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The ship asunder

£10.99

If Britain’s maritime history were embodied in a single ship, she would have a prehistoric prow, a mast plucked from a Victorian steamship, the hull of a modest fishing vessel, the propeller of an ocean liner and an anchor made of stone. We might call her Asunder, and, fantastical though she is, we could in fact find her today, scattered in fragments across the country’s creeks and coastlines. This book collects those fragments for a profound and haunting exploration of our seafaring past.

In stock

Description

A Sunday Times Book of the Year

‘Three and a half millennia of British Maritime history, from the Middle Bronze Age to the early 20th century … This book is written with passion and sympathy. It will live with me for a very long time’ Francis Pryor, author of The Fens

If Britain’s maritime history were embodied in a single ship, she would have a prehistoric prow, a mast plucked from a Victorian steamship, the hull of a modest fishing vessel, the propeller of an ocean liner and an anchor made of stone. We might call her Asunder, and, fantastical though she is, we could in fact find her today, scattered in fragments across the country’s creeks and coastlines.

In his moving and original new history, Tom Nancollas goes in search of eleven relics that together tell the story of Britain at sea. From the swallowtail prow of a Bronze Age vessel to a stone ship moored at a Baroque quayside, each one illuminates a distinct phase of our adventures upon the waves; each brings us close to the people, places and vessels that made a maritime nation. Weaving together stories of great naval architects and unsung shipwrights, fishermen and merchants, shipwrecks and superstition, pilgrimage, trade and war, The Ship Asunder celebrates the richness of Britain’s seafaring tradition in all its glory and tragedy, triumph and disaster, and asks how we might best memorialize it as it vanishes from our shores.

Read a sample here

Additional information

Weight 0.25 kg
Dimensions 19.8 × 13 × 1.9 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

324

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

387.20941 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K