History

A Homeland Denied
In the Footsteps of a Polish POW
by Irena  Kossakowski

A Homeland Denied follows the horrific journey of Waclaw Kossakowski, a young Warsaw University student whose peaceful life was changed dramatically and with far reaching consequences that fateful day of 1st September, 1939. From imprisonment in the notorious Kozelsk prison to the forced labour c... more...

A Natural History of Sea Serpents
by Adrian Shine

A Natural History of Sea Serpents, re-examines the cold-case enigma of sea serpents and monsters described by impeccable witnesses over three centuries. These reports have sometimes intrigued and puzzled the most eminent scientists of their times, yet often became the butt of popular derision. Na... more...

A New Way of Living
Georgian Town Planning in the Highlands and Islands
by Gordon Haynes

A New Way of Living tells the broad story of the development of new towns in the Scottish Highlands and Islands post-1750. It pulls together the various strands that influenced the development of the North West Highlands after the disastrous risings and charts the government-backed attempts at esta... more...

A Scotsman Returns
Travels with Thomas Telford in the Highlands and Islands
by Paul A.  Lynn

This is a fascinating combination of biographical material about the great Scottish engineer Thomas Telford (1757–1834), and a modern travelogue that revisits the places in the Highlands and Islands where he worked over a period of 20 years. Scotland was provided with desperately-needed civil ... more...

A Scottish Blockade Runner in the American Civil War
Joannes Wyllie of the steamer Ad-Vance
by John F. Messner

Born in 1828 near Kelso in the Scottish Borders, Wyllie went to sea as an apprentice seaman in 1852 and quickly rose through the ranks.  By 1862 he had gained his masters certificate in Liverpool, and there he took command of his first vessel, the Bonita. He sailed for Nassau, then a booming po... more...

Airman Abroad
by Hamish Brown

A revealing picture of a time when Britain was losing its empire. It draws on letters written at the period by an airman, his vivid memories and experiences from the Canal Zone, Kenya during Mau Mau times, Cyprus and Jerusalem. His time encompassed conducting church services, being shipwrecked, nume... more...

Assyrian Identity and the Great War
Nestorian, Chaldean and Syrian Christians in the 20th century
by Bülent Özdemir

Translated by L.M.A. Gough ‘I agree with Professor Özdemir that there was no genocide of ‘Assyrians’, but a total migration of Nestorians (with attendant casualties), and a gradual and partial migration of Syrian Monophysites and Uniates, with fewer casualties’. Dr. A... more...

Ate the Dog Yesterday
Maritime casualties, calamities and catastrophes
by Graham Faiella

The constant dangers that deep-sea sailing ships and sailors of the late 19th century and early 20th centuries faced were numerous and this book recounts the true-life dramas of their perils and misfortunes – the battles that they waged, and all too often lost – against the hazards of th... more...

Between Daylight and Hell
Scots Who Left a Stain on American History
by Iain Lundy

This is the culmination of years of research into the lives of Scots who were guilty of dastardly deeds after leaving Scotland for America – in some cases they literally got away with murder. These emigrants were rogues, con artists, charlatans and reprobates of the worst order and their crime... more...

Black Rood
The Lost Crown Jewel of Scotland
by David Willem

Black Rood tells the fascinating story of one of Scotland’s oldest and most significant crown jewels. Once as famous as the Stone of Scone, the Black Rood was a gold and jewel-studded reliquary for a piece of the True Cross. This profound and holy treasure was smuggled into Scotland after the ... more...

Britain and the Bomb
Technology, Culture and the Cold War
by W J Nuttall

This is a very British story from more than 50 years ago. It is a story of remarkable technological ambition from a different country than is seen today. It was an era in which the country adjusted to decolonisation and a dangerous nuclear arms race close to home.  The maturing Cold War enginee... more...

British Piers and Pier Railways
by Anthony Poulton-Smith

The British have always had a special affinity for their coastal resorts and piers are the epitome of the British seaside. This book takes the reader on a clockwise tour of our islands, stopping at every pier and walking through their histories. Yet this is not just a tour of the pier, for it is not... more...

