The History of Seafaring

A history of mankind's seaborne voyages from the Phoenicians and Chinese to modern navies and round-the-world sailing yachts. This book opens with the basic questions and challenges of navigation; and unravels the development of science and seafaring from the ancient times to the Mediterranean era.

Synopsis

A large format, meticulously researched, lavishly illustrated and fully international history of mankind's seaborne voyages from the Phoenicians and Chinese to modern navies and round-the-world sailing yachts. Royal prestige, intellectual curiosity, commerce and territorial expansion all propelled mankind to make perilous voyages across unpredictable oceans to find out what lay beyond the horizon, and the art of navigation allowed them to do so. From initial conjecture and philosophical reason, man ventured forth to glean first-hand information of the seas by exploration and scientific investigation. The author pieces together the advances in astronomy, navigation, shipbuilding and surveying through the ages to tell the fascinating and absorbing history of navigation and exploration in an elegant volume that is beautifully illustrated with manuscripts and rutters, portolans and sea charts, ship’s instruments and artefacts. The meticulous research, based on original sources, has brought to light a lot of new information, which in some cases contradicts popular held beliefs.

The book opens with the basic questions and challenges of navigation. Part 2 unravels the development of science and seafaring from the ancient times to the Mediterranean era. This created a basis for longer sailings, which are at the heart of Part 3 and in Part 4 the book ends with the advanced technology that made it possible to determine a ship’s exact position at sea. 

Review

Full length review

'..handsome illustrated volume'. Seven - The Sunday Telegraph

'This delighful book will enliven your research..a visual delight. It provides a superb account of how we learned to find our way around the trackless oceans and chart the new lands covered'. BBC Who Do You Think You Are magazine

'a valuable addition to our understanding of a constantly fascinating subject'. The Good Book Guide

'..an excellent value in all ways and does its main subject more than justice. It is a very admirable volume and is recommended both as a good an informative read and a much better than average addition to the coffee table'. Navy News

'..a scholarly yet highly readable work about a fascinating subject that will appeal to mariners, maritime academics and the layperson alike'. Nautilus UK Telegraph

Product Details

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