 It is a great privilege for Faircount Media Group to have been appointed by the Royal Navy to produce this prestigious publication, commemorating the naming of the aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth. Today marks the continuation of a great Royal Navy tradition of innovation and invention in shipbuilding and naval aviation.
This publication provides a detailed look at the intense thought and years of planning that went into creating a new class of aircraft carriers, and summarizes the distinguished history of the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers and Fleet Air Arm. The authors of the book tried to detail how British innovation and invention made possible the aircraft carrying ships that serve in navies all over the world.
Most importantly, we focus on the people who serve in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, those people who are the heart and mind of any ship flying the White Ensign. Finally, the publication looks to the future of the Royal Navy. HMS Queen Elizabeth will definitely be the flagship of a new era for the Royal Navy, the RAF, the Army Air Corps, and the Fleet Air Arm. It has been an honour to be associated with this occasion.
 This publication represents the fifth volume of the famous and popular "Secret Beaches" series and is fully dedicated to the Salish Sea. The readers who spend some time with this book will get a great chance to discover the truly noteworthy beaches located in the northern part of the Gulf Islands, including Texada. Quadra, Denman, Hornby and Gabriola.
Theo Dombrowski, who is the author of the volume, provides the readers with detailed descriptions of each of the beaches making them able to choose the right location for their activities, ranging from the romantic cuddles and woodsy walks to the group picnics and family explorations. Take a look in this book and will discover where to launch your boat and get a wealth of other practically useful information.
There are many really indispensable maps that were hand drawn by the author, with the public beach access points being marked on each island; the highly detailed text entries are nicely accompanied with the informative paintings and illustrative photographs, also taken by the author himself...
 Obviously, the Second World War would not be won without the brilliant U.S. Merchant Marine playing their role. In peacetime, the fleet was crewed by civilian seamen and it used to carry most of the ocean-borne commerce of the whole nations. In the wartime, the fleet became the real "fourth arm of defence" - they provided the critically important support for the beachheads in all areas.
Twenty Merchant Marine veterans of the Second World War are featured in this book telling you an excellent and fascinating story. Most of them had at least one vessel bombed, torpedoed or mined out from under them, Some of those people were the prisoners of the Japanese army during that war... We can say that the casualty rate suffered by the Merchant Marine was comparable to the one of the Marine Corps.
This is the outstanding book - read it and you will feel yourself there when reading these stories, oral histories collected by Michael Gillen, who is the former merchant seaman. According to the reviews of the book, the author did a really invaluable work which resulted in a remarkably interesting reading, absolutely recommended to all lovers of the naval history and fleet as well as of the truly heroic people of the past.
 Some centuries back, in the golden times of polar exploration, i.e. between mid-1800s and early 1900s), many, there was a special expedition set out with the ultimate goal to answer the one of the biggest questions of those times - was the Arctic itself a separate continent, an open ocean hidden beyond a huge ice barrier, or maybe an ice-covered ocean? No one knew the correct answer to this question...
Norway’s famous scientist explorer Fridtjof Nansen did convince that it actually was a frozen ocean, and he was intending to prove his suggestion it in a novel and risky way, namely by constructing a vessel that would be capable of withstanding the thick polar ice, then joining others on this expedition, and drifting wherever it took the members of the expedition, on the one-way trip into discovery and fame.
This book tells readers a story of that extraordinary vessel, the Fram, from the stage of conception to construction, through about twenty years of three charismatic expeditions, to the final place of rest as a museum. It shall also be looked at as the story of the people who steered the ship over the course of more than eighty thousand nautical miles: on a three-year completely ice-bound drift, exploring the Arctic..
 There are so many publications dedicated to the Titanic, maybe the most famous ship in the history and one of the most tragic catastrophes in the ocean, but this one should definitely deserve your attention. The book was written and first released straight after that disaster occurred, and the content of the wok in giving the first person accounts of that catastrophe.