Bubbleheads, SEALs and Wizards
America’s Scottish Bastion in the Cold War
by David Mackay

The American military presence in Scotland during the Cold War was greater than in either of the World Wars, bringing with it the largest peace-time number of foreign military personnel in Scotland’s history. This military power was delivered by individuals – the forgotten heroes. They w... more...

c/o Cunard House
88 Leadenhall Street, London EC3
by Bill Ferguson

This is an unusual maritime story in that the author looks at life from the lower echelons of a merchant ship’s company and the relationship between officers and crew, deck department and the catering staff, recounting his life and experiences with people and places in Australia, New Zealand a... more...

Caithness Archaeology
Aspects of Prehistory
by A. Heald, J.  Barber

Caithness, the most northerly county in mainland Britain, is one of the richest cultural landscapes in Europe. The relative geographical isolation of the area, traditional landholding and the survival of large estates, combined with the use of flagstone as the main building material since earliest t... more...

Caithness to Patagonia
Distant Lands and Close Relatives
by Ian Leith

This is an extraordinary and little-known story of emigration from Scotland. Caithness and Patagonia are literally a world apart, yet in the late 19th and early 20th centuries a number of Caithness men and women took on the challenge of this wild, open and windswept land. The book provides the origi... more...

Camp 165 Watten
2nd edition
by Valerie Campbell

This is a new and expanded second edition of the best-selling first edition. The author has provided an in-depth historical account with new information on a number of prisoners including the eminent Professor Klaus Eggers; Karl Haensel, a former rear gunner who remained in Caithness after his relea... more...

Camp 21 Comrie
POWs and post-war stories from Cultybraggan
by Valerie Campbell

Camp 21 Comrie, also known as Cultybraggan Camp, is the UK’s best preserved prisoner of war camp. Lying in the heart of rural Perthshire in Scotland, the camp’s history is a fascinating one. Built two miles south of the village of Comrie as a camp for detainees, its first prisoner was a ... more...

Crucible of Conflict
Three Centuries of Border War
by John Sadler

The borderers – people forged and hardened by endemic warfare over generations, whether by raids and skirmishes or set piece battles – are marked even today as a distinct group. For three savage centuries England and Scotland, both dynamic races, slogged it out upon this arena of nations... more...

Darwin in Scotland
Edinburgh, Evolution and Enlightment
by J. F.  Derry

With exclusive contributions from Richard Dawkins, Noam Chomsky, Martin Rees, Aubrey Manning, Richard Holloway, Daniel C. Dennett, Randal Keynes, Brian Charlesworth, Ken Ham and others Forewords by A. C. Grayling, Professor of Philosophy, Birkbeck College, University of London and Stuart Mon... more...

Dictionary of Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships from 1905
by Thomas A. Adams, MBE

Royal Fleet Auxiliaries are distinctive in the maritime world civilian-crewed Merchant Navy ships owned by the Crown working under naval orders. This Dictionary showcases both the famous and the often overlooked ships that have supported the Royal Navy during its prominence in the twentieth century.... more...

Dive Palau
The Shipwrecks
by Rod Macdonald

Recounted with his usual level of meticulous historical research, Rod weaves an easily readable account of the build-up to and implementation of Operation Desecrate 1 – the raid undertaken to destroy Japanese ships and aircraft in the lagoons of Palau. He uses his intimate knowledge of shipwre... more...

Dive Truk Lagoon, 2nd edition
The Japanese WWII Pacific Shipwrecks
by Rod Macdonald

The 50-mile wide lagoon of Truk Atoll, far out in the remote expanses of the Pacific, is quite simply the greatest wreck diving location in the world. Scores of virtually intact Japanese WWII wrecks of transport ships, still filled with cargoes of tanks, trucks, artillery, beach mines, shells and ai... more...

Diving for Treasure
Discovering history in the depths
by Vic Verlinden, Stefan Panis

This book recounts the efforts over many years to dive wrecks that contained treasure in one form or another. The often prolonged and sometimes dangerous expeditions tell of dives to many ships that were wrecked while carrying tons of gold or other valuables. Many of the wrecks came to lie at great ... more...

Engineering Hitler's Downfall
the Brains that Enabled Victory
by Gwilym Roberts

Whilst living in Liverpool, Britain’s second most heavily bombed city during World War II, the author experienced at first-hand the terrible effects of the war on the civilian population and when studying at Cambridge he witnessed the American heavy bombers and their fighter escorts flying to ... more...

