Tramp Ships: An Illustrated History

Tramp freighters have a special niche in the lore and literature of the sea. This type of vessel, along with the tramp trade in general (carrying cargo around quixotic and exotic itineraries) has gone the way of the dodo. Of course, as the author acknowledges, the space limitation precludes accommodating everyone's favorite example but Roy Fenton manages to include a goodly sampling of the type over a century-plus. It's British-centric (the type is dominated by British examples as would be expected with shipping generally) , but there are enough ships from other nations for a rounded picture.Rare and clear photos are the heart of the book, but the text manages to be informative and inclusive.This book is a handy companion to the many nautical adventure fictional works featuring these ships, whose service liferan over decades, when the vessels were wheezing rust-buckets whose captains had to carry plenty of spares aboard so they wouldn't be left adrift off Java, Shanghai, Fiji, and other ports of intrigue.

Excellent photographic history of an important type of ship.On my tablet the old photos blow up excellently and apart from the colour give you the impression of being there,real value for money.

As a builder of period ship models, this is a subject that I'm very interested in, and there are very few titles available in the US. Trust the English to fill in the gaps. The text covers the basics of building, financing, crewing, and the routes and cargoes of the tramp steamers. But the real gem of this book is the collection of photos, and Mr. Fenton's exhaustive research and comments on the life and career of each ship depicted. You won't be disappointed if you buy this book.

Excellent ...very informative

Every so often I find a book which is a sheer delight and the arrival of this particular work was such an occasion. This is a beautiful product with historic B&W pictures of the highest quality on almost every page. Overall, the book tells the story of different ship types through time and the way in which their design evolved. To support that story the author skilfully includes the right picture to match the text - at exactly the right time, often using whole or half-page images.Warships (especially those which became famous) and the battles they fought throughout history are the subject of countless books from which experts hope to glean yet another snippet of `new' information. By complete contrast, however, the many hundreds of thousands of ordinary Tramp Ships, their histories, technical details and lives are so often overlooked.From a scuba diver's perspective; I study shipwrecks as a profession. It's what I do. Many countries promote their own accessible wrecks as tourism assets - with some deliberately sinking new wrecks for that particular purpose. With the single exception of Bikini Atoll (for obvious reasons), however, far more merchant vessels exist in any country's underwater fleet of attractions than naval vessels. Nevertheless, few books contain the details we seek.The author's Preface begins by defining the term `Tramp Ship' which, put simply, is a cargo vessel of any description or size which goes wherever in the world it can find a paying cargo. Divided into 13 chapters over 175 pages, this book goes on to teach far more than I could ever have expected. Whereas I may get annoyed when people say "midships" (the word is `amidships'), this is a work which explains all such matters so clearly. Commencing with those early steel-hulled merchant vessels, we learn of the way in which various designs progressed to provide increased carrying capacity and of the problems which had to be overcome. To this end we are introduced to early deep sea tramps, the addition of the raised quarterdeck, two decks, spar decks, awning holds and all the other innovative developments as and when they came into being. That theme continues throughout this excellent work - almost as though each ship was laid down in the 19th Century and remained `a work in progress' with every modification being applied as and when it came along, until we end up with a completely different vessel altogether.Roy Fenton is a full-time researcher and author who has written over 25 books on shipping history. I was so impressed with this particular item, I found myself immediately looking for more of the same from this man - but those are something for another day. Suffice to say I really cannot recall ever having read such an educational and informative product about steel-hulled ships and the evolutionary process they underwent. In addition, I will never tire of looking at photographs of historic ships and this work had provided enough interest to last me a very long time indeed.NM

This book arrived as promised, in excellent condition.

This is an excellent well produced book, and the price is kept down by having it produced and printed in China. Photographs are remarkably good and the text clear and readable. If you are reading it at sea try not to emulate that Turkish captain who parked his Ro-Ro vessel squarely on the rocks. One assumes they were reading one of the books in the series at the time! Mr Fenton is to be congratulated for his research.

Good general series of books on ships

If anyone has an interest in the older (and more appealing) ships this book is a must, not just for the wealth of information but also for the fantastic photos. I have never seen a book as good as this on this particular subject, a must for true ship lovers.

Very well researched,and good archive photographs .What i did`nt like was the print, which was not dark enough, and made it hard to read.

Comprehensive cover of the old British workhorse trampship, its development and its demise.