Wooden Ship Building and the Interpretation of Shipwrecks

Steffy, one of the founding fathers of the discipline of Nautical Archaeology along with George Bass and arguably THE pioneer of ship preservation, has attempted to lay out much of his vast knowledge in this text, published in 1994. His incredible attention to detail is evident in all of the case studies that he has chosen for this book, and nothing - right down to the direction that the grain runs in a trennel - escapes his notice. His interpretations of his case studies may be exhaustive, but so is the glossary in the back of the book. If he uses a word that you don't know, just flip to the glossary and it is probably defined there, often along with a helpful sketch to really help you get the concept.The sheer volume of information and depth of description does make the book a little dry to read, but it still isn't quite as dry as standard archaeological reports. While Bass has a more exciting writing style, no one can pack as much information into a page as Steffy can while keeping it fairly interesting. Steffy is, however, not a miracle worker, and you should pursue this book as more of a reference book than the kind of book that you read straight through.This text is assigned for undergraduate and graduate level nautical archaeology classes in every university that offers them, and for good reason; it should be considered an essential work by anyone who is studying to enter the field.