Enigma: The Untold Story of the Secret Capture
Vol. III of The British Navy at War and Peace Series editor Captain Peter Hore
by David Balme

David Balme will be forever known as the 20-year-old hero who, on 9 May 1941, boarded a German U-boat in mid-Atlantic, and captured one of the greatest secrets of the Second World War. This capture – or ‘pinch’ as it was known within secret, inner circles – changed the course... more...

Escape to the Sea
by Mike Starke

Written by Tom 'Jack' Sullivan Green, AB of Bristol in the 1920s, Escape to the Sea is an inspiring, first-hand account of survival against the odds of an orphan boy in early Victorian England. Recounted in a fluent style and peppered with dialogue, this gripping tale of a seaman's li... more...

Footsteps in the Snow
by John Dudeney

Footsteps in the Snow recounts a life shaped and dominated by Antarctica, a multi-facetted account of a life dedicated to Antarctic science, policy and governance. It is also the story of growth from callow youth to Antarctic professional in the most challenging of environments. Joining the Briti... more...

Force Z Shipwrecks of the South China Sea
HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse
by Rod Macdonald

The tragedy of the loss in 1941 of two Royal Navy capital ships, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, the core of Churchill’s deterrent Force Z, stunned the world. Churchill had hoped that sending a small powerful squadron of ships to Singapore would deter a threatened Japanese invasion of Mal... more...

Great British Shipwrecks
by Rod Macdonald

For more than 30 years, internationally acclaimed wreck diver and best-selling author, Rod Macdonald, has surveyed and researched shipwrecks around the world. His books such as Dive Scapa Flow and The Darkness Below are household names in the diving world. In Great British Shipwrecks Rod uses his... more...

HARD DOWN! HARD DOWN!
The Life and Times of Captain John Isbester from Shetland
by Captain Jack Isbester

Hard Down! Hard Down! describes the eventful life of a Shetland man in pursuit of his ambitions – to reach the top in his profession, to find a wife, to cherish a family, to do his job well and to be respected by his peers. The account is enlivened by extracts from numerous well-chosen family ... more...

Hitler's Early Raiders
by Robert  McQueen

Focusing on the so-called 'Phoney War' at the start of World War II, this well-researched account concentrates on incidents when Britain stood alone during those tense and dark early days of hostilities. The book contains graphic accounts of enemy action including two major attacks on ele... more...

In the Shadow of Power
Influence and spin down the centuries
by Bob Whittington

From Alexander the Great to Saddam Hussein, from Cardinal Richelieu and Howard Hughes to Martin Luther King and Pope Benedict, emperors and tycoons, presidents and popes, they have all had a right hand man – or woman – at their side advising, sometimes influencing and occasionally manipu... more...

Inventors and Engineers of Caithness
by Robert P. Gunn

The fax, electric clock, automatic telephone and more – all inventions that have had a massive impact on our lives. And all invented by Scots. There is much more to be told and in this book the author recounts the lives and achievements of some unsung heroes, blending social, scientific and Sc... more...

Island Base
Ascension in the Falklands War
by Bob McQueen

Extract from the Foreword: Much has been written about the war, but very little about the island base, Ascension Island, which was crucial to our success. This book explains how the island was an essential stepping stone in the execution of a daring plan in response to Argentinian aggression. ...La... more...

Journey into Africa
The Life and Death of Keith Johnston, Scottish Cartographer and Explorer (1844-79)
by James McCarthy

This true and dramatic story begins with the finding of the last expedition diary of a forgotten Edinburgh cartographer - Keith Johnston. The diary was lying in the Royal Geographical Society of Scotland's storeroom and concerns his last, fatal expedition into the interior of Africa. Johnston's fami... more...

Kabul: Final Call
The inside story of the withdrawal from Afghanistan August 2021
by Laurie Bristow

On 15 August 2021, the world watched in horror as Kabul fell to the Taliban, almost exactly 20 years after western-backed Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban government in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. During those 20 years the United States, the United Kingdom and their allies tried to build a... more...

