Tramp Ships: An Illustrated History

With 300 stunning photographs, this pictorial history of tramp trade ships illustrates the evolution of these charming, itinerant merchant vessels.

The tramp ship was the taxi of the seas. With no regular schedules, it voyaged anywhere and everywhere, picking up and dropping off cargoes, mainly bulk cargoes such as coal, grain, timber, china clay and oil. Older and slower vessels tended to find their way into this trade, hence the tag 'tramp'—but new tramps were also built for the purpose. ...