A history of working watercraft of the western world

by Thomas Charles Gillmer

"A History of Working Watercraft of the Western World is the culmination of more than 50 years of research by Thomas C. Gillmer, a world-renowned designer of yachts and historic replica ships, and an internationally recognized authority on the history of naval architecture.". "Aided by hundreds of rare photographs and the incomparable drawings of William Gilkerson and Tom Price, Gillmer documents the origins of European and North American workboats - humble craft whose history, lineage, and survival today provide important keys to understanding the emergence of Western Civilization.". "Gillmer brings into focus nearly 5,000 years of workboat evolution, tracing the development of boatbuilding techniques and the civilizations that produced them. He begins with the sea-going boats of the Minoans and the old Norse, and then explores the growth of boatbuilding technology in the separately evolving maritime cultures of Northern Europe, the British Isles, the Mediterranean, the Iberian Penins