"The 2005 edition builds on the sure foundations of the 1976 by updating much of the original material without destroying its essential character. Neatly illustrated and meticulously researched, the Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea is a reference work of uniformly high academic quality. It is not, though, a book to open lightly. As a thief of a sailor's time, it probably has few modern equals. Rish consulting it to look up some puzzling piece of marine terminology and, before you realise what has happened, the fascinating text will have led you into areas of maritime lore you never even knew existed; several hours will have passed, the fire will have gone out and one's spouse will long since have gone to bed." Richard Shelton, TLS

INTRODUCTION; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; NOTE TO READER; THE OXFORD COMPANION TO SHIPS & THE SEA; SELECT INDEX