NAUTILUS P01 NOVEMBER 2009.qxd - Nautilus International

November 2009 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 33
books
OFFWATCH
First casualty of war
RMS Lusitania
by Eric Sauder
The History Press, £14.99
ISBN 9780752452036
The 70th anniversary of the start of world
Kwar two is still fresh in people’s minds, but
a book has just been republished about a ship
whose fate reminds us that the first U-boat
attacks on merchant vessels occurred during the
first world war.
Eric Sauder’s study — RMS Lusitania: The
Ship & Her Record, originally published in 2005
— concerns the Cunarder that was torpedoed by
the German submarine U-20 off Ireland on 7
May 1915.
The stricken transatlantic liner — the largest
and fastest ship in the world when it was built in
1907 — sank in less than 20 minutes, and the
author records ‘… her torpedoing stunned the
civilised world, hitting home with a fury and
taking over a thousand innocents to their
deaths’.
It is a tragedy that has been well documented
in numerous other works, the author notes, but
almost nothing that focuses on Lusitania ‘as a
living vessel’ and not as just as a casualty of war.
As such, much of his book’s 128 pages tell the
ship’s story before and after the disaster.
Mr Sauder, however, was able to trace 12
survivors of the sinking, and dozens of relatives
of survivors and victims, whose accounts add
much to the significance of this book.
By Sauder’s account, many travellers scoffed
at a notice posted by the Imperial German
Embassy in US newspapers in 1915 warning that
because of the state of war, ‘vessels flying the
flag of Great Britain … are liable to destruction’.
After all, he writes, ‘they thought what civilised
country would dare torpedo an unarmed
passenger liner carrying women and children?’
Plenty of photographs and other images,
many with detailed captions, cover every phase
of the Lusitania story
Given the ship’s ultimate fate, it is surely not
without significance that that Lusitania on its
maiden voyage in 1907 had, the book says, been
hailed everywhere except the German Empire.
‘Since the advent of the Kaiser Wilhelm der
Grosse in 1897, Germany had ruled the Atlantic.
With the advent of the Lusitania, it was now
Britain’s opportunity to play second fiddle,’ the
author explains.
As such, it is a pity that — and this is his
book’s only serious shortcoming — his coverage
of the aftermath of the sinking does not include
some indication of the reaction in Germany.
Magnificent
collection to
celebrate the
tramp ship
Ocean Freighter Finale
By Nigel Jones
Coastal Shipping, £16
ISBN 978-1-902953-441
In the 1950s and 60s, the
Kgeneral cargo tramp ship was
ubiquitous and formed the backbone
of the world merchant fleet. But the
container revolution saw these ships
slowly squeezed out of many of the
key trades.
However, the sweeping political
changes in eastern Europe during the
1990s and the privatisation of many
of the state-owned Soviet bloc fleets
created what photographer Nigel
Jones describes as something of an
‘Indian summer’ for this ship type —
and one that he has captured
magnificently in this 80-page album.
The book is organised into three
sections, with the first featuring
‘classic’ vessels — such as Bank Line’s
Crestbank and Ruddbank (which later
became the ITF campaign ship Global
Mariner).
The roll call also includes ships
from Ghana’s Black Star Line, the US
Lykes Line, and Germany’s Hansa Line,
with the informative captions to all
the ships often telling some quite
remarkable stories about their life
beyond original ownership.
Elsewhere, readers will discover
the fate of the P&O General Cargo
Division vessels built in the late 1970s,
with some still operating under
Iranian ownership this year.
Section two covers vessels from
the communist countries — including
the Chinese ‘Feng’ and ‘Yang’ ships
that were still running into some UK
ports in the early 1990s, more than
20 years after being built.
In the introduction to the book, Mr
Jones tells how he developed
something of a quest to track down
these ships after the break-up of the
eastern bloc, tracking many of them
through ‘pilgrimages’ to the Suez
Canal. This section contains some
interesting designs, and also some
rather sad stories such as the demise
of the national fleets of states like
Romania or the import of coal into
the Welsh port of Barry (which once
exported a world record of 11m tons of
coal in just one year).
The final 10 pages look at Liberty
Ship-style vessels — including the
Japanese Freedom type, the SD 14
and its derivatives, the British Clyde
class, and Germany’s Liberty design.
All in all, a fascinating book
containing not only a rich vein of
nostalgia but also some marvellous
stories, excellent pictures and a
lingering sense of loss.
