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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 359.009
EAN num: 9781844151172
ISBN number: 1844151174
Label: Pen and Sword
Manufacturer: Pen and Sword
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 256
Printing Date: 2004-11
Publishing house: Pen and Sword
Sale Popularity Level: 2130670
Studio: Pen and Sword
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
As any sailour knows, life at sea is hazardous under even normal circumstances. In times of war with an enemy intent on killing and sinking you it is infinitely more so.
David Blackmore has researched 100 extreme cases over the span of history and written graphic descriptions covering the background, the events and the tragic consequences.
Many were the result of enemy action, others (too many) straight human error and the remainder were caused by act of God, not least the weather.
Examples include the Syracuse Harbour disaster (BC413), the rout at Aboutir Bay (1798), and the Prince of Wales/Repulse sinking due to lack of air cover (1941). All make for fascinating and informative reading.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
If you like short stories, especially short stories about shipwrecks and the sea, then this might be the book for you. Containing a collection of sea-going catastrophes, the book commences with tales from 1176 BC and brings the reader right up to date with more modern disasters. The book is divided into 8 parts which are headed; Antiquity and the Classical Epoch, Medieval and the Renaissance Ages, Early Modern Times, Late Nineteenth Century, Recent Times (which covers the period 1904- 1923), Second World War (Axis), Second World War (Allies) and finally the Current Period.
This is a hard-back book which the author also describes as an anthology. I don't quite understand the use of that word because the content does not match the description of "anthology" found in my dictionary - that said, the word is irrelevant. Altogether, I did find the book to be quite good. In several cases the detail was far too little for such a tragic event and this left me wanting to know more. Unfortunately the absence of any bibliography did not show me where I might look to find those further details.
The reader who knows his subject will find a few elementary errors (for example; the Birkenhead did not have the "HMS" prefix because she was a troopship and not a warship! Furthermore, she is described in the book as "a brigantine rigged sailing ship" when, in fact, she was a "brigantine rigged steamship." It is because she was a steamship that the author is able to describe how her captain put her "auxiliary paddle wheels full astern."
My final problem was the way in which the author uses explanatory notes. Every so often a small number appears against the text. In order to discover the additional information associated with each number, the reader must turn to pages 232-235 in order to look up that number and read what is says. There are 57 such numbers throughout the book and (for me at least) that was 57 interruptions to the flow of my reading. Far better to place each note at the bottom of the relevant page where I can glance at what it says - and carry.
Nevertheless, this is a good read and a few minor errors should not spoil any reader's enjoyment.
NM
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