In the era of commercial sail, clipper ships were the ultimate expression of speed and grace. Racing out to the gold fields of America and Australia, and breaking speed records carrying tea back from China, the ships combined beauty with breathtaking performance. With over 200 gorgeous paintings and illustrations, and thrilling descriptions of the adventures and races on the water, this beautiful book brings the era vividly to life. Chapters include: The origins of the clippers - from the gold rush to the tea trade A hell ship voyage with 'Bully' Waterman, one of the most successful and notorious captains of the era Marco Polo, the fastest ship in the world - her rise to prominence and subsequent decline Mary Patten's battle with Cape Horn - a lady captain takes charge in a very male world Mutiny aboard the 'wild boat of the Atlantic' The great China tea race of 1866 - an amazingly close race across the world, only decided in the final few miles The Sir Lancelot defies the odds - her eccentric captains and rivalry with the legendary Thermopylae The Cutty Sark's longest voyage First-hand accounts, newspaper reports and log entries add fascinating eyewitness detail, whilst the stunning images show how the designs of these thoroughbreds developed over the years. A wonderful read and worthy celebration of these racehorses of the sea.

To see a clipper knife through wind-swept seas on a sprint from New York to San Francisco or between London and Hong Kong was to witness the quintessence of sailing. In winds that would cause others to reef sail, clipper captains flew every possible scrap of canvas, until the masts quivered at breaking point. Clippers rode tempests like sea birds, making some 400 miles a day and setting records that would last forever.

“A fascinating, fast-paced history…full of remarkable characters and incredible stories” about the nineteenth-century American dynasties who battled for dominance of the tea and opium trades (Nathaniel Philbrick, National Book Award–winning author of In the Heart of the Sea). There was a time, back when the United States was young and the robber barons were just starting to come into their own, when fortunes were made and lost importing luxury goods from China. It was a secretive, glamorous, often brutal business—one where teas and silks and porcelain were purchased with profits from the opium trade. But the journey by sea to New York from Canton could take six agonizing months, and so the most pressing technological challenge of the day became ensuring one’s goods arrived first to market, so they might fetch the highest price. “With the verse of a natural dramatist” (The Christian Science Monitor), Steven Ujifusa tells the story of a handful of cutthroat competitors who raced to build the fastest, finest, most profitable clipper ships to carry their precious cargo to American shores. They were visionary, eccentric shipbuilders, debonair captains, and socially ambitious merchants with names like Forbes and Delano—men whose business interests took them from the cloistered confines of China’s expatriate communities to the sin city decadence of Gold Rush-era San Francisco, and from the teeming hubbub of East Boston’s shipyards and to the lavish sitting rooms of New York’s Hudson Valley estates. Elegantly written and meticulously researched, Barons of the Sea is a riveting tale of innovation and ingenuity that “takes the reader on a rare and intoxicating journey back in time” (Candice Millard, bestselling author of Hero of the Empire), drawing back the curtain on the making of some of the nation’s greatest fortunes, and the rise and fall of an all-American industry as sordid as it was genteel.

Wabanaki communities across northeastern North America had been looking to the sea for generations before strangers from the east began arriving there in the sixteenth century. Storm of the Sea narrates how by the Atlantic's Age of Sail, the People of the Dawn were mobilizing the ocean to achieve a dominion governed by its sovereign masters and enriched by its profitable and compliant tributaries.

Sailing.

“A fascinating historical account…A snapshot of the American Dream culminating with this country’s mid-century greatness” (The Wall Street Journal) as a man endeavors to build the finest, fastest, most beautiful ocean liner in history. The story of a great American Builder at the peak of his power, in the 1940s and 1950s, William Francis Gibbs was considered America’s best naval architect. His quest to build the finest, fastest, most beautiful ocean liner of his time, the SS United States, was a topic of national fascination. When completed in 1952, the ship was hailed as a technological masterpiece at a time when “made in America” meant the best. Gibbs was an American original, on par with John Roebling of the Brooklyn Bridge and Frank Lloyd Wright of Fallingwater. Forced to drop out of Harvard following his family’s sudden financial ruin, he overcame debilitating shyness and lack of formal training to become the visionary creator of some of the finest ships in history. He spent forty years dreaming of the ship that became the SS United States. William Francis Gibbs was driven, relentless, and committed to excellence. He loved his ship, the idea of it, and the realization of it, and he devoted himself to making it the epitome of luxury travel during the triumphant post-World War II era. Biographer Steven Ujifusa brilliantly describes the way Gibbs worked and how his vision transformed an industry. A Man and His Ship is a tale of ingenuity and enterprise, a truly remarkable journey on land and sea.

DIVSuperb, authoritative history of sailing vessels, with 80 magnificent line illustrations. Galley, bark, caravel, longship, whaler, many more. Detailed, informative text on each vessel by noted naval historian. Introduction. /div