Richard Woodman's highly successful "The History of the Ship" is re-worked and updated. Man has used the boat and ship in his struggle to dominate the world around him, accomplishing spectacular feats of courage and exploration, exploitation, trade, communication and destruction. In his highly readable style, the author presents a comprehensive examination of the technical and cultural development of the ship, from the earliest dugout canoe to the nuclear submarine. The author's many years of sea-going experience and numerous writings on maritime topics help underpin the broad sweep of the narrative. Intertwined with the history of ships and the men who sailed them is the story of the technological, political, and ecopnomic developments that have shaped the evolution of nautical vessels, which Woodman succinctly places within their proper contexts, creating one of the most fascinating histories of man as inventor, trader and warrior ever written. The informative text is complemented with a plate section of black-and-white images ranging from ship plans, engravings and diagrams to marine paintings and photographs.