Down Amongst the Black Gang: The World and Workplace of RMS Titanic's Stokers by Richard P. de Kerbrech

$39.99 NZD

Category: Nautical

Down in the fiery belly of the luxury liners of the Titanic era, a world away from the first-class dining rooms and sedate tours of the deck, toiled the 'black gang'. Their work was gruelling and hot, and here deKerbrech introduces the reader to the dimly lit world and workplace of Titanic's stokers. Be ginning with a journey around some of the major elements of machinery that one might encounter in the giant ships' engine and boiler rooms, the sheer skill and strength that a man in this employ must have had is brought to the fore. The human side of working for Titanic and her contemporaries is also explored through an investigation of stokers' duties, their environment and conditions: what it was like to be one of them. An oft-ignored part of Titanic's story, the importance of the black gang and the job they performed isbrought to life, making poignant their fate on the maiden crossing of Titanic. This certainly is a book that no Titanic-era shipping historian or researcher should be without. ...Show more

USS Enterprise CVA(N) / CVN-65: The World's First Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier by Dr. David Mckay

$125.00 NZD

Category: Military History | Reading Level: Near Fine

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) - Big E - was an icon of her time. During her 51 years of service in the United States Navy she lived up to her name and achieved many "first" and "only" accolades. "Big" described not only her physical size but also alluded to her spirit and stature in the eyes of the navy, US citizens, and countless admirers from around the globe. This ship, like no other, had a soul that defined her as special to her many crew and to her nation. This book comprehensively describes the spirit, structure, function, and roles of Enterprise and of her sailors and airmen, those special men and women who sparked life into the cold iron. Big E sailed the seven seas for over half a century, completing 25 major deployments and serving in every US fleet. She represented the United States in almost every major naval operation from 1961, starting with the Cuban missile crisis and ending with Operation Enduring Freedom. She was first on station in the Arabian Sea following the September 11 attack on the United States in 2001. Big E sailed through five decades of major world geo-political and societal changes and technological growth, participating in the Cold War, Vietnam, and lastly the war on terror, and ushering in the integration of women into navy crew, and computers and satellite communications into daily routine. She led the way of a new navy, even towards the end of her service life, always demonstrating incredible adaptability. With a focus on the design, construction, and early technologies that made Big E unique, this book also highlights the personalities behind the ship, including the enigmatic father of the nuclear navy, Adm. Hyman G. Rickover, and the skippers who, under his close eye, were entrusted to operate the most complex nuclear plant in existence. Full disclosure of the layout of Enterprise, the organization of the crew, the complexity of electronic combat systems, the air wings she hosted, and the manner in which she operated is discussed in an evolutionary sense. Enterprise in 2012 was a very different platform to when she was first operational in the early 1960s. Every deployment is described in detail, with many narratives inter-woven, and over 400 photographs illustrate the ship's proud history. There is a comprehensive summary and tabling of each deployment, air wing attachment, combat system architecture, maintenance overhaul period, and of significant mishaps and losses. Every detail of this magnificent ship has been covered, creating a deserving memorial to Big E, and to those who served on her. ...Show more

The Sea Journal - Seafarers' Sketchbooks by Huw Lewis-Jones

$65.00 NZD

Category: Nautical

The sea has been an endless source of fascination, at once both alluring and mysterious, a place of wonder and terror. The Sea Journal contains first-hand records by a great range of travellers of their encounters with strange creatures and new lands, full of dangers and delights, pleasures and perils. In this remarkable gathering of private journals, log books, letters and diaries, we follow the voyages of intrepid sailors, from the frozen polar wastes to South Seas paradise islands, as they set down their immediate impressions of all they saw. They capture their experiences while at sea, giving us a precious view of the oceans and the creatures that live in them as they were when they were scarcely known and right up to the present day. In a series of biographical portraits, we meet officers and ordinary sailors, cooks and whalers, surgeons and artists, explorers and adventurers. A handful of contemporary mariners provide their thoughts on how art remains integral to their voyaging lives. Often still bearing the traces of their nautical past, the intriguing and enchanting sketches and drawings in this book brilliantly capture the spirit of the oceans and the magic of the sea. ...Show more

We Built Titanic by Anton Gill

$60.00 NZD

Category: Nautical

When Titanic set sail in 1912, she was the largest and most technologically advanced man-made moving object in the world. She was built by the world's most skilled and productive workforce, the great industrial communities that made Britain the global superpower of the age. To commemorate this extraordi nary achievement Channel 4 have commissioned a big-budget prime-time documentary series of 5 one-hour programmes, "We Built Titanic". This landmark series will investigate this extraordinary feat of engineering and reveal for the first time the extraordinary stories of the thousands of men and women who built the most famous ship in history. This fully illustrated accompanying book will form a lasting testament to these workers and their astonishing creation. Titanic was of course tragically doomed to sink on her maiden voyage, but the achievement of those who built her lives on... ...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

Come Hell and High Water by Jean Hood

$59.99 NZD

Category: Nautical

The drunken captain of an unseaworthy ferry who refuses to return to port in bad weather because he would have to refund the fares; the naval captain who entrusts the navigation of his frigate to a passenger; the crew who callously ignored freezing survivors on a dismasted wreck; the passengers who seri ously believed a ship could be unsinkable. All these stories and more are told in gripping detail by the author, an expert in shipping losses and disasters, in this new collection of grimly fascinating tales of real events at sea from the age of sail to the modern day. ...Show more

The Titanic Remembered 1912-2012 by Beau Riffenburgh

$125.00 NZD

Category: Nautical

At 1:30 pm on 10 April 1912, the Titanic began her first and final voyage. For over 1,500 people this would be the last time they would ever see land. Published to coincide with this centenary "The Titanic Remembered" tells the complete history of this magnificent ship, from its conception as the most l uxurious vessel in seafaring history, to the tragedy of its sinking and its enduring legacy. Included throughout are extracts from first-hand accounts of those who designed, built and sailed on Titanic, as well as those who lost their lives. This luxury commemorative edition comes with a specially-designed presentation case, an audio CD, 40 beautifully reproduced facsimiles of Titanic memorabilia and a DVD featuring footage of this unsinkable ship. ...Show more

Lords of the Sea: A History of the Barbary Corsairs by Alan G. Jamieson

$49.99 NZD

$99.99 (50% off)

Category: History

The modern increase of piracy in the waters east and south of Somalia has led some commentators to call the area the 'new Barbary'. But what of the 'old Barbary', where from around 1500 to 1800 Muslim corsairs sallied forth to capture Christian ships? For over three hundred years the corsairs of North A frica were the terror of the Mediterranean and beyond, and during that period they are estimated to have captured and enslaved more than a million Christians. The Barbary corsairs began as the maritime vanguard of the Ottoman Turkish empire, the Muslim superpower of the time. They served as a vital component of the main Ottoman fleet, as well as conducting their own independent raiding of Christian shipping and territory. Lords of the Sea covers the dramatic initial impact of the corsairs in the early 1500s, and their eventual breaking from Ottoman control in the early seventeenth century. During this time they rose to the apogee of their powers, extending their activities from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic, venturing as far as England, Ireland and Iceland. They were combatted by the major European sea powers in the second half of the 1600s, and although their activities declined after 1700, it was only in the early nineteenth century that Europe and the new United States of America finally curbed the Barbary corsair menace, culminating in the French conquest of Algiers in 1830. An engrossing tale of piracy, maritime conquest, slavery and exploration, this colourful account will appeal to the wide audience for maritime and general history. ...Show more