Kirkcudbright's Prince of Denmark
and her voyages in the South Seas
by David R.  Collin

This is the story of the unusually long and interesting career of a small Scottish schooner spent primarily in the southern hemisphere. From the quest to trace her history and construction to the careers of those who owned and sailed in her during her 74-year life, the story is full of vividly-portr... more...

Leith Shipyards 1918-1939
Leith Built Ships, Vol. II
by R. O. Neish

This volume includes some very famous ships with tales of adventure and new trade routes, also sadness, the launch and then the loss of the largest sailing ship ever built in a British shipyard – the five-masted auxiliary sailing barque, Kobenhavn. It recounts the days when shipbuilding should... more...

Life and Death on Little Ross
The Story of an Island, a Lighthouse and its Keepers
by David R.  Collin

Little Ross is an attractive and unspoiled island and its lighthouse, beautifully designed by the famous Stevenson family, is officially a 'lesser' light, far away from busy sea lanes, at the summit of this remote island. The island was unknown to most people until 1960 when a murder in t... more...

Literature of the Gaelic Landscape
Litreacheas na Tìre
by John Murray

From the comfort of an armchair and with the aid of this new book, the reader can travel to the Breadalbane and Argyll of Duncan Bàn Macintyre; the Skye and Raasay of Sorley Maclean; and the Caithness and Sutherland of Neil M. Gunn. Photographs, maps and place-names linked to key passages in ... more...

Luftwaffe over Scotland
A history of German air attacks on Scotland, 1939-45
by Les Taylor

Luftwaffe over Scotland is the first complete history of the air attacks mounted against Scotland by Nazi Germany during World War Two and undertakes a detailed examination of the strategy, tactics and politics involved on both sides, together with a technical critique of the weaponry employed by bo... more...

Money Talks
British Monarchs and History in Coins
by Bob Whittington

Money Talks is a fast-paced history of the humble British coin, the events which at times literally shaped it and the stories reflected in its creation. It has been used to barter and to bribe, to hold a cloak in place and to pay a king’s ransom, been an object of pride and a symbol of cour... more...

Not Really What You'd Call a War
by Norman Hampson

Dedicated to the ship's company of La Moqueuse, this book is not so much an account of naval operations as a kind of social history. With the help of recollections, diaries and letters home, it recreates the reactions of an undergraduate to his various reincarnations as an ordinary seaman in a c... more...

Outrageous Fortune
by Bob Maslen-Jones

This is the story of a young medical student's coming-of-age as he watched the defeated British Expeditionary Force shuffling through Oxford in May 1940, and his decision to forego a privileged life that would have led to the fulfilment of a long-cherished dream of becoming a surgeon. After ans... more...

Polar Mariner
Beyond the Limits in Antarctica
by Captain Tom Woodfield

Captain Woodfield made 20 seasonal voyages to the Antarctic on three research ships between 1955 and 1974. Starting as a Junior Deck Officer he worked for The Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey which in 1964 became the British Antarctic Survey. He played a paramount role in the gradual change from... more...

Pulling Together
The Making of a Global Maritime Trade Union
by Andrew Linington

Ship masters and officers may not seem like pioneers of trade unionism. However, this history of their unique union, Nautilus International, shows how they have been pitched into the forefront of a long struggle for decent jobs, fair pay and conditions, employment rights, and health and safety &ndas... more...

RAF Bomber Command Striking Back
Operations of a Halifax Crew
by Alan  Measures

In the early hours of 26th June 1942, six airmen from 102 Squadron return from Bremen in their Halifax, Q for Queenie, having taken part in the third Thousand Bomber Raid. These airmen formed a truly international crew, each one having an interesting back story that had led to their being together, ... more...

Recollections of an Unsuccessful Seaman
by Dave Creamer

Born in 1887, George Leonard Noake joined the nautical training establishment, HMS Conway, in 1903. He then served an apprenticeship at sea until 1908 when his detailed memoirs commence, sailing as a second officer in the European/West African trade. After going ashore to work on a farm between 1913... more...

Reviving Palmyra in Multiple Dimensions:
Images, Ruins and Cultural Memory
by Minna Silver, Gabriele Fangi, Ahmet Denker

This book provides a visual reconstruction of Palmyra, a World Heritage Site situated in Syria, which flourished in Greco-Roman times. Palmyra is situated in a desert oasis and served as a vibrant caravan station on the Silk Road connecting the Roman world with the East. It has been called ‘th... more...

