This is an anthology of twenty-seven World War I-era essays, by various authors, on ship camouflage from that time period. It focuses primarily on American and British camouflage, and especially on "dazzle camouflage," a counter-intuitive method in which brightly colored abstract shapes were applied to the ship's surface. The purpose of such camouflage was not low visibility, but to make it difficult to aim a torpedo at a distant, moving ship from a submerged submarine (U-boat), while peering through a periscope. The book includes 275 drawings, diagrams and vintage photographs, and a 40-page camouflage bibiliography, the largest ever.

In The Merchant Ship in the British Atlantic, 1600—1800, Phillip Reid refutes the long-held assumption that merchant ship technology in the British Atlantic during the two centuries of its development was static for all intents and purposes, and that whatever incremental changes took place in it were inconsequential to the development of the British Empire and its offshoots. Drawing on a unique combination of evidence from both traditional and unconventional sources, Phillip Reid shows how merchants, shipwrights, and mariners used both proven principles and adaptive innovations in hulls, rigs, and steering systems to manage high physical and financial risks. Listen also to the podcast where the author is interviewed about the book for New Books Network and the podcast with Liz Covart for Ben Franklin’s World by clicking here.

This is an extraordinary tale of life on the high seas aboard one of the last American merchant ships, the S.S. Stella Lykes, on a forty-two-day journey from Charleston down the Pacific coast of South America. As the crew of the Stella Lykes makes their ocean voyage, they tell stories of other runs and other ships, tales of disaster, stupidity, greed, generosity, and courage.