World Ship Society - HOME - About Us / Site Map / Media
Since its founding by a small group of dedicated ship enthusiasts in 1946, the World Ship Society has grown into the largest and most prestigious international organisation dedicated to maritime and naval history.
Today the World Ship Society is noted for its extensive list of publications, including the highly regarded journal, Marine News. As well, the organisation maintains a significant library and collection of photographs for its members and researchers.
Branch meetings, held throughout the world, allow members to share their knowledge, experience, and joy of the shipping and naval industries. From the young to the elderly, the membership is diverse and reflects a wide range of maritime or naval history. Yet all share an abiding love for the ships that travel the seas.
Share the experience of life on the sea ....... explore the World Ship Society's website.
We are an all-volunteer organisation, with no Central Office. Therefore it is important that you communicate with the particular volunteer responsible for the matter at hand. Each year we publish a long list of volunteer names and contact information, in our monthly magazine, Marine News. Refer to these listings to find the correct volunteer for your enquiry.
Enquiries concerning specific ships or shipping companies are only accepted from current International Society members — please use the *snail mail* contacts provided to you in the January (or recent February) issue of Marine News. The Merchant Ship Library and Archive, and the Warship Information Service facilities are not on-line, so specific enquires from members cannot be answered by enquiring to ANY e-mail address, unless that address is specifically noted in a posting. And there is no general information e-mail address or telephone number.
Due to a lack of volunteers, and considering the enormous amount of time taken to answer technical enquiries, we are unable at this time to conduct any sort of history searches for non-members. Nor are we able to provide copies of specific photographs to non-members.
Society membership records are strictly confidential and individual addresses or e-mail addresses are never provided to others, unless that person has agreed to release the information. If you wish to contact a specific member, send your request to our Membership Secretary at membershipsecretary@worldshipsociety.org or webmaster@worldshipsociety.org and ask to have the message forwarded on to the member, if possible. Keep in mind that we do not keep a current up-to-date database of member's e-mail addresses, so you may have more success by sending the request by *snail mail* to our postal box -- WSS, PO Box 706, Gravesend, Kent DA12 5UB, United Kingdom, to the attention of the General Secretary. PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR WSS MEMBERSHIP NUMBER IN ANY ENQUIRY.
In any correspondence with the Society, always identify yourself using your full name and membership number. Enquiries without this piece of identification may not be answered.
Initial enquiries about World Ship Society membership benefits or costs of membership should be sent to newmembershipenquiries@worldshipsociety.org . To find out more about the Society and receive a complementary copy of our Marine News magazine, send an e-mail to newmembershipenquiries@worldshipsociety.org , including your full postal address, so that we can mail a sample of our magazine to you. Please no questions about current membership, or missing magazines, which should be sent to the membershipsecretary@worldshipsociety.org
The Society does not handle enquiries about ancestors or the ships that relatives may have sailed in. However, we do have some links to various genealogy sites that may assist you in your search.
The Society does not handle enquires about employment aboard ships.
The Society does not provide digital images or sell photographs from its Photo Library (except special "Member" offers printed in Marine News). Please do not ask us if we have an image of a particular ship. The facilities of our Photo Library are available by *snail mail* only to current International Society members.
The Society does not have a central office or any paid staff. The organisation is run entirely by volunteers, so please be patient if a question is not answered as quickly as you might expect. UK membership enquiries can be directed to the volunteer at Membershipsecretary@worldshipsociety.org. All other membership enquiries can be directed to a volunteer at membership2@worldshipsociety.org. Enquiries concerning the website should be directed to the webmaster@worldshipsociety.org.
************************************************************ If you have any comments or suggestions about the World Ship Society website, or have any problems accessing any of its pages, we would be most pleased to hear from you. Please address your suggestions to webmaster@worldshipsociety.org.
Material contained in linked websites is the responsibility of the individual owner of each site. If you find any dead links, please notify webmaster@worldshipsociety.org and provide the URL.
The World Ship Society is a company limited by guarantee (Registered Number: 4449095). Registered Office: Mayes House, Vansittart Estate, Arthur Road, Windsor SL4 1SE United Kingdom.
The categories used for the website are listed to the left in captials. Under each header, you will find a series of items in lower case. Each item is a separate page with unique information.
HOME —
An overview of the Society and its website
A General Enquiry submission form that goes direct to the webmaster. Use this for general enquires about the Society or its website.
About Us / Site Map / Media —
The founding of the Society
How to contact us
How to navigate the various sections of the website
downloadable items to advertise the Society
The legal stuff
Society History —
A "potted" history of the World Ship Society
A history of our 3-ship logo
Historical items of interest
The 1st part of the detailed story of the Society over the years
Chatham —
Chatham Archives and Library - past and present
Library — (sub-header supressed)
Up-to-date searchable catalogue of the Library holdings
Venture Fund —
What it is
Questions and Answers about Donations
ANNOUNCEMENTS —
Latest important postings to the website - helps to locate the recent postings and current Society events
direct links to the subject page
Society News —
Council appointments
delays (if any) in mailing magazines
special book offers
the latest WSS publication
advance news of the upcoming AGM
news for Branch Secretaries
recent obituaries
Branch Events —
Special and noteworthy events and news from the branches
(see also individual BRANCHES for many details in each posting
Enquiries Board —
We often receive general enquiries from the public about ship history. Here you will find a series of questions posed to the webmaster that need an answer. Please respond directly to the enquirer by the e-mail address provided with the posting. (NOTE: This is not a link to our "Member Questions" or "Central Record" departments.)
