Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia
You don't have to be a maritime history buff--or even a sailor--to find Lincoln Paine'sShips of the Worldfascinating. Certainly no scholar or student of the history of ships will want to be without it: it consists of more than 1,000 alphabetical entries describing individual ships' histories and fates. Yet because of the author's flair for language and the skill with which he has made his selections, the book is a browser's delight--almost a short-story collection. Look up an entry on any celebrated vessel--theTitanic, theMonitor, theLusitania--and you'll find an admirably concise history of the boat and the events that made it famous. But browsing turns up countless unexpected pleasures, from the story of thePolitician(a freighter that ran aground in the Outer Hebrides, where its cargo of Scotch was efficiently plundered by locals) to that ofJacques Cousteau'sCalypso. The hundreds of well-chosen black-and-white illustrations help bring the tales alive.