First published to huge acclaim during the war it describes, Very Ordinary Seaman relates-with humanity, humour and the authority of experience-lower-deck life in the British navy, from basic training to service on a destroyer protecting a convoy to Arctic Russia, a mission which came under heavy attack by air and sea, and from which many did not return. "When Very Ordinary Seaman first appeared in the spring of 1944, V. S. Pritchett of the New Statesman described it as `One of the best pieces of documentary writing that I have come across during the war.' Elizabeth Bowen wrote in The...

A fascinating journey through more than 5,000 years of seafaring history in this essential guide to the most impressive seafaring tales, explorers, and maritime environments. For more than 5,000 years, the seas have challenged, rewarded, and punished the brave sailors who set forth to explore it. This history of the seas and sailing tells the remarkable story of those individuals - whether they lived to tell the tale themselves or not. From the early Polynesian seafarers and the first full circumnavigations of the globe, to explorers picking their way through the coral reefs of the...