Thousands of free pdf books on seamanship, ships, boats, exploration, voyages, shipwrecks, buried treasure, ship design. Download some of them. Many large subject collections, plus single recommended books with descriptions.
Includes many works of fiction in some of the collections.
Book Collections on Ships, Boats, Seafaring
Voyages and Travel Books : Search Results at Internet Archive
About 2,800 free books. Some book titles: How Not to Travel the World; Safari: a Memoir of a Worldwide Travel Pioneer; Make the Most of Your Time on Earth.
Voyages and Travel Books : Search Results at Open Library – Free Sailing Books PDF
About 11,300 free books. Some book titles: How to Babysit a Leopard; Voyage of Sir Francis Drake Around the Whole Globe; Magazines, Travel, and Middlebrow Culture. Nautical books free, voyages of explorers.
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Discovery and Exploration Books : Search Results at Internet Archive – Seamanship Books PDF Free Download
About 2,600 free books. Some book titles: Treasures from Native California: the Legacy of Russian Exploration; Henry Hudson: Exploring the Northwest Passage; Antarctic Expedition.
Discovery and Exploration Books : Search Results at Open Library
About 6,550 free books. Some book titles: Exploring the West; Samuel de Champlain; Exploring the Great Lakes; With Scott In The Antarctic. Explorers and expeditions, voyages of explorers. Free sailing books pdf.
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Shipwreck Books : Search Results at Internet Archive
About 1,900 free books. Some book titles: The Titanic; The Lusitania Story; Shipwreck. Shipwrecks books, disasters at sea. Seamanship book pdf free download.
Shipwreck Books : Search Results at Open Library
About 2,280 free books. Some book titles: Hurricane dancers: the first Caribbean pirate shipwreck; A Storm too Soon: a true story of Disaster, Survival and an Incredible Rescue; Great British shipwrecks.
See our Encyclopedia Britannica 15th edition pdf
Buried Treasure Books : Search Results at Internet Archive
About 980 free books. Some book titles: Treasure Hunter’s Handbook; Sensational True Stories: Treasure Hunters; Secret American Treasures: from Hidden Vaults to Sunken Riches. Books on buried treasure, treasure hunting.
Buried Treasure Books : Search Results at Open Library
About 720 free books. Some book titles: Treasure Hunting; The Porcelain Thief: Searching the Middle Kingdom for Buried Treasure; At Home in Her Tomb: Lady Dai and the Ancient Chinese Treasures of Mawangdui. Buried treasure books, shipwrecks books.
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Ocean Travel Books : Search Results at Internet Archive – Free Sailing Books PDF
About 660 free books. Some book titles: Cruise Guide to Europe & the Mediterranean; The Conquest of the Ocean: the illustrated History of Seafaring; Beyond the Blue Horizon: How the Earliest Mariners Unlocked the Secrets of the Oceans.
Ocean Travel Books : Search Results at Open Library – Seamanship Books PDF Free Download
About 1,260 free books. Some book titles: Impossible Voyage of Kon-Tiki, Down to the Sea in Ships, Voyages from the Past. history of seafaring, voyages and explorers.
Seafaring Life Books : Search Results at Internet Archive
About 600 free books. Some book titles: The History of the Ship: the Story of Seafaring from the Earliest Times to the Present Day; Seaworthy: A Swordboat Captain Returns to the Sea; People of the Sea.
Seafaring Life Books : Search Results at Open Library
About 700 free books. Some book titles: Sea Legs: One Family’s Year on the Ocean; The Fyddeye guide to America’s maritime history; Jack Tars Story The Autobiographies And Memoirs Of Sailors In Antebellum America. Free sailing books pdf.
