Discover over 5000 years of seafaring history, packed with first-hand accounts of triumphs and disasters A fascinating journey through more than 5,000 years of seafaring history in this essential guide to the most impressive seafaring tales, explorers, and maritime environments. For more than 5,000 years, the seas have challenged, rewarded, and punished the brave sailors who set forth to explore it. This history of the seas and sailing tells the remarkable story of those individuals - whether they lived to tell the tale themselves or not. From the early Polynesian seafarers and the first full circumnavigations of the globe, to explorers picking their way through the coral reefs of the West Indies, this book tells the compelling story of life at sea that lies behind man's search for new lands, new trade, conquest, and uncharted waters. Charting the great milestones of nautical history from the discovery of America to the establishment of the Royal Navy, the naval history of the American Civil War, the Battle of Midway and modern piracy the book sets all of them in their cultural and historical context. Previously published as The Conquest of the Ocean, A Short History of Seafaring is a unique compendium of awe-inspiring tales of epic sea voyages and great feats of seamanship, navigation, endurance, and ingenuity.

This extremely detailed and well researched book spans more than six centuries of naval history, contains accounts of seafaring exploits by explorers, and examines a variety of maritime environments and key events in world history, from the age of exploration to the container revolution... overall a very impressive volume. * Ships Monthly *

Brian Lavery is Curator Emeritus at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, and author of over 30 books on ships and seafaring. As a highly respected maritime historian, he was consultant on the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, advised on the replica of Captain Cook's Endeavour, and wrote the best-selling accompanying book to the BBC drama series Empire of the Seas.