It presents evidence that allows readers to determine who the heroes and who the villains of the tragedy were. The book introduces all the key players--the owners, the builders, the crew, and the passengers--and tackles the controversies at the center of the drama. Unique, specially commissioned artwork explores the ship, deck by deck. And moving eyewitness accounts from survivors help the reader understand their plight in the countdown to disaster.

    Bestselling Maritme Biographer, Rob Mundle, is back on the ocean with a blockbuster. First Fleet tells the extraordinary story of the eighteenth century convoy of eleven ships that left England on 13th May 1787 for the 'land beyond the seas'. Aboard were seafarers, convicts, marines and a few good citizens - some 1300 hundred in all - who had been consigned to a virtually unknown land on the opposite side of the world where they would establish a penal colony, and a nation. The fleet stopped at Tenerife, Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town before sailing across the notorious and challenging Southern ocean, bound for Botany bay. Somehow all 11 ships arrived safely between 18 and 20 January 1788. But it's what happened during 252 days at sea while sailing halfway around the world, and subsequently on land, that is almost beyond belief. No nation has ever been founded in such a courageous and dangerous manner. It's the basis for one hell of an adventure

    The geologists Orrin H. Pilkey and J. Andrew G. Cooper sound the alarm in this frank assessment of our current relationship with beaches and their grim future if we do not change the way we understand and treat our irreplaceable shores. Combining case studies and anecdotes from around the world, they argue that many of the world's developed beaches, including some in Florida and in Spain, are virtually doomed and that we must act immediately to save imperiled beaches.After explaining beaches as dynamic ecosystems, Pilkey and Cooper assess the harm done by dense oceanfront development accompanied by the construction of massive seawalls to protect new buildings from a shoreline that encroaches as sea levels rise. They discuss the toll taken by sand mining, trash that washes up on beaches, and pollution, which has contaminated not only the water but also, surprisingly, the sand. Acknowledging the challenge of reconciling our actions with our love of beaches, the geologists offer suggestions for reversing course, insisting that given the space, beaches can take care of themselves and provide us with multiple benefits.

    While a multitude of books exist on coastal and celestial navigation, very few can be found that deal with the specialist area of race navigation. This book fills that void. It is a practical, hands-on book that provides detailed instruction and tips on Race Navigation using Expedition, one of the most widely used race navigation software packages available today. Information is provided on setting up a navigation station, deck screens, instrument calibration, accessing weather information, short course racing, starting, offshore routing, tracking the opposition, sail charts, and performance analysis. Web links are provided throughout the book to allow the reader to visit the relevant web sites as they read through the book. Recommended reading and key web sites are provided at the end of the book. The book is structured so that it can be read from start to finish in a logical progression. Nonetheless, it is considered more likely that readers will be looking for advice on a specific function or feature within Expedition. For this reason the chapters also try to stand on their own where possible.

    When she helps rescue an exotic-looking foreign man in a drifting lifeboat her only thought is to provide aid to the unfortunate. But the sinking of his ship was no accident, and soon Batiya's own ship is under attack. Batiya doesn't know who the stranger is, or why so many people want him dead. But after he risks his life to save hers, she becomes determined to get him to his destination alive.

    Though Texas was often considered an isolated backwater in the conflict, the Union's pervasive and systematic seizure of Southern ports left Galveston as one of the only strongholds of foreign imports in the anemic supply chain to embattled Confederate forces. Long, fast steamships ran in and out of the city's port almost every week, bound to and from Cuba. Join author Andrew W. Hall as he explores the story of Texas's Civil War blockade runners- a story of daring, of desperation and, in many cases, of patriotism turning coat to profiteering.

    Born out of an 80-year struggle against Spain for independence, the Dutch republic relied on naval power to guarantee its freedom, promote its trade, and defend its overseas colonies. The Dutch navy was crucial to its survival and success, yet the ships that made up its fleets are among the least studied and most poorly documented of any in the age of sail. This history is the first definitive listing of all Dutch fighting ships.

    1300–1600) by shifting the conventional land-based analytical framework to one centered on the perspectives of seafarers who, though usually dismissed as "pirates," thought of themselves as sea lords. Over the course of these centuries, Japan's sea lords became maritime magnates who wielded increasing amounts of political and economic authority by developing autonomous maritime domains that operated outside the auspices of state authority. They played key roles in the operation of networks linking Japan to the rest of the world, and their protection businesses, shipping organizations, and sea tenure practices spread their influence across the waves to the continent, shaping commercial and diplomatic relations with Korea and China.Japan's land-based authorities during this time not only came to accept the autonomy of "pirates" but also competed to sponsor sea-lord bands who could administer littoral estates, fight sea battles, protect shipping, and carry trade. In turn, prominent sea-lord families expanded their dominion by shifting their locus of service among several patrons and by appropriating land-based rhetorics of lordship, which forced authorities to recognize them as legitimate lords over sea-based domains.By the end of the late medieval period, the ambitions, tactics, and technologies of sea-lord mercenary bands proved integral to the naval dimensions of Japan's sixteenth-century military revolution. Sea lords translated their late medieval autonomy into positions of influence in early modern Japan and helped make control of the seas part of the ideological foundations of the state.

    A symbol of naval strength in the late 19th century, the Maine’s tragic fate is taught to students across the nation, not just because it was a disaster but because it is associated with the most notorious examples of yellow journalism in the country’s history and ultimately brought about a war, despite the fact it’s still unclear what caused the ship’s explosion. In 1898, one of Spain's last possessions in the New World, Cuba, was waging a war for independence against Spain. Though Cuba was technically exempted from the United States' Monroe Doctrine since Cuba was already a possession of Spain when the Monroe Doctrine was issued, many Americans believed that the United States should side with Cuba against Spain. At the same time, however, President William McKinley wanted to avoid getting tangled in a war between outsiders, while Spain also wanted to avoid any conflict with United States and its powerful navy. Despite leaders hoping to stay above the fray, American economic interests were being harmed by the ongoing conflict between Cuban nationalists and Spain, as merchants’ trading with Cuba was suffering now that the island was undergoing conflict. Furthermore, the American press capitalized on the ongoing Cuban struggle for independence, which had been flaring up time and again since 1868. In an effort to sell papers, the press frequently sensationalized stories, which came to be known as yellow journalism, and during the run-up to war, yellow journalism spread false stories about the Cuban conflict in order to sell newspapers in the competitive New York City market.Despite President McKinley's wishes to avoid a war, he was forced to support a war with Spain after the USS Maine suffered an explosion in Havana’s harbor in February 1898. McKinley had sent the ship to help protect American citizens in Cuba from the violence that was taking place there, but the explosion devastated the USS Maine, which had to be towed to harbor and eventually scuttled, but only after 266 American sailors aboard the ship were killed.Although the cause of the explosion was never determined, yellow journalists in the American press blamed Spain, claiming the USS Maine was sabotaged. President McKinley was unable to resist popular pressure after a U.S. Navy report also claimed that the ship had been subjected to an explosion outside of its hull, which subsequently ignited its powder magazines inside the ship. Later investigations proved inconclusive, but President McKinley was now forced to accept war with Spain, bringing about the Spanish-American War.The Explosion of the USS Maine chronicles the controversial explosion, tracing the history of the ship from its glorious beginning to its ignominious end, as well as the critical aftermath. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the USS Maine like never before, in no time at all.