Maritime English

In the great wars of modern history, maritime powers have always prevailed over land-based empires, whether Habsburg, Napoleonic, Nazi, or Soviet. In contrast to the rigid hierarchies and centralization of land-based empires, those nations attaining mastery at sea have been distinguished by liberty, flexibility, and enterprise. The 17th-century Dutch were the first to achieve naval and trading dominance.

A compelling account of history's most famous pirate. The Pirate King is the compelling true story of a Welshman who became one of the most ruthless and brutal buccaneers of the golden age of piracy. The inspiration for dozens of fictionalized pirates in film, television, and literature - as well the namesake of one of the world's most popular rum brands - Captain Sir Henry Morgan was matchless among pirates and privateers.

A fresh account of some of history's greatest warriors. The Vikings had an extraordinary and far-reaching historical impact. From the eighth to the 11th centuries, they ranged across Europe - raiding, exploring, and colonizing - and their presence was felt as far away as Russia and Byzantium. They are most famous as warriors, yet perhaps their talent for warfare is too little understood.

The Gulf of Mexico presents a compelling, salt-streaked narrative of the Earth's 10th-largest body of water. In this beautifully written volume, John S. Sledge explores the people, ships, and cities that have made the Gulf's human history and culture so rich. Many famous figures who sailed the Gulf's viridian waters are highlighted, including Ponce de Leon, Robert Cavelier de La Salle, Francis Drake, Elizabeth Agassiz, Ernest Hemingway, and Charles Dwight Sigsbee. Sledge also introduces a fascinating array of people connected to maritime life in the Gulf.

Set sail on an enthralling voyage with "Moby Dick: Adapted for Modern Readers," where Herman Melville's timeless tale is refreshed for today's audience. This edition features clarified language and contemporary typography, ensuring a seamless reading experience while retaining the original's intensity and depth. Dive into the adventurous hunt for the elusive white whale with ease, as this adaptation enhances readability without compromising the epic's richness. Experience the 19th-century whaling era, a period of peril and discovery, through the lens of friendship, obsession, and revenge. ...

Beneath the waves lie stories the world was never meant to forget. From the doomed voyage of the Titanic to the eerie silence of the Mary Celeste, Drowned in Silence dives deep into fifteen of the most chilling, mysterious, and tragic sea disasters ever recorded. Author James Calloway brings each tale to life with immersive, emotional storytelling that will haunt readers long after the final page. Survival. Mystery. Loss. The sea remembers everything.

2015 saw the worst American maritime disaster in decades. The captain of the SS El Faro commanded his crew to sail straight into a hurricane. The ship sank and all 33 crew members died. The sinking raised troubling questions: Why did the captain choose to sail into the hurricane? Why did no one on board or on shore stop him? And why was such an old and heavily loaded ship even allowed on the water? The crew of the SS El Faro is gone, but their haunting final hours were preserved by the ship’s black box.

Over the years, thousands of tales both true and fantastic have been told about the dastardly thievery of pirates. Their rum-drunk exploits and high-seas violence never fail to delight. Now in a brand new series collection, The Best Pirate Stories Ever Told includes many of the very best pirate yarns ever created on history’s most debaucherous scalawags. Anyone who loves a good story full of excitement, adventure, thrills, and laughs will find this collection irresistible.

In The Gales of November, award-winning journalist John U. Bacon presents the definitive account of the disaster, drawing on more than 100 interviews with the families, friends, and former crewmates of those lost. Bacon explores the vital role Great Lakes shipping played in America’s economic boom, the uncommon lives the sailors led, the sinking’s most likely causes, and the heartbreaking aftermath for those left behind—“the wives, the sons, and the daughters,” as Gordon Lightfoot sang in his unforgettable ballad.

What happens when the ocean refuses to give up its dead? The sea is a vast, unforgiving wilderness, and for centuries it has been the setting for some of history’s most baffling and tragic mysteries. From the deck of the world's most infamous ghost ship to the crushing depths of the Atlantic, this book uncovers the chilling true stories of the vessels and souls that vanished without a trace. Step aboard the Mary Celeste, found drifting and eerily deserted. Investigate the colossal disappearance of the USS Cyclops in the heart of the Bermuda Triangle. Witness the final, harrowing hours of ...

