Preface

Ships have always played an important role in shaping human destiny. Whether they ply the waters of the world for peaceful or martial ends, whether engaged in fisheries or trade, carrying passengers for migration or pleasure, or used for geographical or scientific discovery, ships transform the waters of the world from barriers into thoroughfares. Before the age of air travel and satellite communications, ships formed the warp and woof of global communication, and even today they carry the burden of the world's trade.

Evidence of the affection that people have for ships is seen in the fact that ships are named, and when writers invest their vessels with human attributes, the conceit is almost never questioned. For ships are living things and there is a symbiotic relationship between them and their crews that we understand and appreciate intuitively. This obtains whether we are describing a day sailer, an aircraft carrier, or a deep submergence vessel.

Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia is a straightforward work with a simple premise. Individual ships stand out from the crowd, much as people do. This encyclopedia is an attempt to describe more than one thousand of the most important or well-known vessels throughout history. There are no limitations as to size, rig, era, or place of origin (or rediscovery, in the case of archaeological sites). In addition to actual ships, there is an appendix covering a small number of well-known literary ships.

As in any reference work, the criteria for selecting individual vessels, as well as what to say about them, are nominally objective but ultimately subjective. In determining which and what, I have relied not only on my own reading of maritime and general history, but on the advice of dozens of colleagues and friends.

Eric J. Berryman helped refine the idea for the book from its inception and took on the unenviable task of reading every entry as it was written, offering innumerable suggestions and insights that have improved the work in countless ways. Jim Terry, a graceful and scholarly author, interrupted his own writing to contribute about thirty articles on Mediterranean and Western European archaeological sites. Hal Fessenden taught me much about sailing, and I instinctively turned to him for several articles on shipwrecks and other disasters. Any errors or mistakes that I have introduced in their invaluable contributions are my own.

This work also owes its completion to the advice of and review by countless friends and colleagues who thoughtfully answered my questions, reviewed portions of the manuscript, researched photographs, or otherwise lent a hand. In particular, Norman Brouwer, curator of ships and keeper of the Herman Melville Library at the South Street Seaport Museum, and his assistant, Marie Lore; Frank O. Braynard, executive director of the American Merchant Marine Museum, and our mutual colleague Bill Miller. I also benefited—as have so many others—from the advice of the late Karl Kortum, dean of the historic ship preservation community in the United States, who provided invaluable guidance as I developed the idea for this book.

Others to whom I owe special thanks include George L. Maxwell, Harry Anderson, and Nicole von Klencke; Captain Richard Bailey, "HMS" Rose; David Bell, Imperial War Museum; Liliane Bouillon-Pasquet, Tapisserie de Bayeux; Ian Boreham, Captain Cook Study Unit; David Brink; Lars Bruzelius, Maritime History Virtual Archive; Ian Buxton, University of Newcastle; Eliot Cafritz; Arne Emil Christensen, University of Oslo; Carol City, Plimoth Plantation; John Coates, the Trireme Trust; Jim Delgado, Vancouver Maritime Museum; Margherita Desy, USS Constitution Museum; William Dudley, Naval Historical Center; Kathy Flynn, Peabody Essex Museum; Kevin Foster, National Park Service; Bill Gilbert, USS Long Beach Association; Jeremy Green, Western Australia Maritime Museum; Edwin Hill and Jodi Erickson, Murphy Library, University of Wisconsin, La Crosse; Olaf Höckmann, Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz; Maria Jacobsen, Institute for Nautical Archaeology; Joseph A. Jackson, New York Yacht Club Library; Astrid Johnson, Norsk Sjøfartsmuseum, Oslo; Mark Lardas; Arthur Layton; Nathan Lipfert, Maine Maritime Museum; Tom Lewis; Per Lofving; Claudia McFall, The Mariners' Museum; Chuck Meide; Bill Middendorf; Dan Moreland; Bob Morse; Tim Newell; Tom Pardo, Amoco Corporation; George Paxton; Michael Phillips; Bob and Dave Poole; Jack Putnam; Tina Shaffer, Bishop Museum; Paul Silverstone; Colin Starkey, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich; Andrew Stathopulos; J. Richard Steffy, Institute for Nautical Archaeology; David Stone, Underwater Archaeological Society of British Columbia; Timothy and Mary Sullivan; Ad van der Zee, Bataviawerf, Lelystad, Netherlands; Stuart Vine, Mary Rose Trust; Thomas Wells, AICH; Pam Wuerth, American Sail Training Association; and the librarians of the New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and Portland (Maine) Public Library.

Few authors can have benefited from such a dedicated back office. After showing me how to write reference books, John Wright acted as my agent for this one. Liz Kubik took no small risk in signing this book, and Harry Foster cheerfully took on the project (and its author) when she left Houghton Mifflin. Managing editor Chris Coffin, senior manuscript editor Larry Cooper, Donna de La Perriere, and Sandra Riley endured countless telephone calls and letters to see the manuscript through production. Katie Blatt did yeoman service as copy editor. I also owe special thanks to Laurie Grace, who translated my view of the world into a set of useful maps.

My mother, Frances McSherry, has provided endless support in all my escapades, this one included. My wife, Allison, and our daughters, Victoria Kaiulani and Madeleine DuGuay, encouraged me to accept this assignment. They have spent much of the past three years looking at my back, though they have never turned their backs on me.

This book is dedicated to the memory of my stepfather, Siadhal Sweeney, from whom I inherited a love of ships and books. No writer ever had such a devoted reader over the shoulder.

Lincoln P. Paine
Brooklyn, New York, and Portland, Maine, 1994-97