Reddit mentions: The best ship history books

That's great - glad you had a good time

If you or your buddies are book types, I would suggest you introduce them to a couple of books

The first "Two Years Before The Mast" - by Richard Henry Dana - there is a passage in that book that ends with an eloquent statement about sails and sailing...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Tallships/comments/9kacom/star_of_india_all_sails_set_sept_30_2018_we_sail/

It's about the sails ... ``How quietly they do their work!''

The scene - 1834 - Student at Harvard basically says: Screw this college stuff, I'm going to be a sailor - he walks down to the ship yards and signs a 2 year contract, sails around the horn visits southern California, and returns to Boston. Along the way, he keeps a journal and it becomes a master piece.

Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Years_Before_the_Mast

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Years-Before-Mast-Signet-Classics/dp/0451531256

Book #2 - Is about an old captain - his life story before the book is amazing by it self

Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_Alone_Around_the_World

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sailing-Alone-Around-Joshua-Slocum/dp/0486203263

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link to amazon; $2.99.

That is awesome! If it was in better condition, it could be worth ~$175. But just to have it is amazing! Is it a re-print or first edition from 1912?

I'm hoping to do a PhD in nautical archaeology at the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M under George Bass and the research team down there. I have a bad undergrad GPA, so what I've done is pulled the syllabi for their entire undergrad and grad programs in NautArch and already done all the (listed) reading as well as collected the entire life works of Howard Chapelle and studied those plans as well. Chapelle was the most prolific of the naval architects tasked with measuring and drawing the historic ships for the WPA during the Depression as mentioned above. The skiff design I linked was one of the designs Chapelle collected. I figure that if I show up at the Institute with an 1880s skiff built with 1880s technology, a good GRE score, work experience in contract archaeology, a bunch of other extracurricular experience from my undergrad days, a solid letter of recommendation from my undergrad professor, recreational, advanced, rescue, and various technical SCUBA diving certifications, several languages, experience crewing traditional sailing ships, and having already done all the reading for their grad program, maybe they'll let me in with my shitty 2.95 GPA that was the result of my not caring about college for two years before I changed my major. Maybe. They only have like a 12% acceptance rate and I'm competing with a bunch of perfect students.

Anyway, if you want to know more, a good, easy reading book with lots of color photos is Beneath the Seven Seas: Adventures with the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, edited by George Bass. It's mostly focused on the Med and Greco-Roman/Persian/Byzantine wrecks as that's the place that's had the most work done, since that's where George Bass basically invented the discipline. It has a decent amount of information and is a fun read.

If you want to know more about ancient ship construction than you know about your own genitals, pick up Wooden Ship Building and the Interpretation of Shipwrecks by J. Richard Steffy. It has a complete illustrated glossary in the back so you won't get lost, but to say it's information dense is an understatement on the level of saying that a neutron star is a bit dense.

Not sure what I can provide in terms of websites that discuss the differences, except ones that talk about the damned switch conspiracy theory.

Dr Paul Lee placed the deckplans as of 1911/1912 side by side. Here's A-Deck and B-Deck being compared.

If you're more interested in books, I can recommend Mark Chirnside's The Olympic Class Ships; Olympic, Titanic, Britannic. I don't know why the price is so high, I got it for less than $30, but I imagine you can hunt one down at a library. Great resource that goes into great detail on the ships.

As for why that photograph is mislabelled? Not sure. There are many images of Olympic labelled as Titanic because of how few photographs there were of the infamous ship when she sank and Olympic was close enough that most people wouldn't notice. Even British Pathe used footage of Captain Smith in New York on Olympic as a stand-in for Titanic's maiden voyage. I think there's even a shot of Lusitania.

What I can say is this is Titanic on April 2nd heading out for her sea trials.

