Dover Maritime

Famed for his enduring fictional masterpieces Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders, Daniel Defoe also possessed considerable expertise in maritime affairs. As a commission merchant, importer, shipowner, and an active journalist who reported "ship news" and interviewed surviving pirates, Defoe achieved a high degree of authority on the subject of buccaneers. His knowledge was such that his book, A General History of the Pyrates, remains the major source of information about piracy in the first quarter of the 18th century.

This collection of magnificent original full-color paintings accurately depicts 100 amazing ships — from the royal barge of the Egyptian pharaoh Cheops (2657 B.C.) and the Viking ships that visited North America around A.D. 1001 to Columbus' flagship, the Santa Maria (1492), and the nuclear submarine U.S.S. Seawolf. 100 illustrations in full color.