'American Steamships on the Atlantic'

[brunelrussell]

I posted a brief heads-up on this title in the 'plans' section but was sensibly asked to do a review in this one, so here goes...

The book is 'American Steamships on the Atlantic' by Cedric Ridgely-Nevitt,  who was a marine architect.  This is one of those overlooked periods in American - heck, world! - shipbuilding, so, being interested in this period I ordered it from Amazon out of curiosity, and was glad I did.  It begins with the earliest efforts by Robert Fulton and others and covers the entire period of the wooden, mostly paddle wheel  coastal and seagoing vessels of that period. Among the illustrations are exquisitely drawn plans by the author,  somewhat in the style of the late Howard Chappelle, with lines included.  The set for the New York-Havre liner 'Arago' are particularly nice and I'm thinking of starting a model of her.  I was a bit disappointed by the material for the Collins liners but apparently little remains, except for the lines of the 'Adriatic' (I'm queer for Collins liners).  Vanderbilt's ships are fairly well covered.  The written material is exhaustive and interesting.  To anyone interested in this comparative backwater, I recommend this book without reservation.