You’re welcome! If you’re interested in eyewitness accounts, which I agree are riveting, there are a lot to choose from for Titanic. Some of the classic ones are Jack Wincour’s edition of survivor accounts, The Story of the Titanic as told by its Survivors, which includes Col. Archibald Gracie’s account which he compiled by interviewing survivors, of which he was one. It was published posthumously; he died of the traumas he sustained in the wreck 8 months after the event. His account is also in Titanic, a Survivor’s Story, which also has young Jack Thayer’s memories, The Sinking of the SS Titanic, which he compiled from notes a few decades after the sinking. John Mowbray’s Sinking of the Titanic, Eyewitness Accounts was published in late 1912, months after the sinking. Like Gracie, he too pulls together accounts from surviving passengers. Titanic, First Accounts by Tim Maltin (2012) excerpts selections from survivors’ accounts. Finally, Violet Jessop was a nurse who survived the sinking of both Titanic and the Britannic. Her memoirs, Titanic Survivor, written in 1934, were just discovered in 1996. The Encyclopedia Titanica is a great online resource, so too are The Titanic Historical Society and The British Titanic Society.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

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It's hard to tell based upon the wood alone. That's a shit ton of Teredo worm damage and it looks like any possible identifying marks have been destroyed by them. I mean ... that's a lot of damage. I haven't seen a board that thoroughly eaten by them in years.

The bronze spike and trunnel are more interesting. However they don't really give you a good range to estimate exactly how old it is. What they can possibly tell you though, is when the ship was not made.

Going based upon what I can see from the photos I will make a wild ass guess that this ship is probably of early to mid-1800's construction.

The reason I say that is, generally, the bronze fasteners used before the 1800's tended to be rounded shafts with round heads. Some modern wooden shipbuilders still tend to use that square type in construction. Looking closer at the pictures, though, and there's a lot of green patina on the peg. It might be more copper spike than anything else, but those tend to disintegrate rather quickly underwater. Early 1700-1800's metallurgical mixes for bronze tended to favor copper more over the tin as they played around with ratios for better use.

The use of the trunnel plug makes me think early to mid 1800's as well. That was a type of fastener used from ancient Greece all the way up till the 1800's when it fell out of use in favor of more modern iron and bronze nails/fasteners.

That's a Best Guess based upon what I can make out from the photos.

Hell for all we know, without any provenience/context/location information/etc, it could have come from some dudes backyard boat project that sunk in a stiff breeze a few years ago.

EDIT: A good resource to peruse if you could find a copy would be https://www.amazon.com/Ships-Fastenings-Steamship-Foundation-Archaeology/dp/1585444510

Towing a ship at sea has got to be a very, very difficult job at the best of times. Especially if it isn't your (ships) job to begin with. Even ocean tugs have a hard time of it.

Side note: Farley Mowat wrote two excellent books about a pair of deep sea salvage tugs that operated out of Halifax for Foundation Maritime in the 1930's to 50's. The tugs were named Foundation Franklin and Foundation Josephine. They are true stories and an absolutely enthralling look at a near completely forgotten chapter of naval history. Example: who got the job of towing a tanker home in the face of a nor'easter in the North Atlantic while having to keep an eye out for U-boats? The tug Foundation Franklin. Anyways!, the books are:

http://www.amazon.com/Grey-Seas-Under-Farley-Mowat/dp/0345249291

http://www.amazon.com/The-Serpents-Coil-Farley-Mowat/dp/0345249313

These two were recommended. I like to look at how sailors work things out. Very simple and dependable, vibration resistant, waterproof setups. Certainly can be $$$$ but it is kind of setting a standard for durability. Marine solar, Marine 12 volt TV. Or for example, ice chests with 6-8" of XPS foam are common instead of 12 volt fridge. Works /Won't break.

