Mr. Newland pointed out that the book was published in 1975 and that Ultra Large Crude Carriers or ULCCs which is the official industry term for a supertanker, have probably gotten bigger. Indeed he is correct in his assumption. The world's largest ship right now (which also makes it the largest man-made moving object on the planet) is the Jahre Viking weighs a monumental 564,763 deadweight tons; has a length of 458.45 meters (approximately one third of a mile); and is driven by a 37,300 Kilowatt turbine.
Information can be found at ....

As Mr. Newland anticipated, the Jahre Viking was launched in 1976, one year after the book Supership was published. The Jahre Viking was built by Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd of Japan and is currently operated by Jahre-Wallem of Norway, one of the largest ship management companies in the world.

It goes without saying that if an accident were to happen to a ship of this size, the environmental consequences would be catastrophic. Of course, since 9-11-2001, the terrorist threat has added another dimension to the dilemma. One would hope that security measures have been re-evaluated, however I am not hopeful. As of this writing today, we here in the USA just saw a 15-year old boy take a small private Cessna aircraft, fly it past one of our most secure military bases -- McDill Air Force Base in Florida -- and crash it into a high-rise building owned by Bank of America. If that is how lax our security is on our own home turf and only three months after 9-11, I shudder to think what the security is like in international waters on the open seas.

I must agree with Mr. Newland that a 2nd edition of this book is needed and perhaps, now more than ever.

I first read Supership in the late 1970's and did not reread it until this year (2001). The second time around made a much deeper impression on me, and I found it to be - for the most part - as riveting and terrifying as a horror novel. I only wish Mostert's tale was fiction.

The book describes the pros and cons of supertankers, which I'm sure have only grown since the behemoths described from 30 years ago. Mostert is no muckraker, and he does humanize the crew in good and appropriate detail (they are individuals; not monsters, not corporate automatons), but the overriding feeling I got in reading the book was dismay and helpless frustration. The impact that these ships, and the oil-consuming culture that we take for granted, has resulted in more ecological devastation than we can know. The mysteries of ocean currents are one thing that make the range of oil spills and leaks impossible to know, but the way the earth depends on the numerous lifeforms in the sea are another. Like Rachel Carson a decade earlier, Mostert is a thinking and balanced environmental reporter, and he knows the sea. I found him to be an excellent writer, using the structure of the Ardshiel's basic Europe-Gulf-Europe round trip to order the book but spinning numerous side stories related to each stage of the trip to cast light on various historical and environmental issues. It held my interest and terrified me at the same time.

The fact that 27 years have passed since its writing seemed like a mixed blessing. On one hand, the earth has survived continued oil spills of huge proportions (the book makes you feel that mankind would not survive the 20th century). On the other hand, the spills and tanker volume have only increased since the early 1970's and who knows how much worse things have gotten.

Supership is a great read and I would hope that a 2nd edition is in the works!

I loved this book. It deals with many things, such as how these ships were built, and why. It also gives these massive vessels a human face, because the author actually trvelled aboard a supertanker, and he gives an exellent account of the voyage, as seen through his eyes, and those of the crew. A person reading this book will find themselves wondering how some shipowners are even allowed to operate at all, or how things have gotten the way they have. He raises many hard questions concerning flags of convenience, the environment, and ship safety. If you are into ships, the sea, or just want a good read, this is well worth getting hold of.

This one might take you a while to get through but it's well worth it. Not normally a history afficionado, I still found the 1000 or so pages easy to get through.

Provides a fascinating insight into the background for modern day South Africa, concentrating not on the Zulu but on the lesser known and more peaceful Xhosa. Interesting perspective on the Boers who don't come off near as badly as the good old Poms in this seemingly none-too-biased book.

This is a riveting, tautly written, "page-turner". And thank heavens, because it clocks in at a whopping 1300 pages. But do NOT let that deter you. If Africa is of interest to you then you NEED to, you MUST, read this book. The period under study dates from the earliest explorations of South Africa (late 1400s) to the late 1800s.

Mostert's approach is sensitive and balanced - as the subtitle conveys "The Epic of South Africa's Creation and the Tragedy of the Xhosa People". It is narrative in format and the experience (and indeed the pleasure) of reading this book is not dissimilar from that of reading Shelby Foote's monumental three volume "The Civil War: A Narrative". The flyleaf describes "Frontiers" as having a "Gibbonesque sweep" and this is extremely apt.

There are good maps, though too few of them. The style is fluid and compelling. The descriptions of the landscape are wonderfully evocative. This book provides everything that one needs to understand that tragedy that unfolded in modern day South Africa. One is left yearning for the paradise that was so clearly lost.

One of the best ways for me to recommend this book to you is by excerpting a passage:

"It was a battle that fell into complete obscurity.... It was, so to speak, an event without a name, a four-hour long retreat along a wagon road, an agonizing struggle, yard by yard, mile by mile. It was a severe humiliation....which may have helped dim its historic judgement. Yet not again until Rorke's Drift some eighteen years on would the British army again fight and die in such a brave, cruel and intimate scuffle on the African veld. There were to be no medals or recognition for the infantryman of the 91st on the road between Forts Hare and Cox on 29 December 1850. But as Robert Godlonton said, there had never been anything like it in frontier war. Maqoma paid the infantrymen high tribute. Describing the battle he was to say of the 91st that 'they died fighting and cursing to the last.'

The fighting was hand to hand, a brutal melee marked by the sort of acts of prompt individual heroism, and of miraculous survival that such ferocious close combat inevitably produced, a situation where every man was immediately for himself, with no certain idea of what was happening except directly in front of him, and yet with the fate of a companion often suddenly intrusive upon his own struggles."

This conveys the immediacy and the force with which Mostert writes. If you loved Pakenham's "Scramble for Africa", or Alan Moorehead's books on the Nile, you will not be disappointed.

Noel Mostert's 'Frontiers' explains the face of the new South Africa.

Having spent some time in the East Cape I came away with a keen sense of the history of the frontier wars so well described by the book.

Noel Mostert is the best voice of this exciting history.