Nautilus Bookshop
Welcome to the Nautilus Bookshop – a collection of great reads to enjoy at sea and ashore. A partnership between Marine Society and Nautilus International, the bookshop stocks recent releases on a range of maritime topics, including ship histories, seafarer memoirs, studies of the Merchant Navy in wartime and even the occasional nautical novel.
The Book of the Month will feature a special discount during its respective month. All the books here have been reviewed in the Nautilus Telegraph, and new titles are added each month.
If you have a recently-published maritime book that you would like the Nautilus Telegraph to consider for review, please email: [email protected]
Featured products
Hello Sailor! The hidden history of gay life at sea
£38.00
When gays had to be closeted, ships were the only places where homosexual men could not only be out but also camp. And on some liners to the sun and the New World, queens and butches had a ball. They sashayed and minced their way across the world's oceans.
Pulling Together: The Making of a Global Maritime Trade Union
£19.99
The Book of the Month January 2024. This in-depth history will be of great interest to anyone with an interest in maritime or trade union history. The history of Nautilus is also of relevance to all unions organising in an increasingly globalised and unstable labour market. Ilustrated with 50b/w and 20 colour photos.
Meteorology for Seafarers, 6th Edition
£70.00
Meteorology for Seafarers is a technical book which aims to explain the complexities of the atmosphere and provide the information needed for professional seafarers aspiring to first class certificates of competency.
Tugs and Towing Around Britain
£15.99
The book features previously unpublished photographs from the author’s collection accompanied by informative captions.
The Rescue Ships and The Convoys
£25.00
Book of the month December 2024. The Rescue Ships and The Convoys : Saving Lives During The Second World War.
Blowing Hot and Cold
£19.99
Thermotank and the Story of Air Conditioning at Sea. The Book of the month November 2024.
Sailing Ships from Plastic Kits
£25.00
Despite their ease of assembly, plastic models of sailing ships, like the ships themselves, are complicated to build. Heavily illustrated in colour throughout, this book is an ideal addition to the purchase of any plastic ship kit. It describes and demonstrates techniques unique to plastic sailing ship models, allowing the construction of authentic and personally satisfying models.
Sea, Sand and, Katrina
£9.99
The novel follows the challenge of getting "Princess Katrina", seaworthy for the cruising season by Ben Sharpe, a former merchant navy officer and his family who live onboard.
Murder on the Holigan Express
£5.95
Murder on the Holigan Express: It's a Ferry Story
Ocean Liners: A New History
£25.00
Nautilus Telegraph's book of the month for January 2025
Operation Title: Sink the Tirpitz
£22.00
This is a readable and at times moving account of Operation Title, the attempt to disable the German battleship Tirpitz in Norway using human torpedoes or “Chariots”.
Reeds Astro Navigation Tables 2025
£27.00 £30.00
10% OFF. This is the established book of annual astro-navigation tables compiled specifically for the needs of boaters.
Ship of Lost Souls: The Tragic Wreck of the Steamship Valencia
£25.00
NOT YET PUBLISHED. EXPECTED IN FEBRUARY 2025. The Book of the Month February 2025.
River Thames Shipping Since 2000: Cargo Shipping
£14.99
This book takes a look at the varying commercial shipping that has worked on the Thames since 2000. Nautilus Telegraph's Book of the Month for April 2020.
River Thames Shipping Since 2000: Passenger Ships, Ferries, Heritage Shipping and More
£14.99
This book features passenger craft such as cruise ships, ferries and heritage shipping that have worked on the Thames since 2000, and is a companion volume to the author's book on cargo shipping. Nautilus Telegraph's Book of the Month for April 2020.
Kinnaird Head Lighthouse: An Illustrated History
£14.99
The only lighthouse in the world to be built into a castle.
Cargoes: A Celebration of the Sea
£35.00
Cargoes : A Celebration of the Sea Through the Pen and the Paintbrush of John Masefield and Kenneth D Shoesmith. Nautilus Telegraph's Book of the Month for March 2020.
The British Lighthouse Trail: A Regional Guide
£18.99
The product of remarkable labour of love, this very handy guide for existing and aspiring pharologists provides vital visiting details for no fewer than 612 lighthouses.
1545: Who Sank The Mary Rose?
£30.00
The raising of the Mary Rose in 1982 was a remarkable feat of archaeology and her subsequent preservation and display at Portsmouth a triumph of technical skill and imagination. She is more than a relic, however. She has a story to tell, and her sinking in the Solent in 1545, when under attack by the French, and the reasons for it, have intrigued historians for generations. With the benefit of access to her remains, archaeologists have been able to slowly unravel the mystery of her foundering on a calm summer's day in July 1545.
The Boundless Sea: A Human History of the Oceans
£15.29 £16.99
Congratulations to David Abulafia, whose work The Boundless Sea has won the Mountbatten Award for Best Book at the Maritime Foundation’s annual Maritime Media Awards.
Liberty's Provenance
£25.00
Nautilus Telegraph's Book of the Month for December 2019.
Very Ordinary Seaman
£15.00
Bill Mallalieu was a journalist before going to sea, and his writing experience is put to good use in this pacey, vibrant tale based on his own experiences, full of lively characters and punchy, irreverent dialogue.
Dreadnoughts
£15.99
Launched in 1906, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Dreadnought served as such a step change in warship design, construction and operation that the name passed into common usage to define an entire class of similar vessels rapidly built by other maritime nations as the First World War loomed.
The Great Scuttle
£14.99
The End of the German High Seas Fleet through eyes of children in the local Orkney community. This well-researched history is given life and immediacy by personal stories - with the added bonus of hearing how the events of June 1919 brought washed-up treasures to the Orkney islanders and created salvage jobs for many years to come.
Understanding UK Shipping
£36.00 £40.00
It provides the reader with a detailed introduction to both the UK maritime environment and UK shipping industry.