The Complete Encyclopedia of Sailing Ships: 2000 BC - 2006 AD

by John Batchelor, Christopher Chant

Provides a detailed look into the history and technical development of the sailing vessels from a primitive beginning to the present day. Includes sail powered warships, merchant ships, and smaller craft used for fishing and coastal trading. Illustrated throughout by renowned technical artist John Batchelor including stamps and rare photographs.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Maritime, Reference

318 pages, Hardcover

First published August 30, 2006

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Born in Essex in 1936, John Henry Batchelor witnessed dogfights over the Thames estuary at an early age and thus was born a hands-on fascination with military hardware that has never left him.

He left home at 16, travelling for two years before his National Service with the RAF. Completing this, he worked for the technical publications departments of, successively, Bristol Aircraft Co., Martin-Baker Aircraft Co. and Saunders-Roe Ltd. Later, as a freelance, he contributed to many technical magazines as well as The Eagle.

Later still, he was heavily involved in the production of Purnell's History of the Second World War and History of the First World War part-works, contributing over 1,100 illustrations.

Beginning in the 1980s, he has produced artwork for postage stamps for many countries through the Crown Agency.

Reviews

[GoldGato · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the beginning, there was probably just a log. Then someone realized that a few more logs securely wrapped together was even better. Now that humans could float on the water, someone else probably saw the advantage of having a sail, blown by the wind. And then each succeeding innovation made sailing an occupation and 'ship' became a word. This book tries to do justice to such evolution of the seagoing vessels beginning with the Papyrus Reed boats of Ancient Egypt.

This is very comprehensive and quite a heavy book. Every sailing vessel imaginable is listed with at least two pages of history and is then followed by a famous ship. So you get the Kvalsund Ship, the Cog, the Caravel, the Venetian Galley, the Skerry Boat, and so forth. It's quite extensive and very handy for the non-nautical reader (moi). Learning how sailing vessels evolved and how each sail functioned on a ship was worth the read.

However, someone at the publishing house did not do their job. There are so many grammar errors throughout that it becomes the rule rather than the exception. This removes one full star, as it becomes a hindrance to the book. So, great concept and great layout but impacted by boo-boos.

Book Season = Year Round (the traverse of the sea)

[Colin Helpio · Rating 2 out of 5]

With the title of this book being what it is my expectations were... well, higher than what you get.

This book is more of a history of Western sailing vessels throughout sailing history. Sometimes entries will be a written out list -more or less- of where where a vessel sailed to and when they arrived. Even as someone who loves sailing it can be a little dry.

Where this book does well is when talking about vessels and how and why they came to be. Different sailing nations had different requirements for their ships. These differences often lead to innovations and evolutions of new sailing types. Why is was the carrack different from the caravel? And why was the caravel different from the revenue cutter?

And, finally, the editing of this book is the worst I have ever encountered. You begin to think that someone who worked on this was not an English speaker because that seems to be the only thing that makes sense.

[Ela Bělíková · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erebus my beloved

[Mae · Rating 3 out of 5]

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