Nautical History

We have two sections in the store about this general topic. For purposes of location, vintage books are labeled nautical history, and newer books are put in the Ships, Boats, & Submarines section.

To most of us (the uninitiated), the sailing ships of the past are a thing of myth and romance. We see paintings of graceful ships' hulls cutting through majestic waves, rigging taut and sails billowing. We imagine the freedom of the sea and it stirs something deep within us. There's a yearning to test our mettle, feel our smallness under the open sky and on the open sea, experience the power of the waves as they crash on the deck during a gale.

A lot of nautical fiction tends to focus on the narrow European "age of sail," especially the age of discovery and the epic sea battles of the Napoleanic wars. But, of course, Maritime history is much broader than that. It's an overarching subject that includes lots of topics, like fishing, whaling, international maritime law, naval history, the history of ships, ship design, shipbuilding, the history of navigation, the history of the various maritime-related sciences (oceanography, cartography, hydrography, etc.), sea exploration, maritime economics and trade, shipping, yachting, seaside resorts, the history of lighthouses and aids to navigation, maritime themes in literature, maritime themes in art, the social history of sailors and passengers and sea-related communities.

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199 Items found Print
Admiral David Glasgow Farragut
by Chester G. Hearn
from US Naval Institute Press
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
All About Sailing the Seven Seas
All About Books #40
by Ruth Brindze
from Random House
for 4th-7th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All Hands Aloft!
by Lou A. Schmitt
from Howell-North
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
American Fishermen
by Albert Cook Church (photography), text by James B. Connolly
from Bonanza Books
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
American Sailing Coasters of the North Atlantic
by Paul C. Morris, foreword by Edouard Stackpole
1979 Reprint from Bonanza Books
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
American Sailing Ships - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Peter F. Copeland
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Transportation Coloring Books (Location: COL-TRANS)
$5.99
American Ship Models and How to Build Them
by V. R. Grimwood, foreword by Howard I. Chapelle
from Bonanza Books
for 9th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom
by Walter Dean Myers
from Puffin Books
for 5th-8th grade
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Arts of the Sailor
by Hervey Garrett Smith
Reprint from Dover Publications
for 5th-Adult
in Ships, Boats & Submarines (Location: HISV-SHIP)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Barbary Pirates
Landmark #31
by C. S. Forester
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813
by James P. Barry
from Franklin Watts
for 5th-8th grade
in War of 1812 (Location: HISA-19WET)
Blackbeard
by Dan Parry
from Thunder's Mouth Press
for 8th-12th grade
in Pirates (Location: HISV-PIRATE)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Blockade Runners and Ironclads
by Wallace B. Black
from Franklin Watts
for 3rd-5th grade
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Blow Ye Winds Westerly
by Elizabeth Gemming
1st edition from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Boatbuilding
by Howard I. Chapelle
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Old Ships
by Henry B. Culver, illustrated by Gordon Grant
from Dover Publications
for Adult
in Ships, Boats & Submarines (Location: HISV-SHIP)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Boy Who Sailed Around the World Alone
from Golden Press
for 4th-10th grade
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
Brendan Voyage
Modern Library Exploration
by Tim Severin
from Modern Library
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.00
Captain Cook
by Alistair MacLean
from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Captain Cook Explores the South Seas
World Landmark #19
by Armstrong Sperry
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Captain Edward L. Beach: Around the World Under Water
by Beril Becker
from Kingston House
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Captain Marryat
by Tom Pocock
from Stackpole Books
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
Chapman Piloting
by Elbert S. Maloney
57th edition from Hearst Marine Books
for Adult
in Ships, Boats & Submarines (Location: HISV-SHIP)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Christopher Columbus
by Elaine Murray Stone
500 Anv from Tyndale House
Biography for Preschool-3rd Grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Clear for Action
by Foster Hailey and Milton Lancelot
Printing D from Bonanza Books
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Clipper Ship Days
Landmark #22
by John Jennings
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Clipper Ship Men
by Alexander Laing, illustrated by Armstrong Sperry
1st edition from Duell, Sloan and Pearce
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
Clipper Ships
by David R. MacGregor
from Argus Books
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Commodore Perry in Japan
by Robert Reynolds
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 4th-8th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Count Luckner, the Sea Devil
by Lowell Thomas
from Garden City Books
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
Cruise of Mr. Christopher Columbus
A Really Truly Story
by Sadyebeth & Anson Lowitz
from Lerner Publishing Group
Biography for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
David Farragut, Sea Fighter
by Marie Mudra, illustrated by Douglas Gorsline
from Julian Messner
for 9th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Decorative Arts of the Mariner
by Gervis Frere-Cook (editor)
from Little, Brown & Company
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Deep-Water Sail
by Harold A. Underhill
from Brown, Son & Ferguson, Ltd.