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Boats and Boating Books – Collection
About 1,000 free boats and boating books at the Internet Archive. Some books: Essential boating for teens, America’s Boating Course, Personal Guide for the Small Boat Owner, Boatman’s Manual, Exploring the Coast by Boat, Cutaway Boats, World’s Fastest Boats, Complete Book of Small Bats, Boat Handling Under Sail & Power, Book of Fantastic Boats, Design a Boat, Yachtsman’s Guide to Better Maintenance, Restoring Vintage Boats, The Mariner’s Catalog, Your Boat’s Electrical System, A Treatise on Sailing Boats, many more. Seamanship book pdf free download.
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Boat Maintenance & Repair – Collection – Seamanship Books PDF Free Download
About 50 books on Boat Maintenance & Repair. Some titles: Essential Boat Maintenance Manual, Do-It-Yourself Boat Repairs, Fitting Out : Maintenance and Repair of Small Craft, The Outboard Book, Complete Step-by-Step Boat Repair & Restoration.
Books about Ships – Collection
About 2,500 free online books about ships at the Internet Archive. Includes fiction and children’s books. Some books: Ships and Submarines, Ships through the Ages, The Clipper Ships, Pictorial History of Ships, About Submarines, Merchant Ships 1949-1950, Sailing Ships, Submarines of the World, Cruise Ship Jobs Insider’s Guide, Alaska: the cruise-lover’s guide, U.S. & Canadian Icebreakers, Ships & Shipbuilding, The Viking Ships, Ships through the Ages, Merchant Sailing Ships 1850-1875, Unofficial Guide to Cruises, Cargo Ships, Great Passenger Ships of the World, many more. Free online books about ships, illustrated books about ships, when did cruise ships start, the history of cruise ships.
We have historical fiction short stories pdf
General Sailing Books – Collection – Free Sailing Books PDF
About 45 free books about general sailing. Includes several handbooks and manuals. Some titles: Sailor’s Start-up, Reed’s Nautical Almanac, Ready to Sail, Fitting Out Your Boat, How to Trim Sails, The Perfect First Mate, New Complete Sailing Manual, more. Free sailing books pdf.
Sailing Books – Collection
About 1,400 online Sailing books at the Internet Archive. Many aspects of Sailing, including fiction. Some books: Complete Sailing Handbook, Deep Sea Sailing, Sailing for Beginners, Advanced Sailing, Sailing and Seamanship, Sailing Smart: winning techniques tactics and strategies, Sailing Tips, This is Fast Cruising, Handbook of Sailing Techniques, Official Learn-to-Sail Manual, Glossary of Modern Sailing Terms, Ocean Voyaging, The Complete Yachtsman, Encyclopedia of Sailing, many more.
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Seamanship Books – Collection – Seamanship Books PDF Free Download
Over 150 Seamanship books at the Internet Archive. Some books: Visual Encyclopedia of Nautical Terms Under Sail, Illustrated Book of Basic Boating, The Self-Sufficient Sailor, Get Your Captain’s License: complete study guide, Colgate’s Basic Sailing Theory, How to Cope with Storms, Arts of the Sailor: knotting, splicing & ropework, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Navigation, Circumnavigator’s Handbook, American Merchant Seaman’s Manual, Navigation and Nautical Astronomy, Sailor’s Book of the Weather, Complete Guide to Anchoring and Line Handling, The Amateur Pilot, many more.
Books on Cruise Ships – Collection
About 240 Cruise Ships books from the Internet Archive. Some books: European Ports of Call, Cruise Ship Jobs, Alaska: the cruise-lover’s guide, Cruise Ships, Exploring Careers on Cruise Ships, Caribbean by Cruise Ship, Panama Canal by Cruise Ship, Complete Guide to Cruising and Cruise Ships, Dollarwise Cruises, Cruise Vacations for Dummies, The Cruise and Travel Employment Program, many more.
