Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

The beginning to the sweeping Aubrey/Maturin series and inspiration for the major new motion picture starring Russell Crowe. "The best sea story I have ever read."—Sir Francis Chichester This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, R.N., and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against a thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic... (more)

Mr. Midshipman Hornblower (Hornblower Saga (Paperback))

Mr. Midshipman Hornblower (Hornblower Saga (Paperback))

by C. S. Forester

The year is 1793, the eve of the Napoleonic Wars, and Horatio Hornblower, a seventeen-year-old boy unschooled in seafaring and the ways of seamen, is ordered to board a French merchant ship and take command of crew and cargo for the glory of England. Though not an unqualified success, this first naval adventure teaches the young midshipman enough to launch him on a series of increasingly glorious exploits. This... (more)

The Bounty : The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty

The Bounty : The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty

by Caroline Alexander

The bestselling author of The Endurance reveals the startling truth behind the legend of the Mutiny on the Bounty -- the most famous sea story of all time. More than two centuries have passed since Fletcher Christian mutinied against Lt. Bligh on a small armed transport vessel called Bounty. Why the details of this obscure adventure at the end of the world remain vivid and enthralling is as intriguing as the truth... (more)

The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815

The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815

by N. A. M. Rodger

An Economist Best Book of 2004: "Destined to remain the reference on the subject for the coming generations."—U.S. Naval Institute The Command of the Ocean describes with unprecedented authority and scholarship the rise of Britain to naval greatness, and the central place of the Navy and naval activity in the life of the nation and government. Based on the author's own research in a dozen languages over more... (more)

Longitude

The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of his Time

by Dava Sobel

On its 10th anniversary, a gift edition of this classic book, with a forward by one of history's greatest explorers, and eight pages of color illustrations. Anyone alive in the eighteeth century would have known that "the logitude problem" was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day--and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of... (more)

Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates (Harvest Book)

Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates (Harvest Book)

by David Cordingly

For this rousing, revisionist history, the former head of exhibitions at England's National Maritime Museum has combed original documents and records to produce a most authoritative and definitive account of piracy's "Golden Age." As he explodes many accepted myths (i.e. "walking the plank" is pure fiction), Cordingly replaces them with a truth that is more complex and often bloodier. 16 pp. of photos. Maps. ... (more)

In the Heart of the Sea

The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

by Nathaniel Philbrick

The ordeal of the whaleship Essex was an event as mythic in the nineteenth century as the sinking of the Titanic was in the twentieth. In 1819, the Essex left Nantucket for the South Pacific with twenty crew members aboard. In the middle of the South Pacific the ship was rammed and sunk by an angry sperm whale. The crew drifted for more than ninety days in three tiny whaleboats, succumbing to weather,... (more)

The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition

The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition

by Caroline Alexander

In August 1914, days before the outbreak of the First World War, the renowned explorer Ernest Shackleton and a crew of twenty-seven set sail for the South Atlantic in pursuit of the last unclaimed prize in the history of exploration: the first crossing on foot of the Antarctic continent. Weaving a treacherous path through the freezing Weddell Sea, they had come within eighty-five miles of their destination when... (more)

Over the Edge of the World

Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

by Laurence Bergreen

Ferdinand Magellan's daring circumnavigation of the globe in the sixteenth century was a three-year odyssey filled with sex, violence, and amazing adventure. Now in Over the Edge of the World , prize-winning biographer and journalist Laurence Bergreen entwines a variety of candid, firsthand accounts, bringing to life this groundbreaking and majestic tale of discovery that changed both the way explorers would... (more)

Gipsy Moth Circles the World

by Francis Chichester

The Sailor's Classics library introduces a new generation of readers to the best books ever written about small boats under sail When 65-year-old Francis Chichester set sail on his solitary eastward journey around the world in 1966, many believed he wouldn't return alive. But when the old man returned nine months later, he had made history's fastest circumnavigation.

