Nineteen famous ships, from a Viking longship to a modern supertanker, show the changing world of man and the sea at peace and at war. Seen in sequence, the ships illustrate the gradual evolution from small vessels, dependent on manpower, winds and weather, to the selfcontained floating cities of today, navigated by computer and driven by nuclear power. In between come ships from the great days of sail, pioneers of steam, historic battleships and luxury liners. Each ship is dramatically but accurately illustrated with a full colour painting and there are also line drawings, photographs and cutaway plans. A fully illustrated introduction gives technical details on hulls, sails, rigging and engine types and there is a section on nautical archaeology.