From the very beginning of human civilization, the seas have held a real fascination for people. Over so many centuries, people have sought to sail and navigate the sea with huge numbers of vessels for various purposes. Even in the earliest days the ships were able to transport cargoes much faster and also farther than any overland transport.

The present publication lists and describes three hundred of the most famous ships in the maritime history. The author of the book has provided the readers with the detailed technical descriptions and specification of each of the vessels; moreover, there is also some historical note for each vessel.

The volume opens with the introduction where the author tells us the history of the shipping in brief, touching the most important aspects of the development of the shipping industry and describing all stages of the development, from the simplest plank boats through sailing ships and steam ships to the modern technological marvels.

The Cheops ship, Phoenician cargo ship, Greek and Roman war galley, Mediterranean cargo ship, Viking longship, English warship, Chinese junk, Hanseatic cog, Carrack, Caravel, Nao, Galleon, Great Harry, Mediterranean Galley and Ark Royal, Slave Carrack and St. Louis, Fluyt and Sovereign of the Seas, Galeass and Dutch frigate, Le Soleil Royal and Xebec, Endeavour, Bucintoro, Boston, Santissima Trinidad, Victory, South Carolina, Turtle, Bounty, Vanguard, Constitution, Fulton steamboat, Essex, Astrolabe, Claremont, Demologos, Morris, Sirius, Great Western, Congress, Great Britain, Jane Gifford, Bertha, Agamemnon, Washington, Powhatan, Gloire, Bretagne, Warrior, Monitor, Alabama, Banshee, Savannah, Parramatta, Adelaide, Canada, Friedrich Karl, and many others world famous vessels have been included by the author into this world ship encyclopedia.

The present document provide the readers with the information about the bearings produced by SKF, one of the world market leaders. The publication is covering all of the bearing types manufactured by this company, covering the cylindrical/spherical roller and ball bearings, angular contact ball bearings commonly used in the electric motors.

Note that the company also provides special types of bearings for various applications, e.g. hybrid and electrically insulated bearings, offering thousands of both standard-type and specialized replacement products intended for the aftermarket. This booklet starts with the general information, nomenclature, data tables and other info.

This training pack officially published by Siemens company and belonging to their Information and Training - Automation and Drives series, consists of two documents - TIA-Service Training 1/2 - ST-SERV1 and ST-SERV2 courses.

This set of files shall be used as training materials in the course of the preparation to sit for an examination for certification as "Siemens Certified Automation Technician".

Once all three courses - SERV1, SERV2, SERV3 have been completed by the trainees, the optional exam may be taken which, in turn, if passed successfully, will let them obtain the formal three-year certificate.

Basic Properties and Access Procedure for PROFIBUS; PROFIBUS Profiles DP and FMS; Communication with PROFIBUS-FMS/DP; User Interface; Combimaster Operation; Segment Configuration; Network Segment Range(2-Wire Cable); SIMATIC NET PROFIBUS - Fiber Optic; Properties: Bus configuration, Fiber Optic OLM, Bus Configuration, Double Ring Configuration, FO OLM/S-1300.

Official Siemens release will be helpful for all specialists dealing with the operation/maintenance of this equipment. The document contains all necessary information on PROFIBUS, which specifies the characteristics of the serial field bus system with which the digital field PLCs may be networked.

This booklet contains the useful materials of UN "Framework Convention on Climate Change", that is directly relating to the reduction of the CO2, i.e. carbon dioxide, emissions, as applied to the shipping industry. It was released by the ICS. There are following short articles contained in this leaflet - UNFCCC Must support IMO, International Shipping - Servant of World Trade, Reducing Shipping's CO2, CO2 Reduction Measures for Shipping Should Be Led by IMO, IMO Agreement on CO2 Technical Rules, Taking Account of CBDR, IMO Is Also developing Market Based Measures, IMO's Track Record on Environmental Regulation, explaining how Shipping Is Shipping Its Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Alternative Fuel Sources.

The maritime industry of today is considered responsible for approximately ninety percent of all world trade and is therefore critically important to the normal functioning of the economy. It is quite obvious that without shipping, the trade between continents, transportation of raw materials and both import and export of affordable gods and food would not be possible. The availability of the maritime transportation, its relatively low cost and also high efficiency made the industrial development in Asia and other emerging economies possible...

The present useful and practical industry guidance was released by ICS, i.e. International Chamber of Shipping in close co-operation with IMPA, standing for the International Maritime Pilots Association, and this was also supported by Intertanko, BIMCO, Intercargo, IGP&D, ITF, IPTA, OCIMF, IFSMA, CLIA, and The Nautical Institute.

The ultimate purpose of this publication was to ensure due compliance with the applicable principal requirements concerning the rigging of the pilot ladders, as outlined in Regulation 23 of SOLAS Convention. Pilot comes aboard ship to provide required professional assistance to the crew in the most critical and hazardous phases of the voyage.

He possesses particular specific local knowledge and shall also have all necessary ship handling skills to contribute to the safe arrival/departure of the ships. Generally, pilots come aboard and disembark utilizing traditional rope ladders to and from pilot boats.

However, it shall be noted as necessary that this procedure could be very dangerous if the people involved do not strictly adhere to the IMO standards or in case they really fail to practice acceptable skills of good seamanship. Unfortunately, some pilots have lost their lives as a result of numerous accidents that occurred at the time of boarding and disembarking...

The shipping companies that are operating in today's maritime world may vary by type of operation, their size, management philosophy, private or public status etc. This would eventually lead to differences among company systems where differing management systems and vocabulary are used.

This guidance was prepared by ISF and ICS in order to serve as some kind of a practical template which is suggested to be utilized in the course of the review of the shipping companies compliance programmes that are adopted in accordance with existing regulatory requirement. Such of the requirements have been developed by IMO and this framework is also supported by such recognized international organizations as OCIMF, BIMCO, SIGTTO, Intertanko and Intercargo.

As it comes quite clear from the title of this document, the main intention of the authors of the paper was to provide the participants of the shipping industry with the necessary regulatory framework which should be used for ensuring the due compliance with all requirements outlines in the MARPOL Convention. In fact, the document would be applicable to prevention of all possible types of marine pollution from vessels that is why we would definitely recommend all ship officers to take some time going through the content...

Another useful and practical publication prepared by ISF and ICS specialists. This Table has been initially intended to serve two main purposes. The first of the purposes would be to encourage the operators of the vessels as well as their owners to examine if the flag state administrations have sufficient substance before using it.

The second purpose of this booklet is to encourage operators and ship owners to put more pressure on flag authorities for necessary improvements related to safety of life at sea plus  environment protection as well as provision of decent living and working conditions for seafarers. The information contained in the Table will definitely be useful once it comes to the assessment of the flag states performance. The Table is intended to summarize the factual data in the public domain that may be helpful when applied in the process of the performance assessment of flag state authorities.

Of course, it shall be used with the due care. Though only some particular time period is covered within this paper, as it is evident from the title, the information in the document will still be of some use for people involved in any dealings with the flag authorities so we would recommend them to have a look in the paper.