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Design Line: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
by Chris Oxlade, Edited by Jenny Broom, Illustrated by Mike Lemanski
from Candlewick Press
for 2nd-Adult
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Destroyers for Great Britain
by Arnold Hague
Revised & Expanded from Naval Institute Press
for Adult
in Ships, Boats & Submarines (Location: HISV-SHIP)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Disasters at Sea
by Milton H. Watson, foreword by Frank O. Braynard
from Patrick Stephens
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Discovery of the Titanic
by Robert Ballard
from Warner/Madison Press
for 6th-12th grade
in Titanic & 20th Century Disasters (Location: HISW-20DIS)
Drake: The Man They Called a Pirate
by Jean Lee Latham
from Harper & Brothers
for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Dynamite Johnny O'Brien
by Milton A. Dalby
from Lowman & Hanford Co.
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Echoes of the Whistle
by Gerald Rushton, introduction by Leonard G. McCann
from Douglas & McIntyre, Limited
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Embarcadero
by Richard H. Dillon, foreword by William Hogan
from Coward McCann
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
Experts' Book of Boating
by Ruth Brindze (editor), illustrated by Fred Wellbrock
from Prentice Hall
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Famous Ocean Liners
by William H. Miller
from Patrick Stephens
for Adult
in Ships, Boats & Submarines (Location: HISV-SHIP)
Ferdinand Magellan
World Landmark #31
by Seymour Gates Pond
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Fighting Sail
by Oliver Warner
from Cassell
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
First Ships Around the World
from Lerner Publishing Group
for 4th-6th grade
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
Full Fathom Five
by Frank H. Shaw
from Macmillan
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Golden Age of Sail
by Amy Handy
from Todtri Productions Limited
for 7th-Adult
in Ships, Boats & Submarines (Location: HISV-SHIP)
Great Waters
by Creston Donald Ketchum
from Hutchinson & Co.
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Guns Off Cape Ann
by Kenneth Poolman
from Evans Brothers Limited
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Historic Sailing Ships - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Tre Tryckare Company
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Transportation Coloring Books (Location: COL-TRANS)
$4.99
History of Pirates
by Nigel Cawthorne
from Chartwell Books
for 8th-Adult
in Pirates (Location: HISV-PIRATE)
History of Pirates
by Angus Konstam
from Lyons Press
for 5th-8th grade
in Pirates (Location: HISV-PIRATE)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
History of the American Sailing Navy
by Howard I. Chapelle
from Bonanza Books
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
How the Merrimac Won
by R.W. Daly
from Thomas Crowell
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Illustrated Guide to Sailing Ships
by Christopher Chant
Library ed from Marshall Cavendish Education
for 4th-8th grade
in Ships, Boats & Submarines (Location: HISV-SHIP)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Illustrated History of Ships and Boats
by Lionel Casson
from Doubleday & Company
for 7th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Illustrated Wreck of the Whaleship Essex
by Owen Chase
200th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press
for 9th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$6.95
In Quest of the Sun
The Mariners Library #30
by Alain Gerbault
from Rupert Hart-Davis
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
In Yankee Windjammers
by Charles Nordhoff, edited by his grandson of the same name
from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
Indestructible Commodore Matthew Perry
by Arthur Orrmont
from Julian Messner
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Ironclads of the Civil War
by Frank R. Donovan
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 4th-8th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
John Paul Jones
A Discovery Book
by Stewart Graff, illustrated by William Hutchinson
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
John Paul Jones
by Samuel Eliot Morison
from Little, Brown & Company
for 10th-Adult
1960 Biography Pulitzer Prize
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
John Paul Jones, Fighting Sailor
Landmark #39
by Armstrong Sperry
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Joshua Barney
by Ralph D. Paine
from Century Co.
