Böcker av Nick Robins

The fascinating story of the ingenious conversion of naval warships.

This A4 size, hardback book, written by Nick Robins tells the full history of Coast Lines from 1913 to 1975. It also has a full fleet list, and is well illustrated with black/white photographs.

The merchants of Manchester were concerned about the high tariffs charged at Liverpool Docks and the excessive rates for transhipment of goods to Manchester. They decided that the best thing for their trade was to bring seagoing ships up to Manchester. And this they did - via numerous enabling Bills and by grand-scale Victorian engineering. The Port of Manchester and its ship canal opened for business on 1 January 1894 with existing clients such as James Knott's Prince Line running to the Mediterranean, and Fisher Renwick to London. But it could not readily entice the Liverpool shipowners to use Manchester, and it faced a long struggle to break the indifference of Conference Lines to the new port. The First World War finally allayed any lingering worries over the inadequacies of Manchester and the Liverpool companies then arrived in abundance. Manchester had its own shipping companies, including Manchester Liners, H. Watson & Company, Sivewright Bacon, Manchester Steamship Company, Manchester Spanish Line and others. Business peaked at Manchester in the 1950s but rapidly declined through the 1970s as ships became too big to transit the canal. Between 1894 and 1982 ships of all kinds docked at Manchester from all over the world; this is the story of the ships that came to Manchester.

The remarkable story of the building of thousands of standard merchant ships in two World Wars

This is a popular history of one of the world's most famous companies. Founded in 1600, the East India Company was the forerunner of the modern multinational. Starting life as a trader in Asian spices, the Company ended its days running Britain's Indian empire. In the process, it shocked its contemporaries with the scale of its violence, corruption and speculation.This is the first-ever book to expose the Company's social record. Robins reveals a hidden story of tragedy and intrigue. War, famine, stock-market bubbles and even duels between rival executives are all to be found in this new account. For Robins, the Company's legacy provides compelling lessons on how to ensure the accountability of today's global business.