Tales Of The Windships

In the midst of a technological age, a strange and menacing phenomenon rains upon the Earth, changing people into mindless savages. While governments around the globe unite to combat this spreading infection, airships of the 1930’s are redesigned and reintroduced to the world. Because of the vessel’s size and its capability to stay airborne for weeks at a time, it is regarded as the next innovation for cruise ship/vacation travel industries, while environmentalists envision it as a solution to the world’s overpopulation problem. The windship proves its worth when the stricken become organized and rise up against the world. It is then; the windship becomes a reckoning force and Earth’s only hope for survival.

In the midst of a technological age, a strange and menacing phenomenon rains upon the Earth, changing people into mindless savages. While governments around the globe unite to combat this spreading infection, airships of the 1930's are redesigned and reintroduced to the world. Because of the vessel's size and its capability to stay airborne for weeks at a time, it is regarded as the next innovation for cruise ship/vacation travel industries, while environmentalists envision it as a solution to the world's overpopulation problem. The windship proves its worth when the stricken become organized and rise up against the world. It is then; the windship becomes a reckoning force and Earth's only hope for survival.

A lost and nameless girl called Nobody steps aboard an ancient Windship seeking a home somewhere in the wide world of fairy tales. Nobody begins her journey soaring over clouds towards England to become the mother of Lazy Jack. She soon realizes she's much too young to be Jack's mother, so the Windship sails for a kingdom in Germany where Nobody spins straw into gold for an imp named Rumplestiltskin, then marries the king. Alas, Nobody is certain she's not a queen but she might be someone's sister, so she sets sail for China to join The Four Foo Sisters where she acquires a neck made of iron which nearly loses. Soon Nobody decides it's more likely she has a brother, so she sails for France to meet The Yellow Dwarf who is much too greedy to be an ideal relation, and she flees once again. From France the Windship drifts to Mexico where Nobody serves as the humble servant, Esperanza, and when that doesn't suit her, Nobody escapes to Russia to become the romantic, dog-loving daughter of a nobleman. When all these characters and countries fail to bestow her true identity, Nobody confesses to possessing a name and a country after all: she's Myrtle Peaseblossom who dwells in modern times in a modern city in the United States of America.

The great merchant sailing ships were the original apparatus of globalisation. They brought the East and West together, carrying goods back and forth to the benefit of both, and turning world's oceans into marine highways. Along them would travel all manner of goods in unheard of volumes - gold, silver, gems, spices coffee, tea and other foodstuffs - as well as ideas, attitudes, religion and disease. Besides their superior armament, the ships' masters felt they were racially and religiously superior. Their vessels became instruments of colonial conquest, aiding the rise of the West over the much more populous East. They also enabled the opium and slave trades. For better and for worse, they made the modern world. The Great Windships tells an epic story that stretches from the fragile vessels of the Age of Exploration to the mighty windjammers of the late nineteenth century. It follows how the nations of the West participated in this great adventure - their triumphs and shortcomings and the contributions each made to the development of the sailing ship. Full of drama, deceit, high-seas adventure and knowledge, this is a book for anyone who's ever gazed in awe at a mighty tall ship; or been curious as to their ability and the vital role in the evolution of the modern world.

The Moontide is coming. Urte stands on the brink of war. Now three seemingly ordinary people will decide the fate of the world. Urte is divided, its two continents separated by impassable seas. But once every twelve years, the Moontide sees the waters sink to their lowest point and the Leviathan Bridge is revealed, linking east to west for twenty-four short months. The Rondian emperor, overlord of the west, is hell-bent on ruling both continents, and for the last two Moontides he has led armies of battle-magi across the bridge on crusades of conquest, pillaging his way across Antiopa. But the people of the east have been preparing--and, this time, they are ready for a fight. An epic fantasy, rich in intricate plots, intrigue and treachery. Vast forces collide and ordinary people make heart-rending choices that will shake the world.

Windship Technology, Part A contains the proceedings of the International Symposium on Windship Technology (WINDTECH '85), held at the University of Southampton, England, on April 24-25, 1985. The symposium provided a forum for discussing developments in windship technology, including the use of calculation methods to analyze wind propulsion on cargo ships and weather routing for wind-assisted ships. Measurements of the comparative performance of sailing rigs are also presented. Comprised of 17 chapters, this volume begins by tracing the revival of serious interest in the possible use of the wind in ship propulsion over the past decade, and giving examples of the wide range of rigs that have been developed and are now installed on ships. The reader is then introduced to Project INDOSAIL intended to develop cargo sailing vessels for the Indonesian inter-island trade. Subsequent chapters focus on sail-assist developments from 1979 to 1984; economic aspects of the application of additional sail power on small German fishing vessels; sail retrofit on inter-island vessels in Fiji; and the aerodynamics of a triangular jib-and-boom combination. The book concludes with an evaluation of two-dimensional sail shape determined by pressure and its tension. This book will appeal to government officials, academics, ship owners, and other parties with an interest in windship technology.

This book is a tribute to the last days of the great merchant sailboats and their crews from a unique photographic talent. The photographic work of Alan Villiers is arguably the most important photo-historical record of early 20th-century maritime history. In capturing on film life aboard the last of the great merchant sail ships, he has provided us with a singular record of the end of an era. These powerful images, published for the first time in this volume, date from the late 1920s through the 1930s and were taken aboard the three ships Villiers worked on during this period: the Herzogin Cecilie, the Grace Harwar, and the Panama.