LIVE OAKING: SOUTHERN TIMBER FOR TALL SHIPS By Virginia Steele Wood

LIVE OAKING: SOUTHERN TIMBER FOR TALL SHIPS By Virginia Steele Wood Drawings by Walter E. Channing Publisher: US Naval Institute Press Publication Year: 1981 First Printing Number Of Pages: 206 Details the early American shipbuilding industry that developed from the harvest of the live oak trees unique to the southeastern coast of the U.S. A delightful historical review of a rather obscure topic, "live oaking," the term used by craftsmen who harvested the oaks of the South in order to build the great tall ships like the USS Constitution. Wood (reference specialist in naval and maritime history, Library of Congress) applies political, social, and economic commentary to the chronicle of life in the rather grim timber camps and to the industry which decimated this natural resource. The volume is beautifully illustrated with line drawings, maps, and reproductions from newspapers accounts, and includes excerpts from letters written by the "live oakers" to their loved