Ships are perhaps the most important mode of transportation ever invented. From oar-powered quinqueremes, to steam-powered freighters, to luxury ocean liners such as the QE2 and QM2 to aircraft carriers like the Abraham Lincoln, throughout history ships have played an integral role in trade, transportation and war. Today, ships remain the largest and most expensive moving objects on the planet; engineers and designers constantly push the limits of design, creating vessels that continue to challenge newer technologies such as aeroplanes and cars.
But for all of our knowledge about ships acquired from movies, photographs and literature, most of us never actually see really large ships in real life. Unlike cars, trains and airplanes, the great ships of the world travel in the deep oceans, out of sight and out of mind - until, that is, something goes wrong. In Ship, Gregory Votolato explores the fiction and the reality of modern ships, the technology that creates them, and the events that can lead to disasters such as the Titanic or Exxon Valdez. Votolato delves into the world of the ship, describing the unpredictable and often-hostile environment of the oceans and the weather, the threat of piracy and the captains and crews responsible for ships at sea.
Ship's broad overview of technology and design offers unique insights and shows how our ideas about ships do not always reflect the reality of these extraordinary products of human creativity. Votolato's book will appeal to mariners, as well as those who are interested in ships and their social, political and technological impact on our modern world.
