corvette is cumbersome and unsatisfactory.

Ship plans till 19th century were not drawn in details at all as wrongly stated on page 126.

Photos of some poor models should not be presented in such an ambitious book - e.g. pages 49,50, 244, 245.

Some pictures belong to another century than presented or are wrongly described - e.g. pp. 93, 96, 102-103. Picture of the steering wheel on page 123 is rather horrible.

What I am missing - more pictures of artefacts from various wrecks such Mary Rose, Bremen cog, Swedish Kronan etc.
Almost nothing on sail training ships - and the KOBENHAVEN presented in the Leisure and Sports Craft section, p.377?


Grand and beautifully illustrated coffee-table book, adds nothing to scholarship. Highly recommended for amateurs/armchair sailors and kids.

Captain K.L.

If you're captivated by all things nautical, then this is the book for you! The text is replete with gorgeous images that track the historical progression of ships (boats, submarines, etc.). The text is informative, interesting and accessibly presented (the book is also quite skimmable for time-pressed pleasure). I have yet to find a comparable text, and everyone who sees this book is immediately taken with its wonderful photos.

Nice book,Covers the history of the ship, From Small Craft to Containerships and tankers and in-between.

Bottom-Line: A great book for naval veterans and civilians alike, "Ship" has found an honored place in my growing library.

Ships: without them human civilization would have developed very differently, very differently indeed. From the earliest known human settlements that used ships and boats to carry goods and arms up and down rivers and across lakes, to modern day oil takers, warships, cruise ships, and merchantman that crossed vast expanses of ocean, ships always have been still are the lifeblood of nations. And "Ship" by prolific maritime author Brian Lavery tells their tale.

Factoid: A ship is a large vessel that floats on the water. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and passenger capacity. And boats are general carried upon the decks of ships. Ships may be found on all of the world's waterways including rivers, lakes, gulfs, seas, and oceans. And they are used for all manner of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, entertainment, fishing, public safety, and warfare.

Rarely if ever has the diversity that is the world of ships been captured in words, illustrations, diagrams, drawings, and images so completely as in the pages of "Ship" (2005), published of late by the Smithsonian Institute and the Museum of Maritime History in Greenwich England.

I have been enamored of ships since early childhood, so a 400-page tome like "Ship" is right up my proverbial alley. There is special grace and beauty in the lines of a ship under sail; there is a certain majesty in an image of an aircraft carrier on the high seas in formation with her escort ships; or a fast attack submarine making a high speed run on the surface, blue water cascading down her slick sides. And the Mediterranean galleys of the 16th - 18th centuries with their bright colors and striking facades were simply breath-taking. So too were the 18th - 19th century European ships of the line with their painted hulls, billowing sails, and ornate bow and stern carvings.

But "Ship" is more than just dazzling images; it also contains text that details the rapid and sometime wrenching changes the worlds ships undertook as human civilization matured and digressed. The book covers ships, ship design & architecture from the earliest Pre-historical periods until the present. "Ship" seems to include a broad spectrum of ship design and building from all of the notable civilizations; everything from shallow draft Viking raiders to the various Chinese Junk designs, to the stately ships of sail; to the not-too-stately steamships of the late 19th - early 20th century's, to the latest commercial vessels and warships.

"Ship" is more than a coffee table book, the book is a beautifully illustrated, well researched and written reference book that I am finding hard to put down; indeed I have taken to reading it cover to cover this summer, stopping every now and again to admire the detail found throughout.

For instance there are (13) photographs of the early 17th century Swedish warship Vasa, completed in 1628. The ship floundered and sank on its maiden voyage in 1628 after having sailed less than a nautical mile. As the author of Ship stated, Vasa was "the largest and most elaborately decorated flagship, Sweden's VASA sailed into this arena for a few minutes." The Vasa raised in 1961, well preserved in the mud and cold of the Baltic Sea. The photos of the Vasa contained within the pages of "Ship" are astounding and say volumes about ship design in early 17th century Europe.

Factoid: By around 3000 BCE, the Ancient Egyptians were well versed in the art of shipbuilding. They already knew how to assemble planks of wood into a ship hull. They used woven straps to lash the planks together, and reeds or grass stuffed between the planks helped to seal the seams.

Rich engaging text and vivid, detailed diagrams & drawings, along with and striking photographs, are the hallmarks of "Ship", a book that is for the seasoned maritime veteran--like myself--as well as average citizen who might want to know more about sea-going vessels past and present. The text is written in a style that lends itself the easy understanding by those not versed in the lexicon of the naval service. And while the pictures mostly speak for themselves, they are all captioned.

Covering almost every aspect of water-going craft and the people who have sailed them - from dugout canoes and the ships/boats of the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans to battleships and modern cruise liners, "Ship" is the ultimate guide on maritime history. "Ship" is not a tome for the light-hearted, but it includes everything a maritime historian would want to know about the history of the ship, from the endeavors of the great explorers as they mapped the globe to the impact of ships on trade and industry, this is a vast reference, with over 1,500 images, spread over 400 very large pages.

How fortunate was it that I just happened to be passing the time at "Borders Books & Music" one day while waiting for my wife to finish shopping for fabric and ran into Ship at the discount aisle? Turns out it was very fortunate indeed; "Ship" has found an honored place in my growing library.

I used this book to conduct research about historical ships and ships of different sizes and purposes. It worked for me and my needs.

You will love this book. Peole pick it up all the time at my house. Well illustrated and plenty of details. So just browse or sink into the book.

It discusses one of the first Atlantic steamboat crossings and it gives both 1838 and 1848 as the year of the crossing! Obviously one of tyhe years given is a mistake. This crossing concerned a ship designed by an Englishman named Brunel