Showing titles in Maritime History & Piracy

The Four Points of the Compass takes the listener on a journey of directional discovery. Jerry Brotton reveals why Hebrew culture privileges east; why Renaissance Europeans began drawing north at the top of their maps; why the early Islam revered the south; why the Aztecs used five colour-coded cardinal directions; and why no societies, primitive or modern, have ever oriented themselves westwards. He ends by reflecting on our digital age in which we, the little blue dot on the screen, have become the most important compass point.

In 1906, Britain's grip on the world was unassailable. Its navy ruled the seas, and its trade empire spanned the globe. But in the small port town of Tuticorin, a lawyer named V.O. Chidambaram Pillai—known to the world as VOC—had a revolutionary idea that would challenge the might of the empire itself. VOC's plan was audacious: to launch the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company, a venture that would compete head-on with the British India Steam Navigation Company, the shipping giant that controlled the region.

Task Force 58 was World War II's most powerful battle fleet. Made up in mid-1944 of sixteen aircraft carriers, over a thousand combat aircraft, and an armada of escorts, it was vital to victory over Japan. In this compelling account, Evan Mawdsley charts the 3,500-mile dash of the "Big Blue Fleet" across the Central Pacific in the first six months of 1944, overwhelming enemy opposition and transforming the nature of naval warfare.

When Campbell & Clark, Scottish merchants based in India, dispatched an Indian ship hurriedly renamed the Sydney Cove to the colony of NSW in 1797, they were hoping to make their fortune. The ship's 'speculative' cargo included all kinds of products to entice the new colony's inhabitants, including 7,000 gallons of rum intended to be sold to the Rum Corp. But when the ship went down north of Van Diemen's Land, cargo master William Campbell and 16 other crew members decided to walk the 600 miles to Sydney Town to get help and rescue crew and cargo.

Es difícil conocer íntimamente a los pueblos del mar porque los registros sobre ellos no son muy completos. Pero nos hemos propuesto explorar las muchas preguntas que la gente se hace sobre esta misteriosa civilización. ¿Quiénes eran? ¿De dónde procedían? ¿Hacían algo más que asaltar? ¿Qué impacto tuvieron en la sociedad y el comercio? ¿Le sorprendería saber que este misterioso pueblo era algo más que una banda de piratas?

If Britain's maritime history were embodied in a single ship, she would have a prehistoric prow, a mast plucked from a Victorian steamship, the hull of a modest fishing vessel, the propeller of an ocean liner and an anchor made of stone. We might call her Asunder, and, fantastical though she is, we could in fact find her today, scattered in fragments across the country's creeks and coastlines. This extraordinary book collects those fragments for a profound and haunting exploration of our seafaring past.

Loin des légendes et des fantasmes, la première véritable histoire de la piraterie. Barbe-Noire est sans doute le plus illustre, Anne Bonny la plus féminine et Jack Sparrow le plus attirant (et surtout le moins réel !), mais que sait-on véritablement des pirates, corsaires et flibustiers ? S'il est certain que les pilleurs des mers ont régné sur les Caraïbes au XVIIIe siècle, on ne peut toutefois pas résumer leur histoire à ce truisme.

La sera del 13 gennaio 2012 la Concordia, nave della compagnia Costa Crociere si incaglia su uno scoglio dell’Isola del Giglio a 500 metri dal porto, le vittime saranno 32. Il mondo arriva addosso ad un’isola che si trova lì, immobile da millenni in mezzo al Mediterraneo. Gli 800 abitanti di quell’isola accoglieranno, scalderanno, e nutriranno i superstiti e quell’evento cambierà per sempre le loro vite. Questa serie racconta le loro storie.

The ocean shapes our history. From the birth of humanity, oceans have separated and connected cultures. They have entranced and terrified generations. And they have shaped history in critical ways. Maritime trade. Naval warfare. Ocean exploration. Across the centuries, the ocean became a site for scientific advances and a highway for globalization. The Ocean Blue explores the way seas influence human history, from the ancient world to today.

On May 29, 1914, after a collision in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Empress of Ireland sank in minutes, taking 1,012 passengers and crew to their deaths. The disaster shocked the world but then was forgotten with the torpedoing of the Lusitania and the engulfing cataclysm of World War I. Now, in Dark Descent, acclaimed author and diver Kevin McMurray revives the story of this forgotten maritime catastrophe.

