Grace under pressure in UK shipbuilding
Fairfield: A Shipyard Success Story, by Ian Johnston
Ian Johnston, a well-known authority on Clydeside shipbuilding, offers a compelling and comprehensive account in his latest title of Britain's most celebrated shipyards.
Fairfield charts the Scottish yard's pioneering innovations, from steam engine breakthroughs to its role in naval and merchant shipbuilding, through two world wars – including converting merchant ships to armed support vessels.
The author deftly navigates the complex shifts in ownership and production in the yard's 190-year history, including its insolvency in 1995, subsequent state ownership and later its modern incarnation under BAE Systems.
Richly illustrated and meticulously researched, the book includes a detailed index, bibliography and chapter notes. A foreword by John R Hume praises the yard's enduring 'grace' in design. This is more than a yard history – it's a vital contribution to Clyde shipbuilding heritage and British maritime history.
Fairfield: A Shipyard Success Story (1834–2024)
By Ian Johnston
Seaforth Publishing, £40
ISBN: 978 13990 89661
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
Radio revelry
Barques, Sparks and Sharks, an Orcadian at Sea by Len WilsonSeafarers are known for their story-telling abilities, and Orkney-born Len Wilson does not disappoint.
Mastering our harbours
Harbours and Their Masters: Sailing into nearly every harbour in Britain and Ireland by Mark Ashley-MillerNovice skipper Mark Ashley-Miller recently spent five years circumnavigating the UK and Ireland on his 34ft ketch Good Dog as a charity challenge – interviewing and photographing the harbour masters he met along the way.
The precarious path from piracy to prosperity
The Resurrected Pirate, by Craig S ChapmanThe Resurrected Pirate is a remarkable story told in an engaging way, illustrating for the modern reader the desperately narrow passage between life and death that a seafarer in this period might have to navigate.
Carving out a career
Ships' Figureheads: Famous Carving FamiliesThe decoration of ships with figureheads was a way to present the might of military and mercantile power for centuries. These days, the skills needed to make these sculptures are kept alive by experts such as Andrew Peters, who has worked on restoration projects such as the Cutty Sark tea clipper.