Maritime artefacts in war and peace
Shipwrecks in 100 Objects, by Simon Wills
Historian and genealogist Dr Simon Wills brilliantly tells the stories associated with 100 objects recovered from shipwrecks spanning half a millennium. Many Merchant Navy objects surface, including a souvenir badge for passengers from the first British ship sunk in the Second World War − the passenger liner TSS Athenia, controversially torpedoed.
Wills also shows how Merchant Navy crew who escaped U-boat attacks were issued with a Merchant Navy gold-coloured torpedo cuff badge to be sewn into their jackets. A bar was added for each subsequent attack survived. Three remarkable escapes by seafarer Walter Thorp and his rescued singing canary personalise that tale, and there are other fascinating stories from shipwreck survivors alongside the excellent illustrations.
Shipwrecks in 100 Objects
By Simon Wills
Frontline Books, £25
ISBN: 978 15267 92211
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
Salvage story told through a treasure trove of images
In the Wake of the Empress of Ireland, by David Saint-PierreThe sinking of the Empress of Ireland in 1914 remains the worst peacetime disaster in Canadian history. Of the 1,477 people onboard, 1,012 died as the ocean liner went down in just 14 minutes.
Fighting on after D-Day
Normandy: The Sailors’ Story, by Nick HewittTo tie in with the 80th anniversary of D-Day last year, Yale University Press published this detailed and readable book by veteran ship restorer and historian Nick Hewitt, which puts the efforts of the Allied navies in the Battle for France centre stage.
Scotland's WW2 supply crews
Never to Return, by Roderick G MacleanAs remembrance season approaches, we often look out for new titles on the Merchant Navy in wartime, and Never to Return fits the bill this year.
New northern take on the Titanic tragedy
Titanic: The Greater Manchester Connections, by James W BancroftFew maritime tragedies have held such a place in the public imagination as that of the Titanic. The tales and testimonies of passengers aboard that doomed voyage in 1912 have inspired countless books and several film adaptations, some more fictionalised than others.