These two were recommended:

Weems & Plath The 12 Volt Doctor's Practical Handbook 5th Edition

https://www.amazon.com/Weems-Plath-Doctors-Practical-Handbook/dp/1878797131


Managing 12 Volts: How to Upgrade, Operate, and Troubleshoot 12 Volt Electrical Systems 2 Updated Edition

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0964738627?ref%5F=sr%5F1%5F1&qid=1482876085&sr=8-1&keywords=Managing%2012%20Volts%3A%20How%20to%20Upgrade%2C%20Operate%2C%20and%20Troubleshoot%2012%20Volt%20Electrical%20Systems&pldnSite=1

He also has the #1 Best seller on Amazon in the category of "Ship Pictorials"

http://www.amazon.com/Americas-Lost-Treasure-Tommy-Thompson/dp/0871137321/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458060256

Read Red Storm Rising, Hunt for Red October, Submarine, and maybe Fighter Wing, then walk away and never read another of "his" books.

Amazing author.

Halliards, and Mizzen Mast

If you are interested in nautical terms in different languages, Paasch's Illustrated Marine Dictionary ... one of my treasures. :D

it seems abebooks.com has a cheaper one

Some good reading:

http://www.amazon.com/Cape-Horn-Starboard-John-Kretschmer/dp/1580801625/

http://www.amazon.com/World-My-Own-non-stop-voyage/dp/0713668997/

http://www.amazon.com/Sailing-Alone-Around-Joshua-Slocum/dp/0486203263/

http://www.amazon.com/The-Long-Way-Bernard-Moitessier/dp/0924486848/

http://www.amazon.com/Across-Islands-Oceans-Journey-Around/dp/1470004615/

http://www.amazon.com/Voyages-Extraordinary-Times-Larry-Pardey/dp/1929214987/

This one? I remember it being like what you're talking about.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/078688147X

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic_alternative_theories

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6kefNLykPY

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Titanic-Conspiracy-Robin-Gardiner/dp/0711034966/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375313697&sr=8-1&keywords=titanic+conspiracy


This theory has evolved from HARD evidence that the ship at the bottom where the "Titanic" is resting is actually its sister ship the "Olympic". The ships were nearly identical and you can even see the partial word "Olympic" on the side of the "Titanic's" resting place. This isn't even that far out there of a theory, there have been multiple documentaries on PBS as well as BBC covering this. It's widely accepted as at the very least plausible by even the skeptics who have investigated it.

Read [The Lost Art of Finding Our Way - John Edward Huth] (http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Art-Finding-Our-Way/dp/0674072820)

Very interesting book.

We might not have lost as much as you think

And there are still plenty of people who sail on tall ships.

Edit: I always mix up the brackets and parentheses.

Joshua Slocum
http://www.amazon.com/Sailing-Alone-Around-Joshua-Slocum/dp/0486203263/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408214112&sr=1-1&keywords=joshua+slocum

What I know came from this book, which goes into a lot more detail.

[Dove] (https://www.amazon.com/Sailing-Alone-Around-Joshua-Slocum/dp/0486203263)


[Sailing Alone Around The World] (https://www.amazon.com/Sailing-Alone-Around-Joshua-Slocum/dp/0486203263)

[The Long Way] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0924486848/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496093457&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=the+long+way+sailing&dpPl=1&dpID=51L%2Btgd-fQL&ref=plSrch)

Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum

Gipsy Moth Circles the World by Sir Francis Chichester

And the books that really got me into sailing as a child:

The Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome

Have you read Sailing Alone Around the World? If not you should seriously check it out, it's absolutely incredible. Slocum was the man.

I own a copy of "Lost at Sea" and it's got all the classic cases I used to read about as a child, including the UB-65 cursed submarine.

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-at-Sea-Michael-Goss/dp/0879759135

Oh man: https://www.amazon.com/Sailing-Alone-Around-Joshua-Slocum/dp/0486203263

1896 solo round the world sail (the wrong way). So extraordinary.

> Yeah, but it's on par with (or worse than) what Hillary said in the debates,

No, it's not, because our ballistic submarine capabilities have been public knowledge for years. I was on a Trident sub when I was in the Navy. I had to sign a bunch of nondisclosure stuff when I got out. At least half the stuff I agreed never to divulge can be found in a non-fiction book by Tom Clancy called Submarine. "Submarines within striking distance" isn't very specific at all.