About the Book
The Book of Old Ships was written by Henry B. Culver and published in 1924, with a full-page pen-and-ink plate for every vessel (the drawings are signed “G.G.”). Culver surveys some sixty ship types across four thousand years — from the galleys of Egypt, Greece and Rome, through the round ships, carracks and galleons of the age of discovery, to the packets, whalers and clippers of the nineteenth century, ending with the five-masted steel bark he calls the modern super ship.
The book divides its fleet into the two great families of the age of sail: the long ships — slender fighting vessels driven by oar and sail together — and the round ships, the deep-bellied carriers of cargo and colonists. Each chapter tells where a type arose, how it was rigged and steered, who sailed it and what became of it, in a style the author admits sometimes slips into 'justifiable rhapsodizing.'
In his preface the author thanks R. C. Anderson, R. Morton Nance and other contributors to the Mariner's Mirror for assistance on points of doubt. This digital edition presents the complete keyed text of the 1924 original with all sixty ship plates, restored from page scans of the first edition.