"The stricken Ferry, Samina, has disappeared beneath the waves, leaving hundreds desperate for rescue. Who would find them and how many would be saved from the storm-ridden seas?" Stone Phillips, NBC News, Dateline

"Fascinating aspects of maritime history..." Nautical Magazine

"The author has a brilliant style and explains clearly and consisely why each disaster occurred and who was to blame." This England

"It seemed absolute panic was about to take hold, until Major Alexander Sefton drew his sword and stepped into the pages of the history books. Calling on the troops to hold fast, Sefton, with the aid of his officers and NCOs, fell the men in on deck as though they were on a routine parade... With order restored, Captain Salmond was able to begin the evacuation of the ship. First priority was given to the women and children, who were taken off in one of the quarter boats already in the water. The second quarter boat was then brought alongside and one of the gigs successfully launched. Within a matter of minutes, the three boats were pulling away from the ship carrying eighty survivors. The boats were heavily laden, but the sea was still calm and they were in no danger." HMS Birkenhead -1852

This book follows the changing pattern of man's fortunes at sea, from the golden age of sail, through the proud years when steam reigned supreme, to the present day, when the flag of convenience rules the waves. It tells of triumphs and disasters, some recent, some long forgotten, and illustrates how, contrary to all expectations, the fine art of seamanship has withered and died with the advent of advanced technology.

A number of important lessons were learned from the tragic loss of the Titanic in 1912, and thereafter safety at sea became paramount. The apogee was reached soon after the end of the Second World War, when all the technological spin-off from that long conflict became available even to the most impoverished tramp. Today, those who go down to the sea in ships should do so without undue risk. Modern ships are large, powerfully engined, and carry navigational equipment capable of accurate position-fixing in all weathers. Radio communication with the remotest shores and other ships is clear and instantaneous. And yet, accidents at sea have lately become ever more bizarre and destructive as the new flag-of-convenience sailors, dazzled by electronics and blinkered by ignorance, contemptuously underestimate the power of the sea. Their graves, and those of men and women that put their trust in them, lie scattered over the oceans, from the China Sea to the South Atlantic, from the Pacific to the Mediterranean.

Bernard Edwards is an established writer in the maritime field. He saw service in British merchant ships as a young cadet during the Second World War, and later, as a navigating officer and captain-in-command, voyaged extensively to all corners of the globe. The years have left him with a wealth of experience of ships and the sea, on which he draws when creating with painstaking attention to detail this struggle for supremacy on the high seas in wartime.