BOOK REVIEW: The Ships Atlas – 17th Edition

Edited by Ira Pielow

It’s been a long time between drinks! The last Ships Atlas seen by your reviewer was the 5th Edition. There is no doubt the publication has come a long way in the meantime. It even includes a very useful “Findaport” CD-Rom.

The presentation is better and the content is more comprehensive and useful. There is an enormous amount of material that is of considerable value to any voyage planner. A quick check reveals high levels of accuracy although readers should be careful of the distance tables. The distances to Sydney, for example, from the Central Pacific or from Melanesia are quite wrong. You still need to check your charts so this is very much a secondary source.

Nevertheless, the port directory that comprises half the book is very useful as are the oceanographic, current and weather and wind guides. Treated as a very useful “secondary” source of information, the Atlas is a particularly useful publication. It very effectively “digests” a mass of useful information from a number of other, often very expensive, sources.

Available from Shipping Guides, Reigate, UK.

Web: www.portinfo.co.uk