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Shipping Books – Collection
Over 350 free shipping books at the Internet Archive. Some books: Revolution in Merchant Shipping 1950-1980, U.S. Merchant Shipping Policies and Politics, The Classic Merchant Ship 1900-1960, Nuclear Merchant Ships, Regulation and Policies of American Shipping, Lake Carriers: saga of the Great Lakes fleet, Sailors Whalers & Steamers: ships that opened the west, Industrial Democracy at Sea, Modern-Day Piracy, Ocean Traders: from the Portuguese discoveries to the present day, many more. Merchant shipping books, American merchant marine. Seamanship book pdf free download.
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Merchant Marine Books – Collection – Free Sailing Books PDF
About 200 free books about the Merchant Marine and Merchant Mariners. Some titles: U.S. Marine Transportation, Modern-Day Piracy, The Merchant Navy (WWII), The Way of the Ship, Tracing your Family History in the Merchant Navy, The Outlaw Sea, more.
Ship Design Drawings
Collection of non copyright Booklets of General Plans and General Arrangement Drawings (merchant & naval ships) found on the internet. More than 1,000 ships are portrayed here. Free sailing books pdf.
Suggested Books
CORE BOOKS – Seamanship
The Wreckers: A Story of Killing Seas, False Lights and Plundered Ships
Bathurst, Bella
HarperCollins 2003
A history of the drama and danger of wrecking since the eighteenth century – and the often grisly ingenuity of British wreckers, scavengers of the sea. A fine wreck has always represented sport, pleasure, treasure, and in many cases, the difference between living well and just getting by. In settings ranging from the Goodwin Sands to the wreck-strewn waters off the coast of Durham, these murky tales of resourcefulness and quick-witted opportunism open a vista of life at the rough edges.
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Unknown Lands: The Log Books of the Great Explorers – Seamanship Books PDF Free Download
Bellec, Francois
Overlook 2002
This remarkable book documents the period of exploration and enlightenment when the Old World began to open its mind to the wonders and mysteries of the New World.
Boatman’s Handbook: The New Look-it-up Book – Free Sailing Books PDF
Bottomley, Tom
Hearst Marine 1985
Gathers practical information on seamanship, safety, emergency procedures, navigation, piloting, weather, and maintenance.
Contents: Emergencies — Safety — Seamanship — Piloting — Weather — Electronics — Racing — Amenities — Sources — Government — Tables — Maintenance. Boating and navigation. Seamanship book pdf free download.
The Man Who Ate His Boots: The History of the Search for the Northwest Passage
Brandt, Anthony
Knopf 2010
Beginning in 1815, for the next thirty-five years the British Admiralty sent out expedition after expedition to probe the ice-bound waters of the Canadian Arctic in search of a route, and then, after 1845, to find Sir John Franklin, the Royal Navy hero who led the last of these Admiralty expeditions. Enthralling and often harrowing, The Man Who Ate His Boots captures the glory and the folly of this ultimately tragic enterprise. Free sailing books pdf.
Women Sailors and Sailors’ Women: An Untold Maritime History
Cordingly, David
Random House 2001
For centuries the sea has been regarded as a male domain. Maritime scholar David Cordingly shows that in fact an astonishing number of women went to sea in the great age of sail. A landmark work of women’s history disguised as a spectacularly entertaining yarn.
Two Years Before the Mast
Dana, Richard H. Jr.
Modern Library 2001
Two Years Before the Mast is a memoir by the American author Richard Henry Dana Jr., published in 1840, having been written after a two-year sea voyage from Boston to California on a merchant ship starting in 1834. Originally written to expose “the life of a common sailor at sea as it really is,” Dana’s Two Years Before the Mast quickly became an American classic of maritime adventure. Crackling with realism, it remains one of the most eloquent and insightful depictions of life at sea in the early nineteenth century.
Eagle Seamanship: A Manual for Square-rigger Sailing
Daniels, Edwin H., U.S. Coast Guard Academy
Naval Institute Press 1990
A convenient pocket training manual for square-rigger sailing. Written for cadets serving on the U.S. Coast Guard training barque Eagle.
