Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink, Ph.D. Crude oil tankers are not only some of the largest ships that have ever sailed the oceans but are the backbone of international energy trade. At the same time they normally gain little public attention, unless they are at the center of an ecological disaster. Therefore, it should be lauded
Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink, Ph.D. On the surface Robert M. Bunes new book Wind, Fire and Ice: The Perils of a Coast Guard Icebreaker in Antarctica is an autobiographical take on a young physician’s deployment on USCGC Glacier to Antarctica in the early 1970s. As such it is a welcome addition to the body of
Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink Martyn R. Beardsley’s new book Heroes of the RNLI: The Storm Warriors tells the stories of the men of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), an institution that is not only one of the better-known maritime rescue services but also a national icon in the United Kingdom. From the 1820s up
Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink With more than 1500 craft operating during World War II the Royal Naval Patrol Service (RNPS) was a fleet of substantial size, but as these craft were mainly converted trawlers, fuel carriers, and motor launches with some corvettes and sea plane tenders it is also a fleet often overlooked by naval
Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink Sometimes there are books that feel special from the very first moment you receive them. Glasgow Museums The Ship Models – A History and Complete Illustrated Catalogue is without any doubt such a book. First of all, catalogues of museum collections have become to a certain degree a rare species, and
Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink Maritime disasters are regularly topics catching the attention of maritime interested readers, authors, the media, historians and so on. The loss of HMS Thetis in 1939 was no exception to this rule. It had substantial coverage by the media in the immediate aftermath of the tragic event as well as a
Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink. While marine painting was a fairly common artistic genre up to the 19th and early 20th century, ships of the second half of the 20th and the early decades of the 21st century only rarely caught the attention of professional artists, and the profession of the marine painter needs to be
While Edwards’ new book might be seen as just another book on the history of the naval war during World War II it provides valuable insights into a particular aspect of this war that is well known by specialists but nevertheless often overlooked or mentioned only in a brief paragraph: the activities of the British
By Glenn M. Stein, McFarland, Jefferson, NC (2015) Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink, Ph.D. Most people who are only slightly familiar with the history of the high-latitudes will know the story of John Franklin’s Lost Expedition searching for the North-West Passage (1845), as well as of Roald Amundsen’s first transit through the passage during his 1903-1906
By John Grady, McFarland, Jefferson, NC (2015) Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink, Ph.D. While Matthew Fontaine Maury is without a doubt well known among historians of science and in particular historians of oceanography, the general public might not know his name. Many naval historians will not have a real idea about the man who is often
By Helen Hiller Frink, Peter E. Randall Publisher, Portsmouth, NH (2015) Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink, Ph.D. In her book Oil, Ice and Bone, Helen Hiller Frink describes the whaling voyages of Nathaniel Ransom. She begins with his first journey as a fourteen year old boy in 1860 and culminates with the 1871 disaster in which
Race to the Top of the World: Richard Byrd and the First Flight to the North Pole By Sheldon Bart, Regnery History, Washington, DC (2013) Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink, Ph.D. Race to the Top of the World, by Sheldon Bart, not only opens again the question if Richard E. Byrd reached the North Pole on
