Book excerpt: Nautical travel and shipboard living have evolved to be both safer and more comfortable for passengers and crewmembers. While some of these improvements have come about through sheer trial and error, others are the result of a careful analysis of problems, followed by finding and implementing scientific solutions. This book, with a unique problem-solution format, examines the challenges of life at sea and how they have been ameliorated. It covers topics such as ventilation, healthy food and drink, sleeping quarters, sanitation facilities, internal and external lighting, seaworthiness, and survival of maritime disasters (man overboard, shipwreck, fire, and contagious disease). The text traces the history of the various attempts to address the difficulties of life on the water from a scientific, engineering and legal perspective.