End of Voyages: The Afterlife of a Ship (Revealing History (Paperback))

For thousands of years ships have sailed the seas of the world, but little thought goes into what happens to a ship when it reaches the end of its natural life. Some, like Titanic or Exxon Valdez, are wrecked, some are left to rot, some are broken up for scrap and recycled, others go on to fulfil new roles whether as a floating warehouse or hotel, as a training ship or a heritage ship, and a few have salvageable parts sold from them which survive in a context far removed from the sea. Looking at ships over the past two millennia, this is the first book ever to consider what happens to a ship when it’s no longer needed for its original purpose. From Roman galleys to naval wooden walls, from the first liners to tugs and barges, and from ship-breaking to ship-wrecking, the whole history of shipping is considered in this book.