Well illustrated and packed with information, Mr. Phillips-Birt's new book is as one might expect not only excellently written but written in such a way that the ordinary layman can easily appreciate the complexities of the subject. And it is a big one; the author has undertaken to compress the art and the science of seamanship into little over 300 pages. He does finally deplore the fact that 'in modern seamanship the seaman has become less, and his master equally so. The oceans are becoming controlled by those who are not seamen. The process has not gone very far yet; but it is advancing so quickly that we are in sight of the day when ' 'seamanship'' in the old sense, will no longer be required.' Up to a point, I am afraid that the author is correct, but Mr. Phillips-Birt also opens his book with a comment on the Torrey Canyon disaster as well as on the sinking of the Titanic. It is also worth bearing in mind that within a foreseeable length of time the oil reserves of the world will become exhausted. When that happens only a limited number of monster liners and cargo vessels will move about under nuclear power, the rest will possibly have to revert (O, happy day!) to some form of sail. Seamanship will come back into its own for the bland disregard with which the modern machine-minded man can ignore the elements will become a thing of the past. From the very earliest types of vessel, the hollowed-out canoe and the skincovered kayak, one follows the history of man the boat-builder and his gradually emergent skills in all the subsidiary crafts that became attendant to the vessels as they grew bigger and more complex. The author displays a certain confidence in his estimation of Greek galleys, including the exact length of the oars on a trireme; we shall get one up from the Mediterranean depths one of these daysand he will probably be proved to be dead right! On all aspects of later navigational methods, techniques and instruments this is not only an invaluable book but a richly entertaining one. From an earlier period he quotes from Xenophon on the management aboard a Phoenician trading vessel: 'I noticed that each article was so neatly stowed that it was ready to hand; it had not to be searched for. .. I found that the bosun knew each particular locker so well that he could, even when on deck, say exactly where everything was stowed.' The same might equally be said of Mr. Phillips-Birt's book. Ernie Bradford LONG SHIPS IN THE MIDDLE SEA Old Norse Nautical Distance Tables in the Mediterranean Sea. Roald Morcken, 9 x 6 in., paper back, Bergen Maritime Museum, 1972. The Norse, or the Vikings (call them what we will), were among the greatest sea explorers of all antiquity. Possibly only the Phoenicieans beat them in their 5i9
Well illustrated and packed with information, Mr. Phillips-Birt's new book is as one might expect not only excellently written but written in such a way that the ordinary layman can easily appreciate the complexities of the subject. And it is a big one; the author has undertaken to compress the art and the science of seamanship into little over 300 pages. He does finally deplore the fact that 'in modern seamanship the seaman has become less, and his master equally so. The oceans are becoming controlled by those who are not seamen. The process has not gone very far yet; but it is advancing so quickly that we are in sight of the day when ' 'seamanship'' in the old sense, will no longer be required.' Up to a point, I am afraid that the author is correct, but Mr. Phillips-Birt also opens his book with a comment on the Torrey Canyon disaster as well as on the sinking of the Titanic. It is also worth bearing in mind that within a foreseeable length of time the oil reserves of the world will become exhausted. When that happens only a limited number of monster liners and cargo vessels will move about under nuclear power, the rest will possibly have to revert (O, happy day!) to some form of sail. Seamanship will come back into its own for the bland disregard with which the modern machine-minded man can ignore the elements will become a thing of the past. From the very earliest types of vessel, the hollowed-out canoe and the skincovered kayak, one follows the history of man the boat-builder and his gradually emergent skills in all the subsidiary crafts that became attendant to the vessels as they grew bigger and more complex. The author displays a certain confidence in his estimation of Greek galleys, including the exact length of the oars on a trireme; we shall get one up from the Mediterranean depths one of these daysand he will probably be proved to be dead right! On all aspects of later navigational methods, techniques and instruments this is not only an invaluable book but a richly entertaining one. From an earlier period he quotes from Xenophon on the management aboard a Phoenician trading vessel: 'I noticed that each article was so neatly stowed that it was ready to hand; it had not to be searched for. .. I found that the bosun knew each particular locker so well that he could, even when on deck, say exactly where everything was stowed.' The same might equally be said of Mr. Phillips-Birt's book. Ernie Bradford LONG SHIPS IN THE MIDDLE SEA Old Norse Nautical Distance Tables in the Mediterranean Sea. Roald Morcken, 9 x 6 in., paper back, Bergen Maritime Museum, 1972. The Norse, or the Vikings (call them what we will), were among the greatest sea explorers of all antiquity. Possibly only the Phoenicieans beat them in their 5i9
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