Two fine port
histories do a
grand job
Port of Southampton
by Campbell McCutcheon
Amberley Publishing, Cirencester
Road, Chalford GL6 8PE, £12.99
ISBN 978-184868-061-6
f www.amberley-books.com
The Port of Silloth
by Capt Chris Puxley
Coastal Shipping, 400 Nore Road,
Portishead, Bristol BS20 8EZ, £17.50
ISBN 978-1-902953-42-7
f www.coastalshipping.co.uk
g The book is a limited edition of
only 1,000 copies: phone Bernard
McCall on +44 (0)1275 846176 to
place an order, or email
bernard@coastalshipping.co.uk
Two books about port history
Khave come the Telegraph’s way
this month, and both are worth a
look. Port of Southampton is a more
polished offering, reflecting the fact
that it deals with one of the world’s
most famous ports. But The Port of
Silloth is none the worse for its
slightly home-made appearance, and
has an equally good selection of
historic photos and other illustrations.
Both Southampton and Silloth
were established as commercial ports
in the mid-19th century with the
building of docks to cater for large
merchant ships. Silloth (near Carlisle)
did not reach the same heights as the
south coast port, but is still thriving —
apparently focussing on cargoes such
as fertiliser or molasses.
The Port of Silloth starts with the
founding of the docks in 1859 and
works through the history in
chronological order to the present
day, whereas Port of Southampton
uses a themed approach, looking in
turn at subjects including the port’s
role in wartime and the development
of ferry services. And if you’ve ever
been involved in a dock collision in
Southampton or Silloth, you can be
sure that someone was there with a
camera, because both books feature
pictures of some serious prangs.
Never be at a
loss for a word
with a classic
nautical book
The Sailor’s Word Book
by Admiral W.H.Smyth
Conway, Anova Books, 10 Southcombe St,
London W14 0RA, £9.95
ISBN 978-0851-779-720
f www.anovabooks.com
After a couple of years out of print,
KAdmiral W.H. Smyth’s Sailor’s Word
Book has been reissued in paperback. This
Victorian classic was an invaluable source
for Master and Commander author Patrick
O’Brian, and can provide enjoyable
browsing for any reader.
Described by the publisher as a ‘digest’
or a ‘lexicon’, the book contains elements
In each history, photos of ships
and docks are interspersed with
diagrams, maps and reproductions of
posters and memorabilia. For
example, the Silloth book includes
timetables for the old Silloth to
Douglas steamship route, and the
Southampton history reproduces the
cover of a souvenir programme from
the 1937 Merchant Navy Week.
Cunard’s Aquitania was open for
inspection at 1s per head at this
festival, and there were displays
showing how Britain could not
manage without her Merchant Navy.
Sounds like an event worth reviving!
But in the meantime, these two books
are doing a pretty good job of
showing what the MN is about, and
credit should go in particular to Silloth
harbour master Chris Puxley for
demonstrating that small, unsung
ports can hold their own when it
comes to maritime history.
Shining a light
on the wealth
of Welsh aids
to navigation
Lighthouses of Wales
by Anthony Denton & Nicholas Leach
Landmark Publishing, £7.99
ISBN 9781843064596
The lighthouses that adorn
KWales’ rugged coastline are the
of the dictionary or encyclopaedia, but is
— entertainingly — less impartial than
either of these. For example, the term
‘ship-mate’, sighs the author, once meant
‘dearer than brother, but the habit of
short cruises is weakening it’.
There is extensive coverage of the
technical language used in the age of sail,
as well as information about seafaring
culture and indeed every aspect of life at
sea, including natural history and
meteorology.
We learn that ‘hob-a-nob’ means ‘to
drink cosily’ by touching glasses during a
toast, and that ‘able-whackets’ is: ‘A
popular sea game with cards, wherein the
loser is beaten over the hands with a
handkerchief tightly twisted like a rope.
Very popular with horny-fisted salts’. It is
intriguing to see which terms are still used
with their original meanings, which still
exist but have changed their usage over
time, and which now seem to come from
a very distant place.
So don’t be chowder-headed; use your
earnest money to pick up one of these
fine new copies of a seafaring
masterpiece.
stars of this compact full-colour
paperback guide.
Featured are not only major
edifices that come under the authority
of the Corporation of Trinity House,
the body responsible for most of
Wales’ lighthouses, but also the
plethora of smaller, locally operated
lights.
As the authors explain: ‘Much of
the literature about lighthouses has
concentrated on the major lights,
which are often impressive structures
in spectacular locations. However, no
less important are the many smaller
lights found at most ports and
harbours. They have developed in
response to specific local
circumstances, so their design,
construction and purpose differ
markedly … ’
The book, which opens with a
chapter on Welsh lighthouse history,
covers all the significant lighthouses
around the Welsh coast, from the
Bristol Channel in the south to the
Dee Estuary in the north, including
details on how one can access them.
So the guide would make an
excellent accompaniment to a
themed tour around coastal Wales. In
sum then, a light unto lighthouse
spotters.
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