Robb Caledon (Leith Division) 1965–1984
Leith-Built Ships, Vol. 4
by R. O. Neish

Volume 4 of the acclaimed Leith-built Ships series follows Ship Nos 495 to 535 built from 1965 until the eventual closure of the shipyard in 1984 by a government that was hell-bent on destroying British industry and breaking the powerful unions. Great ships such as Lloydsman Ship no 509 and SA Wo... more...

'Rosy' Wemyss, Admiral of the Fleet
The Man who Created Armistice Day
by John Johnson-Allen

Rosslyn Wemyss’ life and career was both fascinating and brilliant – a most distinguished admiral who is very little known.  As the Allied Naval Representative at the Armistice negotiations on 11th November, 1918, he left an indelible mark on the life of this country when he was res... more...

Salt Horse
Memoir of a Maverick Admiral, Claude Lionel Cumberlege
by Robin Knight

Written originally in 1936–38 by Admiral Cumberlege as a record of his life, Salt Horse was never published. The original manuscript has been expertly edited and made readable in terms of language to a modern audience.  It now comprises chapters on Cumberlege’s naval career in the R... more...

School of the Sea
by Stephen Richardson

...it is precisely the sort of record that is immensely important for enhancing our understanding of human affairs. ...The diary that has become a book reveals the light and shade of daily life, punctuated by terrifying moments. This was the real stuff of the war at sea and it has been tellingly cap... more...

Scotland's Global Empire
A Chronicle of Great Scots
by Jock Gallagher

Scotland's Global Empire is one journalist's tribute to some of the lesser-known great Scots and their contribution to the world.  Jock Gallagher was encouraged in his epic enterprise by a quote from Voltaire: We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation. ‘Voltaire m... more...

Scotland's Heritage
A photographic journey
by John Hannavy

Scotland’s Heritage is a unique book. It combines John Hannavy’s stunning and original photography of Scotland with an engaging narrative on the country’s evolution from 4000 BC to the present day, using both the author’s own account of his travels with those of the great tra... more...

Scottish Lighthouse Pioneers
Travels with the Stevensons in Orkney and Shetland
by Paul A.  Lynn

In the 19th century, the Stevenson engineers pioneered marvellous lighthouses around the coasts of Scotland – lighthouses which inspire with their architectural elegance, and speak of compassion for sailors and fishermen risking their lives in these notoriously dangerous waters. But what wa... more...

Shipwrecks of the Dover Straits
by Stefan Panis

The Dover Straits is the resting place for many wrecks and this book reveals the stories behind a selection of these unfortunate vessels. This highly pictorial account shows the wrecks and the numerous artefacts found. The gallery of photographs for each wreck is accompanied by a brief summary of th... more...

Southern Lights
The Scottish Contribution to New Zealand's Lighthouses
by Guinevere Nalder

Southern Lights recounts the story of how New Zealand's lighthouses were established through the transfer of technology from Scotland to New Zealand over a period of almost 90 years. This resulted in most of New Zealand's lighthouses being fully or partially built using Scottish materials an... more...

Tales from Braemore & Swein Asleifson - a Northern Pirate
by Robert P. Gunn

During the long winter nights and before the advent of television, people in Caithness used to hold informal gatherings in each other's houses, and spend the night in general conversation around the firesides. These gatherings were known as ceilidhs. The news of the day was always discussed alon... more...

Tales from the Forgotten Front
British West Africa during WWII
by John Wade

In November 1943, four years into World War II, Corporal Sid Wade, a conscripted and reluctant soldier in the British Army, was uprooted from a cold English winter and transported to the tropical coast of West Africa. Sid Wade was the author’s father and, nearly 70 years after his two-year sti... more...

That Curious Fellow
Captain Basil Hall, RN
by James McCarthy

Son of a scientifically-minded Scottish aristocrat, Basil Hall joined the Royal Navy at the age of 13 in 1802. His first naval engagements in America and Spain during the Peninsular War are described, as are his travels in India and the Far East. His renowned interview with Napoleon, while still a p... more...

