The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich houses the largest collection of scale ship models in the world, many of which are official, contemporary artefacts made by the craftsmen of the navy or the shipbuilders themselves, and ranging from the mid seventeenth century to the present day. As such they represent a three-dimensional archive of unique importance and authority. Treated as historical evidence, they offer more detail than even the best plans, and demonstrate exactly what the ships looked like in a way that even the finest marine painter could not achieve. This book is the first of a series which will take selections of the best models to tell the story of specific ship types – in this case, the evolution of the cruising ship under sail. Each volume reproduces a large number of model photos, all in full colour, and including many close-up and detail views. These are captioned in depth, but many are also annotated to focus attention on interesting or unusual features. Although pictorial in emphasis, the book weaves the pictures into an authoritative text, producing an unusual and attractive form of technical history. While the series will be of particular interest to ship modellers, all those with an interest in ship design and development will attracted to the in-depth analysis of these beautifully presented books. AUTHOR: Robert Gardiner is the author of three books on sailing cruisers, including Frigates of the Napoleonic Wars, published in 2000 and re-released in paperback in 2006. His last book, a new and enlarged edition of Warships of the Napoleonic Era, was published by Seaforth in 2011. SELLING POINTS: . Over 100 models in stunning full-colour photographs . Close-ups, details and thematic spreads for variety and visual interest . In-depth captioning, annotations and an authoritative text 130 colour illustrations