The untold story of Point Frederick, where early nineteenth-century Canadians built warships that stopped invasion and brought peace. Warriors and Warships brings to life a much neglected part of Canada’s military history, covering the warships and the people who built them at Point Frederick from the late eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century. Opposite Kingston, Point Frederick was the 1789 dockyard home of the Provincial Marine on Lake Ontario and the headquarters of Britain’s Royal Navy from 1813 to 1853. Today, it is the home of the Royal Military College of Canada. In this detailed narrative, with over one hundred colour archival maps, aerial views, photographs, and 3D reconstructions, Banks recounts Point Frederick’s building of great sail and steam warships and the roles these vessels played in conflict on Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River, and Niagara. Among the conflicts is the War of 1812, when French Canadian and British shipwrights made warships that forced the U.S. Navy into port and led to the American withdrawal from Canada. Banks also covers the role of the ships in the settlement of Upper Canada, the rebellion of 1837, the early planning of the Rideau Canal, and the beginning of the undefended border. Along the way, Banks introduces an array of people from Upper Canada, such as Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe and his wife, Elizabeth Posthuma; Governor General Lord Dorchester; General Isaac Brock; Sir James Yeo, and even Charles Dickens. He also describes the day-to-day activities at Point Frederick, beyond shipbuilding and military campaigns, such as skating parties, sleigh rides, theatricals, disease and death, and crime and punishment. Banks shares the moments of hardship, triumph, and tragedy of both the warriors and the warships in this important contribution to Canadian history.

From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, and more recently from the jungles of Vietnam to the killing fields of Iraq, America's "soldiers of the sea" have fought their country's battles with famed valor, skill, and perseverance in the face of long odds. But where did the U.S. Marines earn their reputation as being the "first to fight?" It was on the South Pacific Island of Guadalcanal. There, on August 7, 1942, the 1st Marine Division stormed ashore to begin one of the most difficult and brutal campaigns of military history, and an unbroken string of victories staged across the Pacific.

The world's first war machines were ships built two millennia before the dawn of the Classical world. Their influence on the course of history cannot be overstated. A wide variety of galleys and other types of warships were built by successive civilisations, each with their own distinctive appearance, capability and utility. The earliest of these were the Punt ships and the war galleys of Egypt which defeated the Sea People in the first known naval battle. Following the fall of these civilisations, the Phoenicians built biremes and other vessels, while in Greece the ships described in detail in the 'Trojan' epics established a tradition of warship building culminating in the pentekonters and triaconters. The warships of the period are abundantly illustrated on pottery and carved seals, and depicted in inscriptions and on bas-reliefs. The subject has been intensively studied for two and a half millennia, culminating in the contemporary works of authoritative scholars such as Morrison, Wallinga, Rodgers and Casson. To date there are no works covering the subject which are accessible and available to non-academics.

Now with a new afterword by the author, the tenth-anniversary edition of Peter Heller’s “swashbuckling adventure” (Publishers Weekly) takes us on a hair-raising journey aboard a whale saving pirate ship with a vigilante crew whose mission is to stop illegal Japanese whaling in the stormy seas of Antarctica. The Whale Warriors is an adventure story set in the far reaches of the globe. For two months in 2005, journalist Peter Heller was aboard the Farley Mowat as it stalked its prey—a Japanese whaling fleet—through the storms and ice of Antarctica. The little ship is black, flies under a jolly roger, and carries members of the Sea Shepherd Society, a radical environmental group who are willing to die to stop illegal whale hunting. Heller recreates a nail-biting showdown when Captain Watson and his crew attempt to deliberately ram an enormous Japanese whaling ship, trying to tear open its hull with a steel blade called a “Can Opener.” In thirty-five-foot seas, a deadly game of Antarctic chicken begins. But while the ships are far from rescue, the world is watching. Japan threatens to send down defense aircraft and warships, Australia appeals for calm, New Zealand dispatches military surveillance aircraft, the US Office of Naval Intelligence issues a piracy warning, and international media begin to track the developing whale war. As Heller describes the slow, rusting, old Norwegian trawler Farley Mowat and the fast, new six ship whaling fleet of the Japanese, we also learn about the crisis of our oceans, which are on the verge of total ecosystem collapse. The exploitation of endangered whales is emblematic of an over-exploitation of the seas that is now entering its desperate denouement with our own survival in the balance. “A swift kick to any remaining complacency about the plight of our oceans” (National Geographic Adventure), The Whale Warriors is “two parts high seas swashbuckle and one part inconvenient truth” (Surfer).