PUBLICATIONS —
The Society's main activity is publishing. There are many different books, magazines and special publications. Here we try to separate the items into different categories.
WSS Books Available —
This section lists the latest WSS books that are available to purchase from the Society's Central Orders. If the book is not listed here, it is considered out-of-print and unavailable from us.
Publication History —
As an item of interest, we show all the publications ever produced by the Society from 1947 onwards, including some by various independent branches. Books listed here include those currently available and those considered out-of-print.
Publication Search —
A table of all books listed on the various pages of this website, (except the Chatham Library which has its own catalogue), which is searchable and which will point you to the appropriate webpage(s).
Member Publications A-C —
In this, and in each of the following sections, we highlight various publications that have been produced or authored by one of our WSS members. We do not sell these books, and only list them here as an item of interest, to showcase the talent of our members.
This section includes titles from 1 to 9 preceding the "A" listings
Books are listed alphabetically by title (ignoring a preceding "The")
Member Publications D-H —
Member Publications I-N —
Member Publications O-S —
Member Publications T-Z —
Interesting Publications —
This section lists books and other publications of interest that have come the way of the webmaster. They are posted here as items of interest only and may or may not have any connection with the World Ship Society.
Marine News / Warships —
a description of our monthly magazine, Marine News, which is sent to all current WSS members
a description of Warships magazine to which anyone can subscribe
Registers / Yard Lists —
an up-to-date listing of the various Starke/Schell Registers that are currently available, both in paper format or on CD
A list of the available Yard Lists
NAVAL AFFAIRS —
an overview
Warships magazine —
a description of the magazine and its contents
instructions for submitting an article for Warships
Small Craft Group —
an overview and history of this division of the World Ship Society
description of the various publications produced by this Group
MEMBERSHIP —
Come Aboard!
Benefits —
just some of the benefits of membership
Application Form —
a handy application for membership form that you can print off and complete - if you are interested in joining the Society
LINKS —
Over the years, your webmaster has accummulated thousands of links to other sites of interest. At present, this section is undergoing a careful evaluation of each posting, and therefore only those links that are current are being posted.
Subject matter of each link is divided into categories for easier surfing. The sub-sections of the Links section are as follows:-
Excursions — (currently under construction)
Geneaology — sites to help you with your genealogy searches
Maritime History — links to various sites
Museums — maritime museums around the world
Preserved Vessels — Museum ships, Vessels world-wide under preservation
Shipping Information — (currently under construction)
WSS Member sites — maritime websites operated by WSS members
BRANCHES —
overview, and list of all branches, current or otherwise
United Kingdom —
lists all the currently operating branches in the U.K.
details of meetings, venues, contacts, photographs
Rest of the World —
lists all the currently operating branches in Europe, Australia, South Africa and North America, as well as Country or Area Representatives
BLOGS —
IMAGES —
Each member has the opportunity to include a series of his photographs to an album. So far we have several albums posted, with more to come in the months ahead.
Photo Album-BUR-01
Photo Album-BUR-02
Photo Album-CHS-01
Photo Album-GUS-01
Photo Album-TRE-01
Photo Album-VAN-01
Photo Album-VAN-02
Photo Album-Mystery
some unusual images for identification
FROM THE PAST —
In this section we are trying to create an archive of Society events over the years. As data becomes available to the webmaster it will be posted. So far we have photo essays on five past AGMs, and Branch Notes on three branches. Much more to come!
We are developing some tools for use in promoting or advertising the World Ship Society. Various formats of our famous 3-ship logo have been posted while others will be uploaded shortly in both JPEG and TIFF formats. Introduction messages suitable for placing on other websites will be introduced, with varying headers.
JPEG 700 x 140
JPEG 500 x 100
JPEG 500 x 365
JPEG 100 x 73
Introductions:
1. Since its founding by a small group of dedicated ship enthusiasts in 1946, the World Ship Society has grown into the largest and most prestigious international organisation dedicated to maritime and naval history.
Today the World Ship Society is noted for its extensive list of publications, including the highly regarded journal, Marine News. As well, the organisation maintains a significant library and collection of photographs for its members and researchers.
Branch meetings, held throughout the world, allow members to share their knowledge, experience, and joy of the shipping and naval industries. From the young to the elderly, the membership is diverse and reflects a wide range of maritime or naval history. Yet all share an abiding love for the ships that travel the seas.
Share the experience of life on the sea ....... explore the World Ship Society's website.
2. An international organisation of ship-lovers and researchers
Since its founding by a small group of dedicated ship enthusiasts in 1946, the World Ship Society has grown into the largest and most prestigious international organisation dedicated to maritime and naval history.
Under construction
JPEG 700 x 140
JPEG 500 x 100
JPEG 500 x 365