The Mariners Mirror Archive
Book Review-‘Anatomy of the Ship: The battleship USS ‘Iowa’’ by S. Draminski
Commissioned in 1943, the United States Ship Iowa was the lead ship of a class of six that were destined to be the very last US battleships; indeed only four of the class were subsequently built. Formidably armed, well armoured and handsome, they were the fastest battleships ever built, with a maximum speed of 33 […] Read More
Filed under: WW2 | Post WW2
Subjects include: Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration | Shipbuilding & Design
Book Review-‘Black Swan Class Sloops: Detailed in the original builder’s plans’ by L. Brown
This is a beautifully produced book, the sixth in the series by Seaforth Publishing of significant warships of the first half of the last century. All the earlier books by different authors could be said to be of major warships (from the famous HMS Warspite, of Jutland and Second World War fame, to the German […] Read More
Filed under: Popular Topics
Subjects include: Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration | Shipbuilding & Design
Book Review-‘Battleship ‘Warspite’: Detailed in the original builders’ plans’ by R. Brown
The vast collection of ships draughts and other plans held by the National Maritime Museum (NMM) was first introduced to this reviewer by the late David Lyon in the 1960s. This was in the days when the excellent reading room of the Caird Library and draughtroom were open on Saturdays. During my early visits, David […] Read More
Filed under: Popular Topics
Subjects include: Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration
Book Review-‘This Noble Ship and Others’ by J. M. Anderson,
The demand for shipping was growing at a rate of 4.2 per cent per year in the second half of the nineteenth century as long-haul trades developed to move grain, wool and other textiles and coal between the Britain, Europe, the Americas and Australasia. It was also an era of steady improvement in vessel types […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Eighteenth C)
Subjects include: Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration
Book Review-‘Brunels’s Ships and Boats’ by H. Doe
Having worked with both the late Dr Ewan Corlett and Richard Goold-Adams on the SS Great Britain during her restoration, including a paper for this journal on the ship’s original rig, this reviewer awaits with keen anticipation any new study that highlights the achievements of one of Britain’s finest civil engineers. However, this brief illustrated […] Read More
Filed under: Popular Topics
Subjects include: Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration
Book Review-‘Ye Mary Fortune: A ship of Henry VII 1490 AD at Pembroke Castle’ by D. James
Advances in warship design over the last century are displayed on the covers of this excellent book. On the front, a photograph taken in 1913 shows the launch of the battleship Queen Elizabeth at the Dockyard, while on the back there is a superb view of her modern namesake, the new aircraft carrier on her […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors
Subjects include: Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration
Book Review-‘Exploring the Britannic: The life, last voyage and wreck of ‘Titanic’’s tragic twin’ by S. Mills
The Royal Mail Steamer Britannic was laid down in 1911 in Harland & Wolff’s Belfast ship yard where her near sisters Olympic and Titanic had been built. She was intended to have been the third of the White Star Line’s trio of luxury liners which were necessary to maintain a weekly service on the North […] Read More
Filed under: WW1 | Mediterranean
Subjects include: Archaeology | Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration
Book Review-‘SS ‘Great Britain’: Brunel’s ship, her voyages, passengers and crew’ by H. Doe
Helen Doe makes clear from the outset that her book is not intended to repeat or replace the classic technical work on Great Britain by Ewan Corlett. Rather she uses a wide range of sources to put the ship, its owners, crew and passengers in wider context, making some intriguing connections and revealing the complicated […] Read More
Filed under: Popular Topics
Subjects include: Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration
Book Review-‘Early Ships and Seafaring: Water transport beyond Europe’ by S. McGrail
The British tradition of ‘maritime ethnography’ (as developed by Hornell) has traditionally been the basis for the study of early and ‘primitive’ watercraft, and underlies this study, which is essentially an introductory account by its leading practitioner. This volume should prove valuable to both the general reader and the student of archaeology in general. Water […] Read More
Filed under: Popular Topics
Subjects include: Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration
Book Review-‘Viermastbark Kruzenshtern ex Padua: Eine deutsch-russische Dokumentation zur Technik- und Sozialgeschichte des Frachtseglers und Schulschiffs’ by T. Böttcher and C. HieberREview-‘
The four-masted barque Padua, launched in 1926, was not only the last of the Laeisz ‘Flying P-Liners’, she was the last cargo-carrying square rigger to be built anywhere. Padua was the epitome of ‘the industrial sailing ship’, which is why her photograph, in her present incarnation as the sail training ship Kruzenshtern, was chosen to […] Read More
Filed under: Other (Twentieth C)
Subjects include: Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration