American Sailing Ships: Their Plans and History (Dover Maritime) by Davis, Charles G - June 2012

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Master seaman, shipbuilder, and nautical chronicler Charles G. Davis here charts an anecdotal, highly personal course through our rich nautical history. Written in a style both entertaining and informal through which bubbles a genuine love of sailing vessels and sea lore, American Sailing Ships evokes the very feel of salt spray and rolling decks.

In nearly 140 photographs, prints, and plans (most drawn by the author, an accomplished marine architect), you'll find a first-rate cross-section of a wide range of sailing ships from the eighteenth through early twentieth centuries. Here too is knowledgeable discussion of ship size, design, proportion, rigging details, and more. Included are Block Islanders, Clippers, Quoddy Boats, Packet Ships, Chebacco Boats, Bugeyes, Pinkys, Oyster Luggers, Fishing Schooners, Frigates, and others.

American Sailing Ships offers lively discourse on shipbuilders such as 18th-century American designer Joshua Humphreys, whose frigates had no equal among the sailing men-of-war of any other nation; illuminating insights regarding crews, chains of command and life at sea; an account of how the Gloucester-built chebacco boat Fame earned the right to that name as a privateer during the War of 1812, outsailing and capturing vessels ten times its weight; and much more.

Davis's classic work is sure to intrigue sailing enthusiasts, historians, Americana buffs, and model builders. American Sailing Ships, here in its first popularly priced paperback edition, promises the imaginative reader an unforgettable taste of seafaring excitement.