The A to Z of Whisky Place-Names
Landscape, Language & Invention
by Jacob King

Have you ever wondered about the place-names that appear on Scotch whisky bottles? What language the names come from, what they mean or if they are even real places?  If you feel baffled about where to start looking for such information, then this reliable and informative book is for you. Withi... more...

The Arctic
by Richard  Sale, Per Michelsen

This stunningly beautiful and informative book celebrates the Arctic, one of the last great wildernesses on the planet; a place where animals have survived for thousands of years protected only by fur and feathers. Humans also survive in the Arctic, but only those who have adjusted to the climate ov... more...

The Baltic Cauldron
Two Navies and the Fight for Freedom
by Michael Ellis, Gustaf  von Hofsten, Derek Law

The Baltic Cauldron commemorates several centuries of Anglo-Swedish relations, which, after events in Eastern Europe in 2022, have acquired a new resonance as a record of the struggle for survival and independence of nations bordering the Baltic. This is a history of navies in the Baltic Sea and its... more...

The British Navy Series
series editor Captain Peter Hore
by Mervyn Wingfield, A. Bentley-Buckle, David Balme

* SPECIAL OFFER - buy the trilogy for the special price of £40.00* For full information about each book please visit their individual page Wingfield at War Through Albert’s Eyes Enigma, the untold story of the secret capture ... more...

The Caithness Influence
Diverse lives of distinction
by Valerie Campbell

With a small population, it is remarkable that so many people from the county of Caithness have had such a huge impact, not only in Scotland but worldwide. The sheer hard work and determination of people from the county, both past and present, has guaranteed their place in history. From scientists, ... more...

The Dunbars of Ackergill and Hempriggs
The story of a Caithness family based on the Dunbar family papers
by James Miller

The Dunbars of Ackergill and Hempriggs emerged in the late 1600s as one of the largest landowners in Caithness. As such they played a major part in the history of the county, a role revealed in the family papers with their wide variety of documents, including personal letters and legal missives. ... more...

The Enigmatic Sailor
by Alan Peacock

An essential further dimension to the ENIGMA story of code breaking. The part played by code-cracking in World War II has at last been dramatically revealed in a popular film and also inspired several accounts by code-crackers and countless broadcasts. Much less well-known is how code-cracking... more...

The Fabulous Flotilla
Scotland’s Adventure on the Rivers of Burma
by Paul Strachan

The Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, known in colonial Burma as the ‘Fabulous Flotilla’, was the largest privately-owned fleet of ships in the world. It was an entirely Scottish enterprise with nearly all its investors, management and ship’s officers drawn from Scotland.  Over 1,20... more...

The Futile Pursuit of Power
Why Mussolini Executed his Son-in-Law
by Andrew Sangster

Italian history is not widely read but the period under Mussolini’s shadow is both interesting and relevant to understanding the wheeling and dealings of the 1930s and into WWII. Through sheer nepotism Galeazzo Ciano married Mussolini’s daughter and became Italy’s Foreign Secretary... more...

The Immeasurable Wilds
Travellers to the Far North of Scotland, 1600-1900
by Alastair  Mitchell

Towards the end of the 18th century the attention of mapmakers, explorers and travellers turned to the north of Scotland. The mountains that rise north of Stirling formed a formidable barrier for anyone wanting to visit the Highlands, and travellers to the Far North were even rarer: there were no ro... more...

The King of Lokoja
William Balfour Baikie the Forgotten Man of Africa
by Wendell  McConnaha

William Balfour Baikie was a surgeon, naturalist, linguist, writer, explorer, and government consul who played a key role in opening Africa to the Europeans. As an explorer he mapped and charted large sections of the Niger River system as well as the overland routes from Lagos and Lokoja to the majo... more...

The Life and Works of Glasgow Architects James Miller and John James Burnet
by John  Stewart

This is the first full biography of two of Scotland’s most eminent Architects, James Miller and John James Burnet. While born just three years apart into very different circumstances – Burnet was the son of a wealthy Glasgow architect and Miller a farmer’s son – their careers... more...

The Lighthouse on Skerryvore
by Paul A.  Lynn

Perched on an isolated rock in the Scottish Hebrides, this is a fascinating account of Skerryvore, ‘the most graceful lighthouse in the world’, and the great Victorian engineer who designed and built it. At a height of 48m (156 feet), it is the tallest lighthouse in Scotland. The stor... more...