Topics: Marine engineering, United States., Sailing, Non-Motor Boat Design And Construction, Seamanship, History – Military / War, United States, Transportation, Military – General, Ships & Shipbuilding – Engineering, Coast Guard, Handbooks, manuals, etc, Officers’ handbooks, Eagle (Ship : 1936-), United States. Coast Guard, Square-riggers, Barks (Sailing ships), Training-ships.
Modern Seamanship; A Comprehensive Reference Guide for All Recreational Boaters – Seamanship Books PDF Free Download
Dodds, Don
Gramercy 2000
Modern Seamanship is a comprehensive guide for boaters who wish to learn how to solve boating problems on their own by analyzing a situation and deftly using acquired knowledge. This book presumes you wish to know why, and not just how.
Don Dodds covers in detail the use of such laborsaving technological advances as GPS and radar, which have revolutionized recreational boating in the past decade. But because technology, like water wings, can get boaters literally and figuratively into deep water without knowing how to swim, Modern Seamanship also explores the traditional seamanship skills upon which these space-age devices are based-skills that always work, whether or not the batteries are dead. In its pages you will find information on navigation, weather, boat handling, docking, mooring, anchoring, common emergencies, communications, working with rope, and maintenance-all skills a mariner needs to deal confidently with the sea. Seamanship book pdf free download.
The Romance of Tall Ships – Free Sailing Books PDF
Eastland, Jonathan
Gallery 1990
Introduces the world of sailing ships, explains their continuing appeal, and examines their history, design, and ornamentation. Illustrated books about sailing ships.
The Britannica Guide to Explorers and Explorations that Changed the Modern World
Encyclopedia Britannica
Robinson 2010
“The nature of the maiden voyage is deeply captivating. Though the oceans still hold vast opportunities for uncharted exploration, our land resources have been bravely explored and charted for hundreds of years. Very few places remain mysterious and untamable to man, and this transformation is due to imaginative and fearless explorers. Readers will devour these tales of explorers who have pushed geographic and personal boundaries, leaving virtually no corner of the globe off limits.” – Publisher. Nautical books, explorers voyages, voyages of discovery. Free sailing books pdf.
Sailing, Seamanship, and Yacht Construction
Fox, Uffa
Dover 2002
Packed with information, ideas, and more than 300 excellent illustrations, this classic of the genre was written by the father of modern planing sailboats. Most of the text focuses on individual vessels; among the 20 profiled are the 60-foot-long Landfall; the Patience; and the author’s own creation, the Vigilant. Sailing handbook, seamanship manual, boatbuilding book.
Kon-Tiki : Across the Pacific by Raft
Heyerdahl, Thor
Washington Square 1984
On a primitive raft made of forty-foot balsa logs and named “Kon-Tiki” in honor of a legendary sun king, Heyerdahl and five companions deliberately risked their lives to show that the ancient Peruvians could have made the 4,300-mile voyage to the Polynesian islands on a similar craft.
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Modern Rope Seamanship: Synthetic and Natural Fibres
Jarman, Coin and Beavis, Bill
International Marine 1976
Knots and splices pdf, Rope, Ropework, Seamanship, Manual of seamanship.
The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea – Free Sailing Books PDF
Junger, Sebastian
Norton 1997
In October 1991, three weather systems collided off the coast of Nova Scotia to create a storm of singular fury, boasting waves over one hundred feet high. Among its victims was the Gloucester, Massachusetts-based swordfishing boat the Andrea Gail, which vanished with all six crew members aboard. In a book taut with the fury of the elements, Sebastian Junger takes us deep into the heart of the storm, depicting with vivid detail the courage, terror, and awe that surface in such a gale.
