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Ships of Steam By Lamont Buchanan w/ dust jacket 1956 Freighters tankers Superli
Ships of Steam By Lamont Buchanan with dust jacket 1956 192 pages indexed
THIS is a book about ships of steam and what they have meant to all people of the world, even to those who have never seen an ocean. The story of the sea, of the ships and men who have sailed upon it, has always been an enthralling one. The story of the sea has been well liked by old sailors who can still hear, in memory's ear, the soft gurgle of wake under a ship's stern, and equally by those who have lived their lives ashore and know these things only through reading and hearing about them.
The story of ships and the sea is a "tall" story, filled as it is with heroics and accomplishments that would be put down as extravagant or impossible were they not a part of recorded history. Here is some of that history.
The author has consulted with profit the files of both large and small steamship lines. Harbor and port authorities of the great seaport cities have been sources of additional material along with individual shipyards and many of the various sea-service establishments. There was a valuable yield from historical societies, libraries, and other public and private archives, plus the United States Coast Guard, the American Merchant Marine Institute, the Seamen's Church Institute of New York, the Steamship Historical Society, and several individual collections and collectors.
In handling the pictorial material, the author has not always adhered to a rigid chronology. Other factors were of influence and sometimes outweighed in desirability a slavish year-by-year presentation.
Space makes it impossible to mention more than a couple of those valuable books which are among the author's favorites: Frank 0. Braynard's latest volume, Famous American Ships, a book that should be in the library of everyone who follows the sea, actually or in fancy; and James Thomas Flexner's Steamboats Come True, an engrossing picture of the early days of the steamboat and its dedicated inventors. Among less general works, the author was much interested in History of Long Island Steamboats, from the personal collection of George W. Murdock and available at the New York Historical Society. However, the reader will be wise to make his own selections, from the many splendid volumes available, on the basis of whatever phase of the subject interests him the most.
On the disaster side, the main reliance has been put upon newspapers and journals contemporary to the event, supplemented by inquiry findings and occasional notes in the possession of individuals. It is quite natural that the shipping companies themselves usually have short memories (and nothing in the files) on most of their ships that have met untimely ends. Considering the incredible over-all record of safety compiled by all kinds of ships at sea for many years, the sea disaster is a rarity. But the fact remains that people are curious about such happenings. For those wishing to pursue further these exciting chapters of men in peril on the seas, the following is a very brief list of some of the volumes the author has found most enjoyable: Hanson W. Bald-win's Sea Fights and Shipwrecks, containing eighteen absorbing tales of warand-peace drama on the seas, and SOS to the Rescue, by wireless operator Karl Baarslag, are both excellent collections of ocean disasters. There has also been a variety of fine books on specific ship disasters; many, for instance, on the sinking of the Titanic. Of these, two favorites are The Loss of the S.S. Titanic, by Lawrence Beesley, a surviving passenger, and Walter Lord's recent A Night to Remember, an intensively researched and dramatic reconstruction. The Last Voyage of the Lusitania, by A. A. Hoehling and Mary Hoehling, will be of interest to those wanting to relive the dramatic final moments of that torpedoed luxury liner.
Dreams, drawing boards and the vessels they bore
The steamship comes of age
The Blue Ribbon Ships
For those in peril on the sea
Ports across the Ocean World Freighters and tankers to superliners
A great Harbor at work the ships of the future
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