Britain's coastline is extraordinarily rich in its diversity, with its many inlets, bays, coves, promontories, archipelagos and islands. Every mood of the British coastline has been faithfully recorded, from the jagged teeth of the Needles on the Isle of Wight and the strange red archway of Durdle Door in Dorset to the flat stretches of Marshland that border the East Anglian coast. The book divides Britain's coastline into her shipping areas and illustrates the secret coves and bays of these coasts as well as the more well-known sights. The text describes in full detail the places that are illustrated and chronicles their tales of age-old bravery, shipwrecks, sea rescues, smugglers, legends, sea battles and monsters as well as such modern-day items as power stations, ship-building, the loss of many of Britian's piers and the brave work carried out by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.