Synopses & Reviews
The most comprehensive and authoritative reference book of its kind,
The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea is a completely revised and updated edition of a classic volume that was first published in 1976 to huge acclaim. It brings together more than 2,600 entries on every imaginable aspect of the seas and the vessels that sail on them, from shipbuilding, yachting, diving, and marine mammals, to tidal power, piracy, and the literature and language of the sea.
This second edition provides significant new material on topics that have come to prominence in recent times, such as oceanography and marine archaeology: key contributions on these subjects from marine expert Dr Martin Angel at Southampton Oceanography Centre include climate change, environmental issues, marine pollution, and marine wildlife. Among the many brand new entries to this edition are up-to-the-minute articles on underwater vehicles, tsunamis, warfare at sea, marine pollution, the Economic Exclustion Zone, and ship preservation.
This Companion also includes authoritative and fascinating entries on maritime history: its naval battles, including Pearl Harbour and Trafalgar; its great ships, from Noah's Ark and the Bounty to the Titanic and the Mary Rose; and its most famous individuals, both real and fictional, including Christopher Columbus, Horatio Nelson, and Robinson Crusoe.
Entries are fully cross-referenced, and the text is illustrated with over 260 detailed drawings, making it more accessible than ever before.
Review
"Oxford has made a great reference work even better. An essential for questions about oceans and sea-going vessels.... A meticulous reference classic."--Booklist
"Complete with more than 2,600 articles covering a span of more than 5,000 years, this is one of the most comprehensive and authoritative reference books of its kind, including concise explanations of every nautical term from shipbuilding, yachting, diving and marine mammals to piracy and the literature of the sea."--Sunday Charleston Post and Courier
Review
"Complete with more than 2,600 articles covering a span of more than 5,000 years, this is one of the most comprehensive and authoritative reference books of its kind, including concise explanations of every nautical term from shipbuilding, yachting,diving and marine mammals to piracy and the
literature of the sea."--Sunday Charleston PostandCourier
Review
"Oxford has made a great reference work even better. An essential for questions about oceans and sea-going vessels.... A meticulous reference classic."--Booklist
"Complete with more than 2,600 articles covering a span of more than 5,000 years, this is one of the most comprehensive and authoritative reference books of its kind, including concise explanations of every nautical term from shipbuilding, yachting, diving and marine mammals to piracy and the literature of the sea."--Sunday Charleston PostandCourier
About the Author
I. C. B. Dear (general editor of the second edition) was educated at the Nautical College, Pangbourne and the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. He is the general editor of the highly-acclaimed
Oxford Companion to the Second World War and the compiler of
Oxford English: A Guide to the Language. The late
Peter Kemp (general editor of the first edition) was educated at the Royal Naval Colleges of Osborne and Dartmouth. He published widely on naval, military, and yachting subjects, and wrote several children's novels.