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The Godforsaken Sea
Lundy, Derek
Random House 2000
“One of the best books ever written about sailing” -Time. 27,000 miles, three and a half to five months alone at sea, chilling casualty rates, the unrelenting strain of handling 60-foot boats day and night, the absolute certainty of weather and waves that could destroy them. On 3 November 1996 sixteen sailors set out from the Bay of Biscay to embark on the Vendee Globe – a single-handed yacht race through the world’s most treacherous and isolated seas. This is a book about the sea: how we are dawn to it and how it repels us and about why these men and women risk everything to embark on such a perilous journey. Seamanship book pdf free download.
Chapman Piloting & Seamanship – Seamanship Books PDF Free Download
Maloney, Elbert S. and Chapman, Charles F.
Hearst 2003
“The classic reference used by boating schools and recommended by the Coast Guard Auxiliary covers every topic related to both powerboats and sailing ships, from emergency procedures and international signals at sea, to weather conditions, knots, navigation and more.” Boating essentials – Seamanship skills – Safety – Piloting – Electronics – Further aspects of boating – Appendices. Maritime books, marine navigation. Free sailing books pdf.
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Looking for a Ship
McPhee, John
Farrar, Straus & Giroux 1990
This is an extraordinary tale of life on the high seas aboard one of the last American merchant ships, the S.S. Stella Lykes, on a forty-two-day journey from Charleston down the Pacific coast of South America. As the crew of the Stella Lykes makes their ocean voyage, they tell stories of other runs and other ships, tales of disaster, stupidity, greed, generosity, and courage.
Standard Seamanship for the Merchant Service
Riesenberg, Felix
Van Nostrand 1936
“Embracing every department of seamanship proper, the book shows evidence of careful
planning and wise selection from competent sources. . . Capt. Riesenberg’s ‘Standard Seamanship’ is doubly welcome, not only for the sound technics employed and advocated but for the wholesome atmosphere of professional brotherhood that is a feature of the book.”
– Standard Catalog for Public Libraries: Science and Useful Arts (1931)
625 illustrations.
Sailing Alone Around the World
Slocum, Joshua
2015
“The classic of its kind.” —Travel World. Challenged by an expert who said it couldn’t be done, Joshua Slocum, an indomitable New England sea captain, set out in April of 1895 to prove that a man could sail alone around the world. 46,000 miles and a little over 3 years later, the proof was complete: Captain Slocum had performed the epic “first” single-handedly in a trusty 34-foot sloop called the “Spray.” This is Slocum’s own account of his remarkable adventures during the historic voyage. This robust classic of the sea has been widely read ever since its first publication in 1900.
Arctic Labyrinth : The Quest for the Northwest Passage – Free Sailing Books PDF
Williams, Glyn
University of California 2009
“Arctic Labyrinth may well be the definitive work in the whole course of Arctic discovery and the particular chimera that killed so many men — the Northwest Passage.”—Robert C. Ritchie. Seamanship book pdf free download.
Vintage Selected Books
VINTAGE BOOKS – Ships PDF
American Merchant Ships and Sailors
Abbot, Willis J.
Dodd 1908
American shipping from colonial days to present, including coastwise, oversea, river, lake and fishing craft. Accurate. -A.L.A.Catalog 1904.
Knots, A Study of Marlinespike Seamanship Which Embraces Bends, Hitches, Ties, Fastenings and Splices and their Practical Application – Seamanship Books PDF Free Download
Aldridge, Arthur F.
Rudder 1918
Also with chapters on cordage, matting, hammock making and wire steel work.
Boat-building and Boating
Beard, Daniel Carter
Scribner 1911
“Practical work, describing boatmaking from a primitive raft to a motor-boat, with directions for tying knots, making sails, etc. Excellent illustrations.”
– – A.L.A.Catalog 1904 – 1911.
The Small Yacht; its Management and Handling for Racing and Sailing, with Chapters on Construction – Free Sailing Books PDF
Boardman, Edwin Augustus
Little 1909
“Design and construction of a racing yacht and its handling during a race are discussed in very practical chapters, written from the experience of a successful amateur yachtsman.” – A.L.A.Catalog 1904 – 1911. Books on yachting, books on boat-building.
