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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65 Items found Print
Active Filters: 8th grade (Ages 13-14)
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, illustrated by Charles J. Mazoujian
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)
Boy Who Sailed Around the World Alone
from Golden Press
for 4th-10th grade
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
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)
Clipper Ship Days
Landmark #22
by John Jennings, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Commodore Perry in Japan
by Robert Reynolds
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 4th-8th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
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)
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)
Ferdinand Magellan
World Landmark #31
by Seymour Gates Pond, illustrated by Jack Coggins
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Golden Age of Sail
by Amy Handy
from Todtri Productions Limited
for 7th-Adult
in Ships, Boats & Submarines (Location: HISV-SHIP)
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)
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)
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, Fighting Sailor
Landmark #39
by Armstrong Sperry
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
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)
Lighthouses
by Arthur Smith
from Houghton Mifflin
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Lost at Sea
by Ronald Pearsall
from Smithmark Publishers
for 7th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
Man of the Monitor
by Jean Lee Latham
from Harper & Row
for 6th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
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)
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, illustrated by John O'Hara Cosgrove II
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
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)
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)
Mysterious Voyage of Captain Kidd
Landmark #122
by A.B.C. Whipple
from Purple House Press
for 5th-9th grade
in Pirates (Location: HISV-PIRATE)
Naval Warfare
Civil War Chronicles
by John C. Wideman
from MetroBooks
for 7th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Nelson and the Age of Fighting Sail
by Oliver Warner
from Harper & Row
for 4th-8th grade
in Horizon Caravel Books (Location: VIN-HOR)
Old Ironsides: The Fighting Constitution
Landmark #51
by Harry Hansen, illustrated by Walter Buehr
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
On the Shores of the Great Sea
Story of the World Series #1
by M. B. Synge
from Yesterday's Classics
History Reference for 4th-8th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$13.95 $8.00 (1 in stock)
On the Shores of the Great Sea
Story of the World Series #1
by M. B. Synge
from Living Book Press
History Reference for 4th-8th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$9.99
Paddle-Wheel Days in California
from Stanford University Press
for 8th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Pirate Ship: 1660-1730
by Angus Konstam, illustrated by Tony Bryan
from Osprey Publishing
for 7th-Adult
in Pirates (Location: HISV-PIRATE)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Pirates
by Nigel Cawthorne
from Chartwell Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Pirates (Location: HISV-PIRATE)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Robert Fulton and the Steamboat
Landmark #45
by Ralph Nading Hill, illustrated by Lee Ames
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Sailing the Seven Seas
North Star Books #4
by Mary Ellen Chase
from Houghton Mifflin
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Salt-Water Men
Canadian Inheritance Series #1
by Joseph Schull
from Inheritance Publications
for 7th-10th grade
in Ships, Boats & Submarines (Location: HISV-SHIP)
$12.95
San Francisco Bay
by John Haskell Kemble
from Cornell Maritime Press
for 7th-12th grade
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
San Francisco Bay
by John Haskell Kemble
1978 Reissue from Bonanza Books
for 7th-12th grade
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Sea Clocks: The Story of Longitude
by Louise Borden
1st edition from Margaret K. McElderry Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Ships, Boats & Submarines (Location: HISV-SHIP)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Seabees of World War II
Landmark #103
by Edmund Castillo, foreword by Admiral Ben Moreell, CEC, USN, illustrated with photographs
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Seafaring America
by Alexander Laing
from McGraw-Hill
for 6th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Ships Visual Encyclopedia
by David Ross
from Amber Books
for 3rd-Adult
in Ships, Boats & Submarines (Location: HISV-SHIP)
Spanish Armada
by Jay Williams
from Harper & Row
for 4th-8th grade
in Horizon Caravel Books (Location: VIN-HOR)
Spanish Armada
by C. Hodges
from Coward McCann
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Square Sails and Spice Islands
by Laura Long, illustrated by C. B. Falls
from Longmans, Green & Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Steamboat South
by Madye Lee Chastain
from E.M. Hale and Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Story of Captain Cook
by John Lang
from Living Book Press
for 6th-8th grade
in History Shapers (Location: BIO-SHAPE)
$6.99
Story of Sir Francis Drake
by Oliver Elton
from Living Book Press
for 4th-8th grade
in History Shapers (Location: BIO-SHAPE)
$6.99
Story of Stephen Decatur
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #29
by Iris Vinton, illustrated by Graham Kaye
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 3rd-8th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Submarines
Landmark #102
by George Weller, illustrated with photographs
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Tall Ships of the World
by C. Keith Wilbur
from The Globe Pequot Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Ships, Boats & Submarines (Location: HISV-SHIP)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Trail Blazer of the Seas
by Jean Lee Latham
from Houghton Mifflin
for 5th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Trail Blazer of the Seas
by Jean Lee Latham
from Purple House Press
for 5th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$11.99
Twentieth Century Sea Power
for 7th-12th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$1.00 (1 in stock)
Wooden Ships and Iron Men
by Clifford Lindsey Alderman
from Walker and Company
for 8th-Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Yankee Clippers
by Clara Ingram Judson
from Follett Publishing Co.
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$16.00 (1 in stock)