Do you think the ocean is a dangerous place? Yes, it can be. Titanic…Amoco Cadiz…Herald of Free Enterprise…Exxon Valdez…every shipwreck tells a story. Veteran sea captain Beetashok Chatterjee reveals the stories behind 13 of the greatest civilian maritime disasters, outside the realms of war, that shook the world. Not just for the number of lives lost, but in some cases the damage caused to the environment and livelihoods, or the media attention those incidents garnered. Allow him to take you back in time and on the high seas, where you can watch and learn from these disasters—...

What happens when Blackbeard meets Jesse James? The most infamous pirates of the Caribbean gather aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge. But when a violent storm tears across Nassau Harbor, Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, and Calico Jack are hurled through a mysterious vortex — into San Francisco Bay, 1873. Stranded in the Wild West, the crew must trade cutlasses for six-shooters, outwit bounty hunters, and chase treasure across a lawless new frontier. From dusty saloons to raging train heists, survival means forging uneasy alliances in a world of gunfighters and steam engines. Pirates of the Wild ...

In June 2023, the world watched as the Titan submersible vanished during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic. Days later, search teams discovered the unthinkable—Titan had suffered a catastrophic implosion, ending the lives of all five aboard. The tragedy gripped global headlines, sparked intense debate, and left many questionings how such a disaster could have happened in an era of advanced engineering and safety standards. This eBook tells the full story of Titan: its bold but unconventional design, the risks that were overlooked, and the leadership decisions that shaped its fate. It ...

A monumental retelling of world history through the lens of maritime enterprise, revealing in breathtaking depth how people first came into contact with one another by ocean and river, lake and stream, and how goods, languages, religions, and entire cultures spread across and along the world's waterways, bringing together civilizations and defining what makes us most human.

The acclaimed seven-book series chronicling the adventures of the generations of the Treegate family from the birth of the Revolutionary War through the War of 1812, ending at the Battle of New Orleans. Recommended by the Seton Home Study Guide for Grade 8 for American History. John Treegate's Musket (Book 1) An epic historical adventure that takes young readers from The Boston Massacre to the Battle of Bunker Hill. When young Peter Treegate is framed for murder while his father is away on business, Peter is forced to flee Boston on a smuggler's brig, sending him on a series of adventures ...

What if the local legends were true? What if the whispers from the past never faded? In the quiet corners of New England, where history holds a grudge, some stories are best left untold. From a lonely Vermont trail where a mysterious lantern lures hikers to their doom, to a historic Salem house where a 17th-century diary is not a journal but a trap, this collection unearths the terrifying truths behind the region’s most unsettling folklore. Venture to a salt-scoured lighthouse on the coast of Maine where the dead keeper still stands watch, walk the silent grounds of a Harvard graveyard ...

Following the fall of Rome, the sea is increasingly the stage upon which the human struggle of western civilization is played out. In a world of few roads and great disorder, the sea is the medium on which power is projected and wealth sought. Yet this confused period in the history of maritime warfare has rarely been studied; it is little known and even less understood. Charles Stanton uses an innovative and involving approach to describe this fascinating but neglected facet of European medieval history.

A Barnes & Noble Best History Book of 2025 Four men in a lifeboat. Two weeks without food. One impossible choice that would reshape the boundaries between survival and murder. “A perfect enunciation of the classic philosophical conundrum: can you sacrifice one innocent life to save many?"...

The mutiny on HMS Bounty, in the South Pacific on 28 April 1789, is one of history's truly great stories - a tale of human drama, intrigue and adventure of the highest order - and in the hands of Peter FitzSimons it comes to life as never before. Commissioned by the Royal Navy to collect breadfruit plants from Tahiti and take them to the West Indies, the Bounty's crew found themselves in a tropical paradise. Five months later, they did not want to leave.

In Maritime Power and the Struggle for Freedom, Peter Padfield presents a superb description and analysis of naval campaigns conducted between 1788 and 1851 that shaped the modern world. Winner of the Mountbatten Maritime Prize, this is the second of Padfield's masterful trilogy that traces the impact of naval power on modern history, and the means by which it has been enacted.