I believe we so far forgot ourselves as to shake hands on it. H. W. Tilman , on reaching the summit of Nanda Devi. In 1934, after fifty years of trying, mountaineers finally gained access to the Nanda Devi Sanctuary in the Garhwal Himalaya. Two years later an expedition led by H.W. Tilman reached the summit of Nanda Devi. At over 25,000 feet, it was the highest mountain to be climbed until 1950. The Ascent of Nanda Devi , Tilman s account of the climb, has been widely hailed as a classic. Keenly observed, well informed and at times hilariously funny, it is as close to a conventional mountaineering account as Tilman could manage. Beginning with the history of the mountain ( there was none ) and the expedition s arrival in India, Tilman recounts the build-up and approach to the climb. Writing in his characteristic dry style, he tells how Sherpas are hired, provisions are gathered (including a mouth-blistering sauce containing 100 per cent chillies ) and the climbers head into the hills, towards Nanda Devi. Superbly parodied in The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W.E. Bowman, The Ascent of Nanda Devi was among the earliest accounts of a climbing expedition to be published. Much imitated but rarely matched, it remains one of the best.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 212

Dimensions: 156 x 216 mm

Publication Date: 16-12-2015

First published to huge acclaim during the war it describes, Very Ordinary Seaman relates—with humanity, humour and the authority of experience—lower-deck life in the British navy, from basic training to service on a destroyer protecting a convoy to Arctic Russia, a mission which came under heavy attack by air and sea, and from which many did not return. When Very Ordinary Seaman first appeared in the spring of 1944, V. S. Pritchett of the New Statesman described it as ‘One of the best pieces of documentary writing that I have come across during the war.’ Elizabeth Bowen wrote in The Tatler, ‘the last chapters of Very Ordinary Seaman did leave me breathless; and also, feeling that we have known too little.’ John Betjeman wrote, ‘This is so sincere and truthful, so much both, that you are held all the time… You become part of the community life of the ship, so that despite the dangers, boredom and discomfort you step ashore reluctantly.’ By any standards this was a remarkable performance for a writer who was wearing the uniform of an ordinary seaman and sitting in a busy, overcrowded naval office ‘facing a blank wall and typing myself dry.’ — from Brian Lavery’s Introduction

Bind: paperback

Pages: 330

Dimensions: 156 x 216 mm

Publication Date: 08-10-2018

“I wonder if you can help me.” “Maybe I could, or maybe I couldn’t,” was the very Welsh reply. “What is it you are wanting?” “Would you happen to know of any boats for sale?” It was a question the young man had asked many times before, and always with the same result. Nothing suited. There was no shortage of boats, but every time there was a problem, either they were too big or too small or as one honest broker—and yes there is such a thing—remarked, “Don’t buy her. She will kill you.” It had been a long depressing catalogue of scrabbling about fusty old tore-outs (rotten timber gleaming with suspiciously fresh paint), ugly ducklings, and unspeakable lifeboat conversions. So there was no reason to suppose that this time would be any different. “What kind of boat is it you are looking for?” with barely concealed cupidity; for an outsider with money to burn in the wilds of the Isle of Anglesey was akin to manna from Heaven. “Something like that,” said the innocent, pointing out a dainty white cutter on her mooring in Holyhead harbour. “Well,” said he “I believe she may just be for sale.” He may well have added—but this might just be imagining—“You had better be quick, she is not on the market yet.” An Irish horse dealer could not have done it better. So began, in 1973, Martin O'Scannall's love affair with Sauntress, voted in 2013 one of Classic Boat magazine's Top 250 Boats. Here, in a series of delightful, engaging episodes ranging from Anglesey to Galicia by way of the West Country, the East Coast, the Netherlands, Norway and south-west Ireland, is what it is like to restore and sail—and be possessed by—a modest yet glorious 28ft gaffer dating from the golden age of Edwardian yachting. For the Love of Sauntress is illustrated with a gallery of outrageously beautiful photographs by Oscar Companioni, printed in monochrome and colour; these depict Sauntress in all her present-day glory, and were taken on a single, perfect August evening off the Galician coast during her annual match race with her local rival Abur.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 144

Dimensions: 156 x 216 mm

Publication Date: 11-11-2014

Martin O’Scannall loves the old, the eccentric, the offbeat — the quirky if you like; the wandering off into byways, the exploration of half-forgotten snippets of history. And Galicia, his home for the past decade or more, is ideal territory for indulging that taste. Galicia is a time warp: rain-swept, isolated, savage and gentle by turns, as far a cry from the blazing Costas as it is possible to imagine. This book is a conversation with the past, conducted in a very old, engineless gaff cutter, armed with the Admiralty Pilot, a gallant crew, and a sense of the ridiculous. We encounter, but in unexpected ways, the likes of Drake, Nelson, the ill-fated HMS Serpent, Celtic myth and legend, and the reminiscences of those who have gone before, all interspersed with the business of managing an old yacht in the old way: Walker log, paper charts and all. Beginning, as he says it has to be, with the dreaded storm at sea.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 140