In August 1943, the Luftwaffe began using radio-controlled anti-ship glide bombs and within weeks they had sunk one battleship, crippled another, wrecked two cruisers, and destroyed numerous merchant ships. Yet, a year later the Germans abandoned their use, defeated by scientists who developed electronic systems to jam the radio links that guided the bombs. Drawing on a wealth of new sources, Martin Bollinger examines what happened from both a historical and technological perspective and lays out a mission-by-mission analysis of effectiveness. Based on interviews with participants, intelligence documents, and archival records in four countries, his book chronicles the yearlong battle between the Allied seamen (the warriors) and the scientists (the wizards) for a story of courage, technical achievement, and sacrifice.

Ben and Aaron Cooper’s life had never been one of ease. Deserted by their mother and raised by a drunken father, they fought to survive on the Kansas farm where their father worked. Life deals them a horrendous twist when they are kidnapped by an alien trader and sold. Ben, the oldest by sixteen months, convinces the aliens who enslave them that he and Aaron will die if they are separated. It is the only way he can think of to keep them together and protect his younger brother. The next fifteen years prove to be the most challenging of their lives. They do what they have to in order to survive. They are convinced their time has come to an end when the freighter they are on is attacked by a species known for their lust for blood and killing. Evetta and Hanine Marquette are Marastin Dow; a species whose leaders thrive on living in the old ways where only the strongest, most ruthless are allowed to live. The life expectancy for most Marastin Dow is short, especially on one of the warships that all Marastin Dow, male or female, are expected to serve a mandatory service. Advancement usually comes by murder. Evetta and Hanine want a different life and work together to stay alive in the hopes of finding a life away from the constant threat of death. Life changes for them when they encounter two strange and unusual alien males. When the males’ lives are endangered, there is only one thing these warrior women can do to save them... run! A NY Times and USA Today bestselling author, the internationally acclaimed S.E. Smith presents a new story with her signature humor and unpredictable twists! Exciting adventure, hot romance, and iconic characters have won her a legion of fans. Over TWO MILLION books sold!

Winner of the 2011 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature, The Twilight Warriors is the engrossing, page-turning saga of a tightly knit band of naval aviators who are thrust into the final—and most brutal—battle of the Pacific war during World War II: Okinawa. April 1945. The end of World War II finally appears to be nearing. The Third Reich is collapsing in Europe, and the Americans are overpowering the once-mighty Japanese Empire in the Pacific. For a group of young pilots trained in the twilight of the war, their greatest worry is that it will end before they have a chance to face the enemy. They call themselves Tail End Charlies: They fly at the tail end of formations, stand at the tail end of chow lines, and now they are catching the tail end of the war. What they don’t know is that they will be key players in the bloodiest and most difficult of naval battles—not only of World War II but in all of American history. The Twilight Warriors relives the drama of the world’s last great naval campaign. From the cockpit of a Corsair fighter we gaze down at the Japanese task force racing to destroy the American amphibious force at Okinawa. Through the eyes of the men on the destroyers assigned to picket ship duty, we experience the terror as wave after wave of kamikazes crash into their ships. Standing on the deck of the legendary superbattleship Yamato, we watch Japan’s last hope for victory die in a tableau of gunfire and explosions. The fate of the Americans at Okinawa, including a twenty-two-year-old former art student, an intrepid fighter pilot whose life abruptly changes when his Corsair goes down off the enemy shore, and a young Texan lieutenant who volunteers for the most dangerous flying job in the fleet—intercepting kamikazes at night over the blackened Pacific—is intertwined with the lives of the “young gods”: the honor-bound kamikaes forces who swarm like killer bees toward the U.S. ships. The ferocity of the Okinawa fighting stuns the world. Before it ends, the long battle will cost more American lives, ships, and aircraft than any naval engagement in U.S. history. More than simply the account of a historic battle, The Twilight Warriors brings to life the human side of an epic conflict. It is the story of young Americans at war in the air and on the sea—and of their enigmatic, fanatically courageous enemy.