A Dictionary of the World’s Watercraft: From Aak to Zumbra

When reviewing books on maritime history, I have sometimes found it necessary to criticise authors for using technical terms without explaining them. The present work provides a guide to many of these often baffling expressions, for it describes 5,600 types of boats and ships, with several times as many cross‐references giving their alternative names in different languages (it would be a boon to Scrabble players with such words as “qurqurru” and “wiswaawoot”). It is explained that the main emphasis is on the ethnography of vernacular ships and boats, from all parts of the world and all...