In this original and meticulously researched narrative history, Gareth Russell utilises the sinking of the Titanic as a prism through which to look at the end of the Edwardian era and the seismic shift of modernity the 1910s have come to mark in the West. The Darksome Bounds of a Failing World focuses on the symbolism of the Titanic as the floating symbol of Anglo-American success, its clientele an apt illustration of the limitless - technological, financial - possibilities of its time.

Enter the terrifying world of history’s most infamous pirate in Sea Horror–Blackbeard by Arthur M. Harris. This vivid, pulse-pounding account captures the monstrous legend of Edward Thatch—better known as Blackbeard—whose reign of terror on the high seas still haunts maritime lore. Harris recounts Blackbeard’s savage exploits, from his gruesome appearance with burning fuses in his beard to his violent battles and twisted alliances.

For decades, Clive Cussler's real-life NUMA®, the National Underwater and Marine Agency, has scoured rivers and seas in search of lost ships of historic significance. His teams have been inundated by tidal waves and beset by obstacles - both human and natural - but the results, and the stories behind them, have been dramatic. Here Cussler and colleague Craig Dirgo provide an extraordinary narrative of their true seagoing - and land - adventures.

France & Spain, 1795: The adventure continues in the saga of a sea bound healer caught between a British naval blockade and the bloody battles of the counter-Revolution in France. But there's something odd happening to her now, and it started with a rap upon her head, compliments of a French prison. Her cousin is dead, but she's remembering things from a past she had forgotten long ago, a trauma when she was only six years old. Hopefully, fulfilling her promise made there won't be the end of her. Waters, Winds & Rocks: "Ships are but boards, sailors but men; there be land-rats and water-...

Step into the heart of the Age of Discovery and sail alongside one of its most enigmatic and driven figures: Henry Hudson. In an era defined by the insatiable hunger for new trade routes and uncharted territories, Hudson undertook four legendary voyages that would forever alter the map of the world, even as his ultimate goals remained tantalizingly beyond his grasp. This comprehensive and meticulously researched account takes you deep into the life, times, and enduring mysteries surrounding the English navigator whose name is etched across the geography of North America. From his shadowy ...

Gibraltar & Corsica, 1795: American Kate Senlis grew up on her father's trading ships, traveling around the world. Her mother died when she was just a little girl, but Kate learned how to heal with herbs using her mother's journals. Now with her father also gone, Kate is just trying to get home again. Deception comes too easily, and so when it's a matter of survival, Kate has to become a ghost. A Contrary Wind: "True courage is like a kite; a contrary wind raises it higher." ~Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

Kevin McKinney now owns a pub with his name hanging over the door. He tells his story of adventures he shares with the characters he serves.

Nassau è stata la capitale dei pirati dei Caraibi. Un nido di disertori che cercavano la libertà, in nome di una vita breve ma felice. Una confraternita di criminali, un commonwealth di pendagli da forca. È lì che, nel 1718, giunge Woodes Rogers. Ex corsaro ed esploratore, piagato nel corpo e nell’anima. Rogers ha un solo obiettivo: estirpare la pirateria. E intende farlo, costi quel che costi. Intrighi e ammutinamenti, torture, mosse politiche e navi date alle fiamme: segui l'ascesa e la caduta di figure iconiche come Barbanera, Charles Vane e Anne Bonny.

Experience first-hand the reality of life in the British Navy sailing from the Viking invasion of Anglo Saxon England to a young sailor’s grief at the death of Lord Nelson, from the Spanish Armada to the Battle of Jutland and from organised press gangs to murderous mutinies. Told entirely in the words of those who were there.

They were out of their depth, out of breath and out of time. It was 1973. Two men were trapped in a crippled submarine 1,700 feet below sea. They only had enough air to survive for two days. On the ocean’s surface there was a hastily assembled flotilla of rescue ships from both sides of the Atlantic. The world held its breath to await word of a rescue. In a routine dive to fix the telecommunication cable that snakes along the Atlantic sea bed, their mission had gone badly wrong.