Clipper Ships and the Golden Age of Sail: Races and Rivalries on the Nineteenth Century High Seas by Sam Jefferson

$60.00 NZD

Category: Nautical

In the era of commercial sail, clipper ships were the ultimate expression of speed and grace. Racing out to the gold fields of America and Australia, and breaking speed records carrying tea back from China, the ships combined beauty with breathtaking performance. With over 200 gorgeous paintings and ill ustrations, and thrilling descriptions of the adventures and races on the water, this beautiful book brings the era vividly to life. Chapters include: The origins of the clippers - from the gold rush to the tea trade A hell ship voyage with 'Bully' Waterman, one of the most successful and notorious captains of the era Marco Polo, the fastest ship in the world - her rise to prominence and subsequent decline Mary Patten's battle with Cape Horn - a lady captain takes charge in a very male world Mutiny aboard the 'wild boat of the Atlantic' The great China tea race of 1866 - an amazingly close race across the world, only decided in the final few miles The Sir Lancelot defies the odds - her eccentric captains and rivalry with the legendary Thermopylae The Cutty Sark's longest voyage First-hand accounts, newspaper reports and log entries add fascinating eyewitness detail, whilst the stunning images show how the designs of these thoroughbreds developed over the years. A wonderful read and worthy celebration of these racehorses of the sea. ...Show more

Death of a Cruise Ship by Tom O'Connor

$39.99 NZD

Category: Nautical

Fifty Ships that Changed the Course of History by Ian Graham

$34.99 NZD

Category: Nautical

From the Stone Age to the present day, no technology has had a more profound impact on mankind than watercraft. Boats and ships made possible the settlement and conquest of new worlds. They determined the victors of history-changing wars and aided the spread of new philosophies, technologies, and religi ons. Even today, virtually everything we purchase and consume-from petroleum and consumer electronics to the clothes we wear and much of the food we eat-depends upon seaborne trade. Fifty Ships that Changed the Course of History is more than just a delight for lovers of the sea-it's a virtual history of the world told through the boats and ships that influenced how and where people lived, with whom they traded, the ideas they exchanged, and how they won and lost the battles that set the course of later generations and millennia. Fifty Ships that Changed the Course of History contains not only maritime marvels from ages past, but also some of the most iconic Australian and New Zealand watercraft. Included are the likes of Captain Cook's HMS Endeavour and Greenpeace's once flagship Rainbow Warrior. Beautifully illustrated with historic artwork and modern photography, it's also a guide to how men and women went to sea or down the river in every age and place. ...Show more

Empire of the Deep

$60.00 NZD

Category: Military History

The story of our navy is nothing less than the story of Britain, our culture and our empire. Much more than a parade of admirals and their battles, this is the story of how an insignificant island nation conquered the world's oceans to become its greatest trading empire. Few other nations have fallen so deeply in love with a branch of the armed forces as the British did with its Navy. Yet, as Ben Wilson shows, there was nothing inevitable about this rise to maritime domination, nor was it ever an easy path. For much of our history Britain was a third-rate maritime power on the periphery of Europe. EMPIRE OF THE DEEP also reveals how our naval history has shaped us in more subtle and surprising ways - our language, culture, politics and national character all owe a great debt to this conquest of the seas. This is a gripping, fresh take on our national story. ...Show more

P & O by Ruth Artmonsky

$22.99 NZD

Category: Nautical | Series: Shire Library 701

From humble beginnings in the 1830s, The Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company grew to dominate British mercantile shipping for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Initially the company's paddle steamers carried Her Majesty's Mail, as the name impliese, to the Iberian Peninsula, but over time P&O extended its routes across the Mediterranean and onwards to the Middle East, Far East and Australasia. Besides the mail, P&O liners carried spices, silk, tea, and even opium as well as passengers. P&O came to represent the British Empire at sea, and as the Empire waned and Britain took to the air, so a golden age of travelling by sea came to an end. This new book delves into the P&O archives to take a nostalgic  glance astern at all those who travelled P&O. ...Show more

Saltwater Highways: The Story of Ports and Shipping in New Zealand by Gordon McLauchlan

$44.99 NZD

Category: Nautical | Reading Level: Very Good

New Zealand, a country ‘rinsed by the sea’, has a shipping story to tell as long and convoluted as its coastline. Thoroughly researched, with an eye for a good yarn but also with an acute sense of the shifting social and political changes over the years, McLauchlan tells an informative and engaging tale . Divided into five parts, the book covers the early colonial days; the developing (and still functioning) ports, working on the wharves, port reform and the move, in later years, to containers. The narrative is always lively, picking out the most salient and fascinating elements of what might otherwise be a rambling history of little relevance to today’s   reader.Features:The controversial and very fraught times of union agitation on the wharves in the 1930’s and 40’s.The subsequent age of reform an shipping and workplace practices.The shift to the container age and related advantages, issues and controversies.Detailed histories of the development of all the still-functioning ports around the country – Auckland, wellington, Nelson, Whanganui, New Plymouth, Bluff, Dunedin/Port Chalmers, Lyttelton, Westland, Timaru, Napier, Gisborne, Whangarei  and Tauranga. ...Show more

