Oceanography and Seamanship

by William G. Van Dorn

Written by an engineer-sailor-oceanographer, and based on the premise that all who go to sea will benefit from a broader interpretation of seamanship, this book attempts in simple terms to explain the ocean as an operating environment, how boats and ships behave in this environment, and what the average sailor can do to make any voyage safer and more pleasurable. Beginning with the ocean's origin, the author describes its geography, circulation, climate,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0870334344
• ISBN13: 9780870334344
• Release Date: July 2009
• Publisher: Cornell Maritime Press
• Length: 456 Pages
• Weight: 3.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 8.9" x 11.3"

Customer Reviews

There's not a lot of math

I'm having a problem understanding the "scientist" below who skipped the formulas, since they're all extremely simple. Perhaps he's a biologist or works in some other area where math isn't really used, but the math in this book is strictly elementary. It's on the level of high-school physics, and not the AP/Honors type that utilizes calculus, either, since no calculus or differential equations are employed. If you know what a square root of a number and the cosine of an angle are, there will be no problem. As a physical oceanographer myself, the basic information about the physics of the ocean was old news, to say the least, but I was interested in what the author had to say about applying these principles to sailing and boat-handling. I have to say there is some practical value here, but not as much as I'd hoped. For those without a background in ocean physics, however, it's a valuable reference.

Informative and definitely worth the price

Good diagrams, pictures, charts, etc. A picture being worth 1000 words certainly applies here. Enough mathematics for the scientist, for the layman - the text makes perfect sense without the formulas.

A wonderful book, very interesting re: boats and the sea

Oceanography and Seamanship by van Dorn is so full of information that it's hard to know where to start. The book is quite technical, with lots of math, and even as a scientist, I found that I skipped over many of the forumlae, yet still understood the underlying concepts of how boats and the water interact. Very interesting and useful.