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Keystone Battlewagon - U.S.S. Pennsylvania (BB-38)
Warship Series #2
by Myron J. Smith
1st edition
for 7th-10th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Kid on the River
by Dean Nichols
1st edition from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 8th-Adult
in Pacific States (Location: HISV-PNW)
Last Grain Race
by Eric Newby
1st Printing from Houghton Mifflin
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$32.00 (1 in stock)
Leif the Lucky
by Erick Berry
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 2nd-4th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Lexington Goes Down
by A. A. Hoehling
from Prentice Hall
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Liberty Ships
by John Gorley Bunker
from Naval Institute Press
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Lighthouses
by Arthur Smith
from Houghton Mifflin
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Lighthouses of America
by Mina Lewiton, Illustrated by Howard Simon
from E.M. Hale and Company
for 4th-7th grade
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$12.50 (1 in stock)
Log of "Bob" Bartlett
by Captain Robert A. Bartlett
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Log of Christopher Columbus
by Christopher Columbus, translated by Robert Fuson
1992 Printing from International Marine / McGraw-Hill
for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
Lonely Sea and the Sky
by Francis Chichester
First American Edition from Coward McCann
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Long Ships: A Saga of the Viking Age
by Frans G. Bengtsson, translated from the Swedish by Michael Meyer
7th Printing from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$60.00 (1 in stock)
Long Voyage
by H.C. de Mierre
1968 American Edition from Walker and Company
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
Longitude
by Dava Sobel
1st edition from Walker and Company
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Longitude
by Dava Sobel
1st edition from Penguin Books
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Lost at Sea
by Ronald Pearsall
from Smithmark Publishers
for 7th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
Lost Ships and Lonely Seas
by Ralph D. Paine
from Century Co.
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
Making It Go: The Life and Work of Robert Fulton
by Don Herweck
from Teacher Created Materials, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.00
Man Against Mutiny
by Joyce Nicholson
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Man of the Monitor
by Jean Lee Latham
from Harper & Row
for 6th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Manual of Celestial Navigation
by Arthur A. Ageton
from D. Van Nostrand Co.
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Mariner of the North
by George Palmer Putnam
from Duell, Sloan and Pearce
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Marooned
by Robert Kraske; illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker
from Clarion Books
for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Mayflower II
from Plimoth Plantation Publication
for 6th-12th grade
in Ships, Boats & Submarines (Location: HISV-SHIP)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Medley of Mast and Sail 2
by Alex A. Hurst
from Naval Institute Press
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Melville in the South Pacific
North Star Books #22
by Henry Beetle Hough
from Houghton Mifflin
for 6th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Men-of-War
by Patrick O'Brian
1st Us Edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 5th-10th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.00 (2 in stock)
Midway: Battle for the Pacific
Landmark #119
by Edmund Castillo
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Monitor and the Merrimac
Landmark #16
by Fletcher Pratt
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Mr Bligh's Bad Language
by Greg Dening
from Cambridge University
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Mutiny of the Bounty
by Sir John Barrow
1st U.S. ed from David R. Godine
for 8th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
Mutiny on the Bounty
by Patrick O'Brien
from Walker and Company
for 2nd-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Mysterious Voyage of Captain Kidd
Landmark #122
by A.B.C. Whipple
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
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