Of course, it shall be taken into account that the opinions of the various authors will significantly differ from the later researches and discoveries. This is a must have book for all people who love Titanic as it will really make them feel they were there. The readers have already appreciated the content of the book and the experts have supported them. An excellent and thrilling account of one of the disaster that killed more than 1500 people.
This collective publication is giving a sobering account of that catastrophe providing details of the exciting escapes of luckier people as well as the acts of true heroism not actually equaled in modern or ancient times. This is an absolutely recommended book for all people somehow connected with the sea and ships, a reminder of what had happened once and should never repeat again...
 This is an excellent and comprehensive yet quite concise collection of useful and practical guidelines for all cruisers, with the details of the vessels provided in a very understandable format; the authors have not included any nonsense descriptions of the sea port en route. The readers will be able to see the itinerary and passenger/crew ration, capacity and layout of berths, dining options and other information.
All major ports have been covered in the book including Rome, Monte Carlo, Lisbon, Barcelona, Istanbul and others. The publication was originally intended to provide the travelers with the reference information about the port of call along the way on their cruises. Sufficient details have been provided by the compilers of the volume along with the necessary descriptions and other information to be used when preparing for cruises. in total about fifty ports of call have been addressed in the book.
The readers will definitely anticipate much better organized cruises using the information provided in the pages of the present publication. An absolutely recommended source of info for all cruisers starting from the beginner level. However, the experience travelers will also find the volume practical and useful.
 An atlas of maritime history should include not only places and areas of naval interest illustrating alterations in the balance of sea power, but the ports and routes used by merchant shipping, because the latter forms an integral part, indeed is the basis of sea power, properly understood. Moreover, since maritime history is an aspect of economic and political history there must be some indications of the politico-geographical situation at any given point of time.
For such reasons the following maps, together with their explanatory texts and illustrations, aim at displaying the maritime history of the western nations from the time of the Greeks and the Phoenicians to that of the Americans and the Russians of the present day. This atlas is therefore addressed to those who are interested in economic as well as naval history, to those who are concerned with the story of maritime exploration as much as with changing patterns of maritime strategy. It is not a history of tactics (though diagrammatic plans of notable battles from Salamis to Leyte Gulf are included), or of the evolution of the ship, though there are numerous illustrations included in the text.
Rather, it illustrates a series of strategic and commercial situations seen in a geographical aspect. In a work covering such an enormous stretch of time it is obvious that only the most significant places and events can be shown. In the texts which accompany each map one is compelled to paint a broad picture with summary generalizations which may well deserve qualification in detail. I can only trust that the reader will be indulgent enough to accept such inevitable shortcomings and to overlook any minor errors to which the flesh is heir. It is hoped, at least, that he will be able to find the place he is looking for, whether it be Actium, Lepanto. Hampton Roads or Abu Dhabi.
The pageantry of maritime history, the opening of the ocean routes, the battles for supremacy at sea, the voyages of the great explorers and those of the merchant adventurers, whether from the cities of the Hanseatic League, the barracoons of the slave traders or the oil ports of the Persian Gulf, are here delineated.
 The processes of designing and constructing the vessels has evolved over very long period of time, we are talking about thousands of years. Without them, modem society as we know it simply could not exist. However, in this evolution, the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw perhaps the most dramatic and significant changes to the construction and design, when it became more of a science than an art.
This came about at a time of great social and political change. The ship design and construction is essentially a team activity conducted by professional engineers within the frames of their respective disciplines and fields, often in several countries. However, during this period, a number of individuals made a significant contribution and can rightly claim to have been 'pioneers of ship design and construction'. Many times, whilst their achievements and lasting legacy may be familiar to those involved in the design/construction of vessels, the individuals themselves are less well known, if at all.
In his pen portraits of such professionals, Fred Walker not only describes their achievements, but in doing so charts the development of ship design and construction, seen in the context of the social and economic changes which shaped their lives and work. It is most appropriate that this book should be published in the year when the RINA celebrates the 150th anniversary of its founding in 1860, since many of those whose achievements Fred M. Walker describes made their contributions to ship design and construction as members of the RINA.
|