Dimensions: 156 x 216 mm

Publication Date: 05-07-2019

I first met her in Tollesbury and immediately fell for her. She was an Essex girl through and through but not like all the others, although she was shallow. As far as I could see then there were only two problems. There was a big age difference—fifty-five years. She was born in 1904 and I was ten back then in 1959. None of this mattered to me but the second problem would be trickier: my Dad loved her too. So begins Nick Imber’s affectionate account of his family’s love affair with the barge yacht Nan, who was to give so much pleasure to three generations, across twenty years from the 1950s to the 1970s. We share Nick’s childhood excitement on first encountering Nan, his teenage pride in skippering her for the very first time, and his quiet pleasure as his own children take to the water in her. Nan took good care of them all; whether exploring a peaceful East Coast river, braving a gale at sea, or drying out on an idyllic Devon beach, she demonstrates that the humble barge yacht has so much to offer the young sailing family.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 170

Dimensions: 156 x 216 mm

Publication Date: 28-01-2019

In four dozen meticulous, informative and annotated drawings Gloria Wilson has recorded, both afloat and ashore, the functional beauty of the fishing boat in both timber and steel—mainly of north-east Scotland (with a few craft from Yorkshire, where the artist now lives). A number of vessels were victims of fisheries legislation which mandated not only their decommissioning, but their destruction. “Kipperman” Mike Smylie, co-founder of the 40+ Fishing Boat Association, editor of Fishing Boats, and champion of Britain’s fishing heritage, has contributed a Foreword. Gloria Wilson was born in Surrey but spent her childhood in the Yorkshire fishing village of Staithes. She studied at Durham University under Victor Pasmore and Kenneth Rowntree and gained a BA (Hons) in Fine Art. She has written eight books on fishing craft of the British Isles, and has written extensively for maritime journals including Classic Boat, Fishing News, and Maritime Life and Traditions. Gloria lived in Scotland for some years, but now lives and works in the north-east of England.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 112

Dimensions: 216 x 216 mm

Publication Date: 01-03-2013

Having recorded in pen and ink the Fishing Boats of Scotland which she loves, Gloria Wilson here focusses her attention on the Peterhead yard of Richard Irvin & Sons, and the wooden, cruiser sterned fishing boats for which it became renowned in the second half of the twentieth century. Almost one hundred of her own photographs accompany her account of the boats and the people who made up a distinctive and now disappearing maritime culture. As the naval architect and boatbuilder Paul Gartside writes in his Foreword: Gloria Wilson truly belongs in the tradition of the folklorists—individuals moved initially by the discovery of beauty in the commonplace who are then compelled to understand and record what they find… One hopes her example will spur others to similar effort, for the capturing of culture and local knowledge before it slips away is always a noble pursuit.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 138

Dimensions: 216 x 216 mm

Publication Date: 08-12-2017

Fishing boats, particularly those along the eastern seaboard of Britain, from Whitby northwards, have always been fundamental to my existence writes Gloria Wilson in her Introduction. … I touch upon my own story, give some account of how I have arrived at the happy and somewhat unconformable circumstance of being a writer and illustrator within the commercial fishing and boat building communities. Nevertheless, the boats themselves form the mainstay, the connective narrative throughout the book… I have chosen those which, for me, are the most likeable and pleasing, predominantly the classic, cruiser-sterned wooden-hulled seine netters and dual-purpose craft which are splendid sea boats and have such beautiful hull forms. Gloria Wilson was born in Surrey but spent her childhood in the Yorkshire fishing village of Staithes. She studied at Durham University under Victor Pasmore and Kenneth Rowntree and gained a BA (Hons) in Fine Art. This is her eleventh book on fishing craft of the British Isles, and she has written extensively for maritime journals including Classic Boat, Fishing News, and Maritime Life and Traditions. Gloria lived in Scotland for some years, but now lives and works in the north-east of England.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 140

Dimensions: 216 x 216 mm

Publication Date: 16-10-2019

The M3 Lee was America's first mass-produced combat tank. Its unusual configuration of hull-mounted 75 mm gun and turret-mounted 37 mm cannon was a result of the rush to get the vehicle in production following Nazi Germany's rapid advances in Europe. Following heavy British tank losses in France, the Commonwealth turned to the US to bolster their tank stocks, and the M3 was adapted, through the use of a different turret style, to fill this need. Later, as more-advanced tanks became available, notably the M4 Sherman, the M3s were adapted to fill other roles. This book chronicles the development and use of these vehicles from concept to combat. Through dozens of archival photos, many never before published, as well as detailed photographs of some of the finest existent examples of surviving vehicles, these iconic armored fighting vehicles are explored, and their history is explained.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 112

Dimensions: 229 x 229 mm

Publication Date: 30-04-2021

Developed to provide the US military with a fast-moving reconnaissance vehicle sufficiently armed to knock out WWII-era armored vehicles. The M8 Armored Car and its sibling, the M20 Armored Utility Vehicles, were the most widely used armored vehicles built by Ford. These vehicles saw use with the US Army as well as Allied nations during WWII and well into the 1960s. This book chronicles the development and use of the vehicle from concept to combat. Through dozens of archival photos, many never before published, as well as detailed photographs of some of the finest existent examples of these vehicles, this iconic tank is explored, and its history is explained.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 128

Dimensions: 229 x 229 mm

Publication Date: 30-04-2021