Shipping - USA: Books - History and Ships

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.

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.

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.