Hunter Killers by Iain Ballantyne

$49.99 NZD

Category: Nautical

Official Royal Navy definition: HUNTER KILLER: a submarine designed to pursue and attack enemy submarines and surface ships using torpedoes. HUNTER KILLERS will follow the careers of four daring British submarine captains who risked their lives to keep the rest of us safe, their exploits consigned to th e shadows until now. Their experiences encompass the span of the Cold War, from voyages in WW2-era submarines under Arctic ice to nuclear-powered espionage missions in Soviet-dominated seas. There are dangerous encounters with Russian spy ships in UK waters and, finally as the communist facade begins to crack, they hold the line against the Kremlin's oceanic might, playing a leading role in bringing down the Berlin Wall. It is the first time they have spoken out about their covert lives in the submarine service. This is the dramatic untold story of Britain's most secret service. ...Show more

Cutty Sark - The Last of the Tea Clippers (150th Anniversary Edition) by Eric Kentley

$42.99 NZD

Category: Nautical

An updated and expanded edition to celebrate the 150th anniversary of this iconic ship. The narrative spans her construction at Dumbarton in 1869; her famous tea voyages as well as those with other cargoes; her career under a Portuguese flag; her subsequent return to the Thames, Greenwich; and the drama tic fire, painstaking restoration and glorious reopening in April 2012.The book has been developed from the outset with the Cutty Sark Trust and takes the form of a chronological career narrative but also presents detailed features on crew accounts, log entries, pieces on seamanship, ports and cargoes and broader tall ship culture as well as an opportunity to focus on artifacts and the fittings of the ship.This unique opportunity allows the first publication of specially commissioned photography created as part of, and subsequent to, the clipper's restoration as well as the findings of resulting research. ...Show more

The Guide to Wooden Boats: Schooners, Ketches, Cutters, Sloops, Yawls, Cats by Benjamin Mendlowitz

$40.00 NZD

Category: Nautical

British Admirals of the Fleet 1734-1995 by T. A. Heathcote

$44.99 NZD

Category: Nautical

A companion volume to the same author's "The British Field Marshals 1736-1997", this book outlines the lives of the 115 officers who held the rank of Admiral of the Fleet in the Royal Navy from 1734, when it took its modern form, to 1995, when the last one was appointed. Each entry gives details of the dates of the birth and death of its subjects, their careers ashore and afloat, their family backgrounds, and the ships, campaigns and combats in which they served. Each is placed clearly in its domestic or international political context. The actions recorded include major fleet battles under sail or steam, single-ship duels, encounters with pirates on the Spanish Main and up the rivers of Borneo, the suppression of the Slave Trade (for which the Navy receives little gratitude), landing parties to deal with local dictators and revolutionaries, and the services of naval brigades in China, Egypt and South Africa. ...Show more

Wanganella and the Australian Trans-Tasman Liners by Peter Plowman

$45.00 NZD

Category: Nautical

THIS BOOK tells the story of the trans-Tasman shipping service from the days of the earliest steam ship service to the liner Wanganella's last voyage to New Zealand in 1963. The only Australian company to maintain a service across the Tasman Sea was Huddart Parker, who survived numerous attempts by the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand to drive them off the route in the early days. Eventually the two agreed to share the route in several co-operative agreements. Towards the end of 1892, James Huddart, one of the founders of Huddart, Parker, & Company Limited, established a separate company, the New Zealand & Australasian Steamship Company, to operate a trans-Tasman service. The Union Line retaliated by placing their best ships in direct competition with the newcomers, and also started a rate war that forced the Australian company to withdraw in March 1893. Despite this, Huddart Parker re-entered the Tasman Sea trade in November 1893. The first trans-Tasman departure for Huddart Parker was taken by Tasmania, on 29 November 1893. The Union Line tried to stifle the competition, but was up against a strong opponent able to ride out the fare wars, and instead of buckling under the pressure, Huddart Parker added more vessels to the trade over the next seven years. The first decade of the twentieth century would see both Huddart Parker and the Union Line introduced new liners of increasing size on the Tasman trade. Although the two companies were not engaged in fare wars any more, and operated their ships on a joint schedule, there was still considerable competition to attract passengers. In January 1908 the brand new Ulimaroa was placed on the Tasman trade by Huddart Parker, and would remain the mainstay of their Tasman operation for the next twenty years. In 1932 Huddart Parker was actively seeking a new ship for the Tasman route, and purchased a brand-new vessel, Achimota, which was renamed Wanganella. In World War II Wanganella served as a hospital ship, and it was not until January 1947 that the liner left Sydney for New Zealand again. The voyage almost ended in tragedy, when Wanganella ran aground on Barrett Reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbour, and remained there for seventeen days. After being salvaged, the work of repairing the damage lasted almost two years, and it was not until December 1948 that Wanganella returned to service. In 1961 Huddart Parker Limited ended their interest in the Tasman trade when the company was sold, but Wanganella continued to operate to New Zealand for McIlwraith, McEacharn Limited. In 1962, Wanganella was sold to Hang Fung Shipping, of Hong Kong, but in July 1963 was sold again, and became a worker's™ hostel at Doubtful Sound, in the South Island of New Zealand. Wanganella was sold again at the end of 1969, and on 5 June 1970 arrived at a shipbreaking yard in Taiwan. 188 pages in A4 format, 128 black and white photos, 24 in colour with 7 maps and deck plans. Softcover ...Show more

Tiger by Thomas Anderson

$36.99 NZD

Category: Nautical

One of the most feared weapons of World War II, the Tiger tank was a beast of a machine which dominated the battlefields of Europe with its astonishing size, speed and firepower, which continues to fascinate more than 70 years after it was first designed. Revealing its design and development history, Th omas Anderson draws upon original German archival material to tell the story of the birth of the Tiger. He then analyzes its success on the battlefield and the many modifications and variants that also came into play. Illustrated throughout with rare photographs and drawings, this is a unique history of what is easily the most famous tank ever produced. ...Show more