Ship (eBook)

From oar-powered quinqueremes, to steam-powered freighters, to luxury ocean liners such as the Titanic, to aircraft carriers like the Abraham Lincoln, ships have played an integral role in trade, transportation, and war throughout history. Today, ships remain the largest and most expensive moving objects on the planet, engineers and designers constantly push the limits of design, creating vessels that continue to rival newer technologies such as airplanes and cars. But unlike other more common modes of transportation, the great ships of the world travel in the deep oceans, out of sight and out of mind—until, that is, something goes wrong. In Ship, Gregory Votolato explores the fiction and the reality of modern ships, the technology that creates them, and the events that can lead to disasters such as the Exxon Valdez or Amoco Cadiz.

Here Votolato delves into the world of the ship, describing the unpredictable and often-hostile environment of weather at sea, the resurgent threats posed by pirates, and the responsibilities of captains and crews onboard. Ship's broad overview of technology and design also offers unique insights into this extraordinary result of human creativity. Votolato's book will appeal to readers interested in the general design history of ships as well as their social, political, and technological impact on our modern world.

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Ships are perhaps the most important mode of transportation ever invented. From oar-powered quinqueremes, to steam-powered freighters, to luxury ocean liners such as the Titanic, to aircraft carriers like hms Queen Elizabeth, throughout history ships have played an integral role in trade, transportation and war. Today, ships remain the largest and most expensive moving objects on the planet; engineers and designers constantly push the limits of design, creating vessels that continue to challenge newer technologies such as aeroplanes and cars. But for all of our knowledge about ships acquired from movies, photography and literature, most of us never actually see really large ships in real life. Unlike cars, trains and airplanes, the great ships of the world travel in the deep oceans, out of sight and out of mind - until, that is, something goes wrong. In Ship, Gregory Votolato explores the fiction and the reality of modern ships, the technology that creates them, and the events that can lead to disasters such as the Amoco Cadiz or Exxon Valdez. Votolato delves into the world of the ship, describing the unpredictable and often-hostile environment of the oceans and its weather, the threat of piracy, and the captains and crews responsible for ships at sea. Ship's broad overview of ship technology and design offers unique insights, and shows how our ideas about ships sometimes do not reflect the reality of these extraordinary products of human creativity. Votolato's book will appeal to dedicated mariners, as well as those who are interested in ships and their social, political and technological impact on our modern world.