The Magnetism of Antarctica
The Ross Expedition 1839-1843
by John Knight

This under-documented expedition was a pivotal moment in the annals of polar exploration and was the starting point, in historical terms, of revealing the great unknown continent of Antarctica. It was the first time in nearly 70 years since Captain James Cook had circumnavigated Antarctica, that a R... more...

The Men who Invented Britain
An Illustrated Introduction to Great British Engineers
by John Hannavy

The book is a collection of inter-linked essays, each dealing with a significant figure in the emergence of Britain as an industrial powerhouse in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. It is illustrated with drawings, patents, early historic images and John Hannavy’s acclaimed original cont... more...

The Nearly Man
by Mark Bridgeman

The Nearly Man is the true, yet almost unbelievable, story of one man’s incredible life, beginning in rural Scotland in the reign of Queen Victoria, and ending on the west coast of Canada in the 1970s. In one of the 20th century’s great untold stories we travel with Francis Metcalfe on a... more...

The Victorian Naval Brigades
by Arthur Bleby

There is a view that, in Victorian times, whilst the Army was engaged in a series of wars, the Navy enjoyed a peaceful existence - however, this was not the case. Complemented by authentic engravings, this book relates in fascinating detail the significant role that was played by the Naval Brigades ... more...

The Way We Were
Victorian and Edwardian Scotland in Colour
by John Hannavy

This is John Hannavy's reflective look at how Scotland was depicted in photographs and postcards 100–170 years ago. In many ways, it redefines our view of Scotland's past as we are familiar with seeing Victorian and Edwardian people and views in sepia, but these are in colour, adding a... more...

They Once Were Shipbuilders
Leith-Built Ships, Vol. I
by R. O. Neish

Leith-Built Ships is a testimony to the skill of the men who built the ships and to the many men and women who may have sailed or served on them. This history is brought together in vol. I of a three-volume series about the almost-forgotten part that Leith played in our great maritime heritage and i... more...

They Were Just Skulls
The Naval Career of Fred Henley, Last Survivor of HM Submarine Truculent
by John Johnson-Allen

This compelling story is the result of many hours spent recording the memories of Fred Henley. His life at sea is at the centre of his being and his own words are at the heart of the book. At the age of 14 Fred worked on a Thames sailing barge, then after his training at HMS Ganges, he joined his fi... more...

Through Albert's Eyes
Vol. II of The British Navy at War and Peace Series editor Captain Peter Hore
by A. Bentley-Buckle

The autobiography of Tony Bentley-Buckle, a child of the Empire who was left to grow up in the care of maiden aunts. Having joined the Royal Navy before the war, he found himself on the Northern Patrol during the blockade of Germany and as a teenager in command of captured ships. When he brought a s... more...

To Auckland by the Ganges
The Journal of a Sea Voyage to New Zealand in 1863
by Robert M. Grogans

In 1863 there was only one method of travelling from Britain to the other side of the world by sailing ship, on a journey that could take up to four months, and when the vagaries of wind and weather could put travellers in peril during long voyages. The offer of grants of land in New Zealand was a m... more...

Walking over the Waves
by Chris Foote Wood

In 2007, author and broadcaster Chris Foote Wood achieved a lifelong ambition - to visit every seaside pier in England, Wales and the Isle of Man - all 56 of them! This odyssey, plus copious research, has provided the raw material for Walking over the Waves. In words and pictures, Chris describes... more...

West Coast Support Group
Task Group 96.8, Korea 1950-1953
by M.P. Cocker

This illustrated portfolio is produced upon the 50th anniversary of cessation of hostilities and as a remembrance of the ships of Task Group 96.8. Through extensive research the author has gleaned information about the multi-national force, including numerous photographs. Ships of the Royal Navy, Ro... more...

Wingfield at War
Vol. I of The British Navy at War and Peace Series editor Captain Peter Hore
by Mervyn Wingfield

Captain Mervyn Wingfield was one of the last of his generation of submariners who made their reputation in the Second World War. Pre-war he had served on the China station and lived the riotous life of a young officer; in the war he commanded three submarines, Umpire, Sturgeon and Taurus, survived a... more...