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H M Le Fleming (1902–1961)

Författare till Warships of World War I

53 verk 171 medlemmar 5 recensioner

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Foto taget av: Hugh Murton Le Fleming

Verk av H M Le Fleming

Warships of World War I (1950) 36 exemplar
ABC British Warships (1958) 11 exemplar
Russian steam locomotives (1968) 8 exemplar
Abc of ocean liners (1954) 5 exemplar
Abc [of] British tugs (1960) 4 exemplar
ABC of foreign ocean liners (1960) 3 exemplar
British Warships 1 exemplar
ABC British Ocean Tankers (1961) 1 exemplar

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This 1956 edition of British Tugs really does help to paint a picture of just how big and busy were the ports and harbours of Great Britain and Ireland (this may be the first edition of the title). Some 45 of the 65 pages of this little book - perhaps one of the lesser-known titles in the Ian Allan abc series - list the towing companies and their tugs, and there are over 50 photographs. In Home Waters alone the Admiralty had 107 tugs, ranging in size from 50 tons gross to 1,375 tons gross, and there were other Admiralty tugs at Gibraltar, Malta, Trincomalee, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kilindini and Simonstown; those overseas are not listed as this book only names tugs likely to be seen in the waters of the British Isles. It's a surprise that the author does not explain what TID or Tid meant - they were a numerous class of small harbour tugs - Tid was short for Tiddler (explanation on the Imperial War Museum website). 265 tugs were located on the River Thames and River Medway, and 467 tugs are listed for all the other ports of our islands. That's some 839 tugs all told! Some of the names of these tugs are fun - Freebooter, Useful, Snatchette, AceTut, Biddy, for example - and, given that times and language use change over time, it's hard to imagine that a couple of the names of the tugs of the Liverpool Screw Towage & Lighterage will ever be used again! The River Wear Commissioners' tug, ST Cinema Star, was built in 1884 and the first-ever film showing, in Paris, was in 1895, so perhaps cinema meant something else in the 1880s? An excellent little book and an interesting snapshot of an important, but generally unsung, part of Maritime Britain. And, lastly, thank goodness the vessels in this book are called, properly, Tugs and not that ghastly, almost child-like, Tugboats, which has, sadly, crept into common usage.… (mer)
 
Flaggad
lestermay | Jan 2, 2023 |
One of the earliest editions, if not the first edition (which may have been 1950), of this little book - bar a pair of binoculars and a pen, the book was the principal aid to ship spotters of all ages. Cargo Liners and Passenger Liners are listed, in order of tonnage size, for British shipping companies and a number of foreign-owned lines whose ships would call at British ports from time to time. Funnels and hull colours are stated - but there is no colour in the book - and some information about the routes stated, but not the trade of which these ships were part (frozen meat, bananas, tea and so on). Later editions, each with the same 64 pages, would list the ships alphabetically by name but split into two books - British Ocean Liners and Foreign Ocean Liners (see my review for British Ocean Liners (1961)).… (mer)
 
Flaggad
lestermay | Dec 29, 2022 |
Most ship spotters in the 1950s and 1960s would have had one or more editions of this little book. For me, this edition would have accompanied me - in 1962 and into the mid-1960s - when I cycled to Tilbury Landing Stage to see the ships leaving the Port of London on a high tide to begin their latest adventure on the seven seas. In my mid-teens I was a lucky lad and, through contacts in the World Ship Society, I obtained a blue PLA Pass that allowed me access to the docks on weekends and Bank Holidays (i.e. when no loading and unloading work was taking place on those ships remaining in the docks). Unknown to many, unknown certainly to this teenager, this was to be a last hurrah for some of the most beautiful steamships and motor vessels ever made - a last hurrah for shipbuilders, shipowners and those merchant seafarers who took these cargo liners and their red ensigns to sea, for the UK shipbuilding industry was on its last legs, losing out to competition in the Far East in particular, and containerisation from the 1960s onwards would change the face of sea trade and, not least, the Port of London would lose out to Rotterdam, the 1966 Seamen's strike not helping at all (although it was like a fleet review for ship spotters, merchant ships two and three abreast, stuck in the docks). For me, a last hurrah too because, at the age of just 16, I joined the Royal Navy in 1967 ...

Looking in this book, at these fleet lists now, in 2022 - famous shipping lines and lovely ship names - is a trip down memory lane. What we have lost - the British Merchant Navy and Red Duster ubiquitous around the world, the shipbuilding and the pride but also the beauty, too. The Beauty of Ships. Those cargo liners, let alone the bigger liners, were things of beauty. In this book, pictures of mv Townsville Star (1957), mv Clan Menzies (1958), ss Argyllshire (1956), RMS Andania (1960), ss City of Ottawa (1950), ss City of Philadelphia (1949), mv Essex (1954), ss Pacific Northwest (1954), ss Cotopaxi (1954) and mv Port Launceston (1957) are all examples of very handsome ships, pleasing lines, a tribute to all involved that led to these fine vessels doing good work for our country and the world, providing employment and travel and gracing the seven seas. And the names, lovely sensible names too, something that today's shipowners seem not to care about - advertising and marketing is all that matters now, function of course, but not beauty and function.

Oh happy days! How sad the passing of these ships is, what a feast for the eyes their passing by at sea, or in a river, once was.
… (mer)
 
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lestermay | Dec 29, 2022 |
The passenger vessels listed in this little book are those of some of the principal foreign liner companies, ships that may call at UK or European ports. Ships are listed by fleets - American Export Lines, Naviera Aznar SA (Spain), Chargeurs Réunis (France), East Asiatic Company (Denmark), Hamburg America Line (Germany), Holland America Line, Italia Line Johnson Line (Sweden), Maritime Belge (Belgium), Nippon Yusen Kaisha (Japan) and Zim Israel for example. For each shipping line routes are given and for each ship listed the date of her building, the tonnage, length, breadth and speed, the type of engines and the number of screws. This book is one of the Ian Allan abc series, a staple of ships spotters in the 1950s and 1960s.… (mer)
 
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lestermay | Jan 10, 2022 |

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Statistik

Verk
53
Medlemmar
171
Popularitet
#124,899
Betyg
½ 4.7
Recensioner
5
ISBN
4

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