Hi Y'all !
Here's one for you . Did you know you can fill a Pick-Up truck with reference materials on Planes ? And , a minivan with Armor and Softskin info ? How about this ? An eighteen wheeler with the same about Autos and Trucks and Warships .
Now to the meat of this post .I went to my Library referrence department for info on a certain type of ship .No , not a warship either .Nada , Nothing and Zilch !
Now I could find a reasonable amount of info on WW-II ships . Very Generic though .Specialty or specific shallow water craft , again Nada , Nothing and Zilch .
Civilian vessels above a certain tonnage and type , NO Way ! This even applies to sail ! Sure there was some Bios on the various yards and builders , but the vessels themselves , Nope ! Lakes Freighters Not Much either .
We had in this country ,one time , a sure source of info in Libraries even on Micro-Fiche . Not so today . Does no one in America like ships ? I don't mean those floating White Boxes with " Theme Parks " they call Cruise Ships either!
As an old Salt and Deepwater ship Captain I feel sorry for the Captains on these crossbreed things ! A ship is supposed to be designed to get it's cargo and passengers to foreign shores safely . How many times have you seen a News show come up with a blurb about a Box ship losing it's boxes or a " Cruise Ship " getting flooding in passenger areas in what were bad seas yes, but shouldnt have affected deepwater vessels passenger safety in their cabins or public spaces ! Or even running aground and rolling over !( This does not , nor is it intended to disparage the memory of those lost on the " Costa Concordia ) !
Now , back to referrences .Type in U.S.S.Lafayette/Normandie and all you get is the stories about this magnificient ship's demise .Type in M.V.Canadiana and more than likely you may get articles or a story about some small cruise ship from the nineties .Not the Real Ship ! Never Mind the Titanic , there's more than enough about her . Freight and Liquid Bulk ships and Fleet Support vessels or Victories are not available except in limited amounts and that rare . Sail ships .There's as many reference books on the U.S.S.Constitution as there are Chevies on the Highway it seems . This goes for the Flying Cloud/Cutty Sark types too .There were many that weren't history making But were in their own way World Making .How about a Knarr or a Cog .Nuttin to speak of .
Now when It comes to pleasure boats from the ubiqutious Pram to the Luxury Monsters with Engines .Don't hold your breath ! There isn't one good book I've found on a sea-Going Thompson or Richardson or yeah ,even a Blue water Chris Craft either . Never mind Owens and others . Now I am deleting " Plastic ' boats here .The real Classic yachts didn't have any of that material on board . And like cars they certainly had at one time a distinct personality ! I never understood why Yachts had to go the way of Cars. You Know , Mega - Pods !
There's something to be said about the warm feel of even painted wood . Steel ships now , here's a whole bunch of areas to get upset about . Plenty of warships , of all nations . Freight ships Uhhh , Some, but not in popular scales .and darned few of those . A Container Ship . If you can fine it the Revell container at 1/700 . References , Nope !
Tankers of any flag and year, Nope .Stick ( ships with Masts and Booms ) Freighters Nope .And Victories are in that bunch. The C-3 from the fifties and the Subsequent versions coming into the eighties and nineties . Nope
There's plenty of info on Liberties , but their replacements ( the Victory Ship ) Nope .Beer and Specialty spoilable tankers , and various Dry cargos types .Very little information available at all . granted you can go to various sites and get plans for building a model but try and then get concise info on the ship you want to build .rare to impossible to find !
It seems that here in the good old U.S.A , the Coast lines and the great Ports and what they depended on ( SHIPS ) don't seem to want to remember them . It's sad too . You do realise that if the Vikings or even a lone Irishman in a skin and frame boat coming here and wanting others to do the same , didn't show them how , Boats would've remained Logs or Rafts a lot longer !
Many engineering and hull design forms relied on the right hull and tophouse design to make them work from the first Sail and Mast to the latest Diesel Electric Azipod propelled monster ! Where's the info that a neophyte can access that isn't reliant on type and year to get an answer on line .Where's the Books and Tomes of ships period ? let me know willya .Oh , being a member of the Nautical Research Guild doesn't count either ! T.B. Here