Charles F. Gunther is a Yankee ice peddlar who is trapped in the South at the outbreak of the war. Presented here are two years of diaries of Gunther's experiences working on the steamboat Rose Douglas, ferrying Confederate troops and supplies. After the war, Gunther makes a fortune in the candy business across the street from Marshal Field's in Chicago, becomes a premier collector and preserver of Civil War artifacts and Lincoln memorabilia, endows the Chicago history Museum with its Civil War collection, and goes on to hold political office as an alderman and City Treasurer of Chicago. In Two Years Before the Paddlewheel, readers can follow the day-by-day survival of an ordinary ice merchant turned Confederate steamboat purser during the Civil War. Gunther's day-by-day account as a civilian in military service illuminates the economic, military, social, and personal side of America's Civil War.

Traces the development of steamboats.

HMS Warrior, launched in 1860, was the first iron-hulled, sea-going armoured ship, and for many years was the most powerful warship in the world. Rescued a century later from her role as a refuelling hulk, she became the object of the most ambitious ship restoration project ever mounted and is now afloat and open to visitors at Portsmouth.??As is the case for many historic ships, however, there is a surprising shortage of informative and well illustrated guides, for reference during a visit or for research by enthusiasts _ ship modellers, naval buffs, technical historians or students. This new series redresses the gap. ??Written by experts and containing more than 200 specially commissioned photographs, each title takes the reader on a superbly illustrated tour of the ship, deck by deck. Significant parts of the vessel _ for example, the steering gear, armament and armour, engine-room and gundeck _ are given detailed coverage so that the reader has at hand the most complete visual record and explanation of the ship that is at present available.??In addition, the importance of the ship, both in her own time and now as a museum vessel, is explained, while her design and build, her service career and her life prior to restoration and exhibition are all described.??The Seaforth Historic Ship Series is a truly groundbreaking concept, bringing the ships of our past vividly to life.

This book explores the nature of creativity in engineering and technology, and how it relates to creativity in art or science. Lienhard has for ten years done a twice-weekly radio show, carried on about 35 NPR stations, consisting of 3-minute essays on technology. He uses the substance of selected segments of his radio program to create a continuous narrative presenting his insights on technological creativity. This book has the same title as his radio program, to further draw the attention of his one million listeners.

"This volume collects three sea-going travel narratives by Richard Henry Dana, Jr., that span 25 years of maritime history, from the age of sail to the age of steam." "Suffering from persistent weakness in his eyes, Dana left Harvard at age 19 and sailed from Boston in 1834 as a common seaman. Two Years Before the Mast (1840) is the account of his voyages around Cape Horn and time ashore in California in the decade before the Gold Rush. Dana's narrative vividly portrays the daily routines and hardships of life at sea, the capriciousness and brutality of merchant ship captains and officers, and the beauty and danger of the southern oceans in winter. Included in an appendix is "Twenty-Four Years After" (1869), in which Dana describes his return to California in 1859-1860 and the immense changes brought about by American annexation, the frenzy of the Gold Rush, and the growing commerce of "a new world, the awakened Pacific."" "Dana first visited Cuba in the winter of 1859 while the possible annexation of the island was being debated in the U.S. Senate. To Cuba and Back (1859) is his account of his trip, during which he toured Havana and a sugar plantation; attended a bullfight; visited churches, hospitals, schools, and prisons; and investigated the impact on Cuban society of slavery and autocratic Spanish rule." "Journal of a Voyage Round the World, 1859-1860 records the 14-month circumnavigation that took Dana to California, Hawaii, China, Japan, Malaya, Ceylon, India, Egypt, and Europe. The journal provides vignettes of frontier life in California, missionary influence in Hawaii, the impact of the Taiping Rebellion and the Second Opium War on China, and the opening of Japan to the West, while capturing the transition from the age of sail to the faster, smaller world created by the steamship and the telegraph."--BOOK JACKET.