Accompanied by rarely seen images, Shape a Course for Fastnet presents the compelling, courageous and tragic maritime history of ships that were attacked in the South-Western Approaches during the 1914-1918 War. The meticulously researched and presented material adds immensely to our understanding of Ireland’s First World War history generally and, specifically, of its fascinating maritime history during that period.

G.L. King worked for many years in the field of marine conservation. He is the grandson of a light keeper whose family were boat contractors to the Slyne Head Lighthouses off the coast of County Galway from the start of their construction in 1832. The contract remained in the same family without interruption for almost 150 years, which made it one of the longest-running contracts on the coast. His mother was descended from the Walls and Doolittles, two old seafaring families from Wicklow Town who went to sea under sail for most of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, by which time the great
age of sail had almost come to an end in Europe. He lives in County Wexford in Ireland.