About the book: 1972 / The sea routes of the globe are plied by thousands of a wide variety of ships, from giant tankers to small fishing seiners. The safety of ships' navigation depends on the reliability of their design, seaworthiness, as well as on the qualifications, coherence and discipline of the crews. Despite the measures taken to ensure navigation safety, accidents, collisions, fires, ship capsizes occur at sea, and alarm signals from ship radio stations are broadcast - SOS! The book, based on factual material, talks about the most typical cases of accidents and deaths of sea vessels . The causes of these incidents were storms and collisions, fires and groundings. The book provides examples of rescuing ships and their crews using new means, including helicopters. A number of ship accidents are covered from an engineering perspective, shortcomings that occurred during the design, construction or operation of ships are revealed. The book is intended for a wide range of readers.