"Only written, painted or etched accounts tell of the existence of these ships prior to the introduction of the camera," Brack relates "But written accounts are selective, if not myth-making, leaving out essential information about the milieu of an era...The tools themselves are important additional primary sources of information about our colonial maritime history."

With obvious comprehensive understanding, Brack explores the use of felling axes, augers, drawnshaves and mortising gouges, and the ways these then-cutting edge devices were used. Brack has the historian's eye for sweep and connection, The author provides evidence of our earliest, and most ambitious, pursuit of maritime technology. American history buffs and nautical scholars will revel in this professorial ode to shipbuilding's evolution.

226 pages. 8 x 10. Soft cover. © 2008.
ISBN: 9780976915355.
Order Number: VAP906. Price: $22.00