Large oil tankers are vital. Our 21st-century lifestyle could not exist without them.

But most people's knowledge about their operations and the colossal debt owed to their experimental predecessors remains a closed book. Supertanker is an absorbing read written by an experienced navigator who served aboard these behemoths in the 1970s.

Using authentic accounts, engaging language and photographs, this fascinating book offers a real insight into life at sea on a VLCC and how it has changed over the years, and includes the intricacies of learning to navigate a monster, coping with unexpected situations while handling eighty million gallons of crude oil on a daily basis, and how supertankers evolved into the epitomes of safety they are today.