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the_historian
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| 12 Jan 2004 12:23 AM |
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| Just picked up this beauty! This is one of a series commissioned by Lloyds Register of Shipping as some kind of national database of shipwrecks, and written by Richard and Bridget Larne. It's so comprehensive, the various heritage bodies in the UK used it when they brought their NMR's into the digital age.
This volume deals with Scotland, and contains details of six THOUSAND ships wrecked off the Scottish coast since the 12th century. It's broken up into manageable geographic areas, and contains a wealth of detail on each ship-cargo, home port, destination, casualties etc. It's a lot easier to read than Whittaker's "Off Scotland" in the same vein and published in the same year. Whittaker tries to pack so much information in that the book looks like a telephone directory, which is a great shame.
The other books in the Larne series are available second-hand, but I had to order this one direct from Tor Mark Publishing. It's expensive-£49-but well worth it, and the publishers threw in a free copy of the supplementary volume which is an index to the contents of the first four volumes.
Thoroughly recommended!
Regards,Gordon
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the_historian
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| 06 Feb 2005 1:08 PM |
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| Hi Liscoe,
In fairness I haven't seen any of the other Lloyd's shipwreck books, as my interest was restricted to Scotland.
As you said, there are errors in both books, but I found it relatively easy to complie an "average" for a particular wreck based on both books.
Regards,Gordon
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Liscoe
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| 25 Apr 2008 9:01 PM |
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| With regard to the pro's and con's of Whittaker and Larn as references for shipwrecks, I used both these publications for research in my work as a Diver Archaeologist and there are merits for each.
I have to say that for Scotland I would actually recommend Whittaker's 'Off Scotland' as opposed to Larn. However I too feel that the book is awkwardly structured and idiosyncratic in its layout which makes it unweildy to use. It is, as sugggested, like an eclectic directory but I have always found the information it contains to be soundly researched and reliable.
On the other hand I find the Lloyds Shipwreck Index to have a far better layout with reasonably easy to use indexes. However in my opinion (based on using all the volumes and not just Scotland)I have found there are too many basic errors in the content for me to rely on it for anything else other than a guide.
As both publications only had a small market (Off Scotland had a print run of 500) I do not think the cover price unreasonable (second hand copies go for less on e-Bay). It is always easy to be critical with hindsight but even for this price I would have expected a better finished product from both parties. |
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