Ghost Ship: The Mysterious True Story of the Mary Celeste and Her Missing Crew

Ghost Ship: The Mysterious True Story of the Mary Celeste and Her Missing Crew

by Brian Hicks

On December 4th, 1872, a 100-foot brigantine was discovered drifting through the North Atlantic without a soul on board. Not a sign of struggle, not a shred of damage, no ransacked cargo—and not a trace of the captain, his wife and daughter, or the crew. What happened on board the ghost ship Mary Celeste has baffled and tantalized the world for 130 years. In his stunning new book, award-winning journalist Brian... (more)

Queen Mary 2: The Greatest Ocean Liner of Our Time

Queen Mary 2: The Greatest Ocean Liner of Our Time

by John Maxtone-Graham

The official, Cunard-authorized book celebrating the debut of the greatest ocean liner ever built. In January 2004, Cunard Line's latest flagship, the stupendous Queen Mary 2, will sail on her maiden voyage from England. QM2 is a record-breaker.Four city blocks long and as tall as the Statue of Liberty, at $800 million, she is the most expensive and ambitious passenger vessel of all time.Her public rooms include... (more)

Jane's Fighting Ships of World War IFred T. (John W.R. Taylor, Foreword) Jane

Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I

by Fred T. (John W.R. Taylor, Foreword) Jane

Mutiny on the Bounty: A Novel

by Charles Nordhoff, James Norman Hall

MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY is the thrilling account of the strange, eventful, and tragic voyage of His Majesty's Ship Bounty in 17881789, which culminated in Fletcher Christian's mutiny against Captain Bligh.

To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World (P.S.)

To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World (P.S.)

by Arthur Herman

To Rule the Waves tells the extraordinary story of how the British Royal Navy allowed one nation to rise to a level of power unprecedented in history. From the navy's beginnings under Henry VIII to the age of computer warfare and special ops, historian Arthur Herman tells the spellbinding tale of great battles at sea, heroic sailors, violent conflict, and personal tragedy -- of the way one mighty institution... (more)

The Pirate Queen: Queen Elizabeth I, Her Pirate Adventurers, and the Dawn of Empire

The Pirate Queen: Queen Elizabeth I, Her Pirate Adventurers, and the Dawn of Empire

by Susan Ronald

Extravagant, whimsical, and hot-tempered, Elizabeth was the epitome of power, both feared and admired by her enemies. Dubbed the "pirate queen" by the Vatican and Spain's Philip II, she employed a network of daring merchants, brazen adventurers, astronomer philosophers, and her stalwart Privy Council to anchor her throne—and in doing so, planted the seedlings of an empire that would ultimately cover two-fifths of... (more)

The Safeguard of the Sea

by N. A. M. Rodger

Throughout Britain's history, one factor above all others has determined the fate of the nation: its navy. N. A. M. Rodger's definitive account reveals how the political and social progress of Britain has been inextricably intertwined with the strength - and weakness - of its sea power, from the desperate early campaigns against the Vikings to the defeat of the great Spanish Armada. Covering policy, strategy,... (more)

Batavia's Graveyard

by Mike Dash

From the bestselling author of Tulipomania comes Batavia’s Graveyard , the spellbinding true story of mutiny, shipwreck, murder, and survival. It was the autumn of 1628, and the Batavia, the Dutch East India Company’s flagship, was loaded with a king’s ransom in gold, silver, and gems for her maiden voyage to Java. The Batavia was the pride of the Company’s fleet, a tangible symbol of the world’s richest and... (more)

Murder on the Qe2 : A Murder, She Wrote Mystery : A Novel

Murder on the Qe2 : A Murder, She Wrote Mystery : A Novel

by Jessica Fletcher, Donald Bain

Bestselling mystery writer and amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher is invited to travel to London on the grand dame of ocean liners, the Queen Elizabeth II, as one of seven guest lecturers. The night they set sail, a fellow speaker is found brutally murdered. Now Jessica has just four days at sea to find the killer before she finds more of her colleagues, or even herself, dead in the water! .

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

by Samuel Coleridge

A suberbly illustrated edition of the classic poem. Samuel Taylor Coleridge produced nearly all of his best poetry in a two year period, 1797-1798, including The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan. After writing Ode to Dejection (1802), his farewell to the Muse of Poetry, he wrote few poems and concentrated almost exclusively on literary criticism and political, philosophical, and theological essays.

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: maritime

by Patrick O'Brian

by C. S. Forester

by Caroline Alexander

by N. A. M. Rodger

The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of his Time

by Dava Sobel

by David Cordingly

The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

by Nathaniel Philbrick

by Caroline Alexander

Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

by Laurence Bergreen

by Francis Chichester

by Brian Hicks

by John Maxtone-Graham

by Fred T. (John W.R. Taylor, Foreword) Jane

by Charles Nordhoff, James Norman Hall

by Arthur Herman

by Susan Ronald

by N. A. M. Rodger

by Mike Dash

by Jessica Fletcher, Donald Bain

by Samuel Coleridge