Shipping - USA: Books - History and Ships

Along the Waterfront - Freighters at New York in the 1950s and 1960s

The 1954 film On the Waterfront brought to life the New York docks of the 1950s, when it was often said that a ship, usually a freighter, arrived or departed every 24 minutes, around the clock.
Now, the Port of New York is handling more cargo than ever before, but all of it containerised.

"Along the Waterfront", a followon to "Along the Hudson" (which looked at passenger ships in the Port of New York), covers the vast and fascinating fleet of freighters that once called at New York, including ships and companies that did not quite make it, such as the Bull Line, Standard Fruit, Torm Lines and the Booth Steamship Company.
In this book, William H. Miller takes the reader on an evocative trip back to the days of the New York docks as they were portrayed in On the Waterfront.

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Commercial Ships of the Great Lakes: A Photo Gallery

Millions of tons of cargo have been transported across the five Great Lakes bringing the products and commodities of the Midwestern states and Canadian provinces to markets worldwide.
Known for its unique commercial operations, Great Lakes shipping has always relied on the old school uses of single screw tugboats, steam propulsion, and incredibly talented engineers and captains who can maneuver their ships in and out of tight quarters and winding rivers. But times are changing on the Great Lakes, and these changes are signaling the end of an era.

This is the story of that grand era of shipping on the Great Lakes. Over 300 sharp black and white historic and current photographs bring us aboard those hard-working ships that opened the interiors of America and Canada to the world.
"Commercial Ships on the Great Lakes" provides a comprehensive look at these great ships and includes everything from the smallest tugs, the barges, the passenger and workboats, to the gigantic ore boats. Also included are ships relegated to the boneyard and others that have been resurrected as museums, fishing boats, and passenger boats.

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Great Lakes Shipping: Ports & Cargoes Photo Gallery

Over 163 million net tons of cargo are moved each year on the Great Lakes in the holds of a vast fleet of steel ships. View first-hand how cargoes are loaded at the grain terminals of Thunder Bay, the ore docks of Minnesota's north shore, or the sprawling Midwest Energy coal dock in Superior.
See where these giant ships and cargoes go "down below" on the infamous Cuyahoga River, the Ford Plant on Detroit's Rouge River, or inside the heart of the famous U.S. Steel Works in Gary, Indiana.

The photographs in this book bring you a slice of industrial America rarely seen by the general public. These images, contemporary and historic, will take you to all of the primary loading and unloading ports from Lake Superior to Lake Erie.

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Ships of the Great Lakes: An Inside Look at the World's Largest Inland Fleet

Is working on ships, sailing or tugging through the sea-like waters of the Great Lakes something you've imagined yourself doing? Whether it's your dream job or an area of interest, it is no easy task and takes a full crew to power the 1000-footers, steamers, tugs, Seaway and river class vessels.

Lapinski gets close and personal with ship-life, from the captain to the cook, from the inner workings of the engine department to the intricacies of navigation, from the work it takes to load and unload large masses of material, to keeping the ships in tip-top shape around the clock during the busy shipping season.
A huge variety of ships, a huge variety of jobs, and an even bigger cross section of people, all have helped make the lives of Americans a little easier by bringing in or out the goods through the Great Lakes.

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The American Clipper Ship, 1845-1920 - A Comprehensive History, with a Listing of Builders and Their Ships

This work offers a new and comprehensive account of the fastest and most beautiful sailing ships ever built. It explores the quest for speed on the seas from the early 1800s through the fast-paced times of the 1850s spurred on by the California Gold Rush of 1849.

Not only are the career details of such noted ships as the Flying Cloud and Challenge discussed in detail, but they are also put in context with the times in which they operated. Their builders in East Coast states from Maine to Florida are discussed in detail, as are the men, and a woman in one instance, who commanded and manned these ships.

The book documents the roles that owners and shipping agents played, what kinds of cargo the ships carried worldwide and the unusual trades in which they participated.

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The Masting of American Merchant Sail in the 1850s : An Illustrated Study

This book describes the intricacies of the construction and fabrication more than 150 years ago of masts and yards installed in American merchant vessels, particularly those spars which were "built" or composed of multiple pieces bound together by iron bands. These were referred to as "made" spars as opposed to spars constructed from a single tree. It also contains instructions for developing the shape and proportions of various spars.
Very little information is available on this subject. Generally, the external sizes of individual spars can be found but intimate details are sorely neglected. In addition, the book includes the spacing and location of masts in a ship, and the rake, and it discusses the types of wood that are most desirable in the construction of spars.

Before his retirement in 1972, William L. Crothers worked as a draftsman in the design division of the Philadelphia Navy Yard. He is also the author of books on the construction of American clipper ships American packets and freighters of the 1850s.

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Tugboats of the Great Lakes Photo Gallery

From the early days of commercial navigation on the waterways of the Great Lakes, tugboats have been needed to guide the ships in and out of the newly constructed ports. As the ships progressed from wooden schooners to large steel steamships, the tugboat also grew in size.
This book takes an in-depth look into the ancient practices of Great Lakes ice-breaking, ship assistance, and towing. At the turn of the century, the towing industry changed forever with the consolidation of fleets and the design of the low-profile powerful steam ship-docking tug. This "G-Tug" design has become known all around the world and these same 80-year old tugs are still the primary workhorse in most harbors on the Lakes today.
Many other designs, unique to the fresh waters of the Great Lakes, are profiled in this book. The severe climate of the Great Lakes region is brutal on the equipment and the tugs are built tough, for heavy ice breaking. A new class of powerful Coast Guard ice-breaking tugs came out in the 1940s. Today, many of these "WYTM" class tugs survive in commercial service on the Lakes. The Lakes have always been home to a large fleet of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tugs. Additionally, U.S. Army auctions have brought many government-class tugs such as LT's, ST's, and DPC's to the Lakes in the hands of private and commercial operators. In the rivers that feed the busy port of Chicago and all throughout New York State on the Erie Canal, a rare species of tug can be found, the famous "canallers", which are also featured in this volume.

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