Sensitive stories of the world's wrecks
The 50 Greatest Shipwrecks, by Richard M. Jones
Historian Richard M. Jones delivers a wide-ranging overview of disasters at sea in this book, from the very familiar – Titanic, Mary Rose – to those that ought to be better known, like the ferry Le Joola, which sank off Senegal in 2002 with the loss of more than 1,500 lives.
Naval vessels are included alongside other ships, both those sunk due to enemy action and those lost in peacetime.
Each wreck takes up only a few pages, so the accounts have more pace than detail. Unfortunately, the prose is quite clumsy sometimes, but the stories are interesting and Jones treats them with sensitivity. There is heroism as well as horror to discover here.
The 50 Greatest Shipwrecks
By Richard M. Jones
Pen & Sword, £19.99
ISBN: 978 13990 08006
Buy this book in the Nautilus Bookshop
While you're there, why not browse the rest of the titles in our unique maritime bookshop, which sells all the books reviewed on these pages.
Buy nowMore Books
Sort out your sextant skills
Reeds Astro Navigation Tables 2025, by Kendall CarterNew year, new astro navigation tables! The latest edition of this popular work gives a calendar showing where useful heavenly bodies will be each day in 2025, as well as guidance to help you practise navigating with your sextant using the sun and stars.
Well-researched history of mass maritime travel
Ocean Liners, by Anthony BurtonThe new title Ocean Liners has a great deal more to it than most books about liners and cruise ships, with plenty of technical content to appeal to an audience of maritime professionals.
Weathering your STCW studies
Meteorology for Seafarers sixth edition, by RM Frampton and PA UttridgeIf you’re looking to understand the practical side of meteorology, this book co-written by a former general secretary of the Marine Society will do the trick.
Thrilling mission to protect the Convoys
Operation Title, by Glyn L EvansDrawing on official records and personal accounts, author Glyn Evans brings the sinking of the Tirpitz to life by focusing on the experiences of one participant, able seaman Robert Paul Evans, making this a more intimate view of a well-known event.