SHIPShips are perhaps the most important mode of transportation ever invented. From oar-powered quinqueremes, to steam-powered freighters, to luxury ocean liners such as the Titanic, to aircraft carriers like hms Queen Elizabeth, throughout history ships have played an integral role in trade, transportation and war. Today, ships remain the largest and most expensive moving objects on the planet; engineers and designers constantly push the limits of design, creating vessels that continue to challenge newer technologies such as aeroplanes and cars. But for all of our knowledge about ships acquired from movies, photography and literature, most of us never actually see really large ships in real life. Unlike cars, trains and airplanes, the great ships of the world travel in the deep oceans, out of sight and out of mind - until, that is, something goes wrong. In Ship, Gregory Votolato explores the fiction and the reality of modern ships, the technology that creates them, and the events that can lead to disasters such as the Amoco Cadiz or Exxon Valdez.
|
