The Golden Age of Sail

Sailing ships dominated naval warfare from the early sixteenth century to the mid nineteenth century. The first capital ships were intended as flagships, flying the banner of an admiral and acting as a lead vessel. By the end of the 1500s, however, the maritime countries of Europe realised they could project power around the globe with well-designed fighting ships of every size and type. What followed was three centuries of big-gun sailing warships, before steam power took over.

Arranged in chronological order, The Golden Age of Sail provides concise coverage of some of the most famous sailing ships, including San Martin, the flagship of the Spanish Armada; Le Soleil Royal, symbol of the power and prestige of the ‘Sun King’, Louis XIV; HMS Victory, Bucentaure and Santisima Trinidad, which fought at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805; the steam frigate USS Powhatan, aboard which Commodore Matthew Perry negotiated the United States’ first trade treaty with Japan in 1854; the first steam-and-sail ironclad capital ships, the French Gloire and British Victoria; and Herzogin Cecilie, a German four-mast barque that was one of the fastest merchant sailing ships of the early twentieth century.

Filled with colourful artworks, expertly-written background text and useful specifications of 100 sailing ships, The Golden Age of Sail is a visually sumptuous guide to sailing ships of every type from 1514 to 1930.