Research Guides: Sailing Ships and Steam Powered Vessels

The following lists of books and resources such as magazines, journals and recommended web sites, describe sailing ships and show the evolution of sail as the means of propulsion, with illustrations and descriptive text. Other works are available but do not appear in these lists. All Library Collections are non-circulating and must be viewed in the Library Reading Room. For more subjects and topics in the collection, see the Library web home page.

Histories of Sailing Ships
Reference Works, Histories, Periodicals and Journals
focus on sailing ships built between the 1500s and the early 1900s primarily for trade or war. Generously illustrated, these works feature well-known ships in reproductions of fine art from the historical period, as well as 20th century illustrations or photographs. For books on merchant ships and shipping of goods and transport during the 1800s and 1900s, see Research Guides: Shipping.

Archival and Manuscript Collections
Find logs and records of historical sailing ships and motor powered vessels in the Archives and Manuscript Collections.

On the Web:
Find web sites and search ships' histories on the web.