Ocean Steamships; a Popular Account of their Construction, Development, Management and Appliances
Chadwick, F.E. and others
Scribner’s Sons 1891
Vintage ship book. Seamanship book pdf free download.
Romance of the Ship: The Story of Her Origin and Evolution
Chatterton, Edward Keble
Lippincott 1911
“Covers in one volume the field of the author’s Sailing Ships and their Story and Steamships and their Story. Suffers somewhat from condensation and omissions, but is on the whole very informing and interesting.” -A.L.A.Catalog 1904-11. Free sailing books pdf.
Ships & Ways of Other Days
Chatterton, Edward Keble
Sidgwick & Jackson 1913
“”A fascinating book for the reader interested in sea-faring matters and old voyages, telling how men managed to build, launch, equip, and fit out different craft in all ages, how ships behaved, and how mariners have lived on shipboard. Well illustrated with reproductions, of old prints and with line drawings.” – Standard Catalog for Public Libraries: Science and Useful Arts (1931).
The Seaman’s Friend, Containing a Treatise on Practical Seamanship… – Seamanship Books PDF Free Download
with plates; a dictionary of sea terms; customs and usages of the merchant service; laws relating to the practical duties of master and mariners. 13th edition.
Dana, Richard Henry Jr.
Thomas Groom 1873
Dana gained fame as the author of the memoir, “Two Years before the Mast”.
Motor Boats
Durand, William Frederick
International Marine Engine 1907
“Brief, practical and thoroughly scientific manual, including boats, propellers and engines.
– – A.L.A.Catalog 1904 – 1911. Free boating books, vintage books on boats.
Ocean Steamship Traffic Management
Huebner, Grover G., PhD
Appleton 1920
The first volume of a projected “Shipping series.” Presents the facts, forms; functions and principles of most importance in the shipping business; analyzes the divisions of freight and passenger service, the duties of each position and the possible lines of advancement. Well organized; written with clearness and precision. Part one is on “The traffic organization of ocean shipping,” part two “Ocean shipping documents” and part three “Ocean rates and regulations.” – A. L. A. Catalog (1926). Vintage books of ships. Free sailing books pdf.
The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor; or, A Key to the Leading of Rigging, and to Practical Seamanship – Free Sailing Books PDF
Lever, Darcy
G.W. Blunt 1843
Topics: Navigation, Masts and rigging. Seamanship book pdf free download.
Ports and Terminal Facilities
MacElwee, Roy S., PhD
McGraw-Hill 1918
“A valuable work on the economic importance of ports, proper equipment and methods of handling traffic.”
– Standard Catalog for Public Libraries: Science and Useful Arts (1931).
Selected Articles on the American Merchant Marine
Phelps, Edith M., comp.
H. W. Wilson 1916
In the first decades of the 20th century publisher H.W. Wilson produced many volumes in its Debaters’ Handbook Series on social and political issues that were under discussion at the time. Each book contains the full text of selected articles and documents representing opposing views on the issue, along with a substantial bibliography of books and articles. American merchant marine, Free sailing books pdf..
Most of the books mentioned in these guides are likely to be freely available online. Search by title; first at the Internet Archive (archive.org), then at HathiTrust.org. Referenced magazine articles may also be available online at the same sites, with HathiTrust the preferred site for magazines.
Every Boy’s Book of Railways and Steamships
Protheroe, Ernest
London: Religious Tract Society 1911
Vintage book of ships, illustrated book about ships.
Motor Boats, Hydroplanes, Hydroaeroplanes …
Construction and Operation with Practical Notes on Propeller Calculation and Design
Russell, Thomas H.
Thompson 1917
“An illustrated manual of self-instruction for owners and operators of marine gasoline engines and amateur boat-builders.”- A.L.A.Catalog 1904 – 1911.