Tall Ships: The Magic of Sail

by Dean Server, John Burdick

Server, Dean

128 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1999

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful! Large, colorful images bring the tall ships to life. Paintings of famous ships, photographs of modern ships (or restored older vessels), and detailed information offer a solid grounding of tall ships and the ways that they have been used and changed throughout the centuries. The text is informative but never dull, and I am pleased to say I learned quite a bit from reading this. For example, an old sea shanty I love has a reference to sounding in deep water, 45 fathoms. I couldn't figure this out, and even my dad, a naval officer, thought it strange to worry about the depth when one isn't in danger of running aground. Other versions of the song had different words and other details, such as discovering the white sand underneath the ocean, but all the variations mentioned that same depth. This book, which isn't even a songbook, cleared up the mystery! Modern technology allows for easier navigation, but back in the day, sea captains would take deep soundings as a way of determining a ship's location. The weights dropped to the bottom and hauled back up would often have a means of gathering a sample of the bottom to aid in this regard (hence the reference to white sand). And of course, our modern navy is well beyond all this. It's easy enough to say this book teaches new things; I'd like to add that this book is exceptional because the sort of information it provides feeds into and supports other areas of study (such as old sea music, some of which makes a LOT more sense now). There is information about the different types of sails, about specific ships, about the history of tall ships, and about the modern people who love these ships and still sail in them. A loving tribute to a powerful and majestic vessel.

[Denise Chojnacki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting information on Tall Ships with a lot of beautiful paintings and photographs to help disseminate the information. The information was interesting and concise. Another review had said the text was dry but I did not find that at all. It was factual but interesting! Very quick read all in all.

[Michael Heath-Caldwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, well illustrated, on sailing ships.