Book Reviews for April 2010

Significant small ships of 2009
Edited by Angela Velasco
Published by The Royal Institution of Naval Architects
ISBN 1-905040-31-8
Paperback, 79 pages
Price £30

Significant Small Ships of 2009 is the most recent annual volume featuring innovative commercial craft (under 100m in length) delivered last year.

Produced by The Royal Institution of Naval Architects, this volume includes a wide variety of patrol vessels, tugs, seismic vessels, fireboats and passenger ferries.

Each vessel featured in the annual has its specifications, history, technical particulars and its plan included, along with a full colour photograph of the vessel.

The introduction discusses the challenges that 2009 brought to the maritime market, with many shipyards and equipment manufacturers cutting back on staff and some choosing to ‘diversify’, leading to some interesting trends in ship design.

This publication covers vessels with hybrid propulsion systems, which has been a hot topic for discussion over the last few years. It features the Carolyn Dorothy, launched by Foss Maritime, based in Seattle in the USA. The vessel is widely believed to be the world’s first hybrid tug, combining smaller engines with electric propulsion generators and with energy stored in batteries when not in use.

The offshore market also features heavily in the 2009 annual. This is a sector which appears to have not been as hard hit as some of the other marine sectors, thanks in part to the price of oil. Featured is the 2009 Far Sansom, believed to be the most powerful offshore multipurpose vessel on the market at present. It features no less than four main engines, four auxiliary generators, two gearboxes, two electric propulsion motors, two alternators, two propellers and six thrusters.

This highly esteemed annual makes for enticing read and gives a great overview of innovation at the smaller end of the commercial vessel industry over the last year.

Elements of Modern Ship Construction
By David J House
Published by Brown, Son & Ferguson Ltd
ISBN 978-1-84927-814-6
Hardback, 336 pages
Price £50

This latest book by David House is an extensively illustrated work covering all aspects of ship design and construction.

Continual changes through the history of ship design have been brought about by the needs of trade, class and legislation. This current work provides a glossary of shipyard terminology and shipboard elements up to the 21st century.

Elements shows detailed aspects of virtually all of today’s shipping arms, including container and ro-ro vessels, liquid cargo tankers, bulk carriers, passenger ships and dry cargo ships. Shipboard measurements, together with operational features are well illustrated and detailed throughout.

Fore and aft of the vessels, with their anchors and mooring patterns are clearly depicted. Propeller detail and various rudder options are included alongside specific shipyard practice.

This work provides positive insight into the working areas of the ship, namely the cargo hatch areas, mooring decks, machinery and propulsion elements of the various vessels. The now more familiar uses of aluminium, ceramics and composites in modern shipbuilding are also illustrated.

Modern tankers, with double hulls, large car carriers with their multi-decks, and majestic passenger vessels have all been included to give an extended overview of contemporary commercial shipping.

Each chapter focuses on different parts of the vessel, with the latter chapters looking at different types of vessels and elements of ship construction that are specific to them. There is also an Appendix to Shipyard Practice which includes information on ship building operations, docking methods, launching methods and more.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of shipbuilding aspects that ‘an aspiring Deck Officer would be expected to become familiar with during his working life’.

As well as being an author, David House lectures in Nautical Studies, with his main disciplines being Seamanship and Navigation. He has, to date, published fourteen maritime texts on related topics including ‘Helicopter Operations at Sea’ and ‘Marine Ferry Transports’.

Sell Up and Cruise the Inland Waterways - How to get the most out of the inland cruising lifestyle
By Bill & Laurel Cooper
Published by Adlard Coles Nautical
ISBN 978-0-7136-7988-5
Paperback, 202 pages
Price £16.99

This book delves deeply into the psychology of cruising and the pleasure of travelling by water. Anyone interested in boats and cruising, seeing new places, meeting new people and leaving stress behind will relish reading this book. It is also a useful guide to anyone thinking of selling up and starting up a life on the water and it may just persuade you if you are undecided whether to make the move or not.

Living afloat on inland canals, rivers and waterways is a popular choice throughout the UK and Europe, and its popularity is growing. Attracted for financial, environmental or lifestyle reasons, there are now so many people wanting to sell up and live on the water that there are waiting lists for permanent berths.

Bill and Laurel Cooper are the experts on living afloat. Practising what they preach, they have lived aboard a variety of boats throughout Europe for over 30 years.

Covering UK, European and American inland waterways, they offer practical, first-hand expert advice on suitable boats, likely costs, rules and regulations, insurance considerations, pros and cons of the live aboard lifestyle, dealing with health and other problems, provisioning and more.

With anecdotes from their own experiences to illustrate their points, as well as maps, sketches and photographs, the Coopers aim to help anyone dreaming of selling up and cruising the inland waterways to make the dream become a reality.

Bill and Laurel Cooper have lived aboard a variety of boats for over 30 years, both sea going (crossing the Atlantic seven times) and inland voyages such as sailing the Hudson River in the USA, the Rhone, the Rhine, the Danube and the Thames in Europe as well as numerous canals. They are the authors of Sell Up and Sail, one of Adlard Coles Nautical's most popular titles (over 20 years in print, and now into it's fifth edition), as well as Watersteps through France.