Sailing adventure and shipwreck

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Sailing adventure and shipwreck

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1Clueless
Bewerkt: jun 5, 2008, 11:50 am

So who else likes these kinds of stories?

Here a list of one's I've read;

Tristan Jones is an old sea salt and has written The Incredible Voyage and Outward Leg. The last is him one-legged in a tri-maran.

117 days adrift is a fantastic story of shipwreck and survival.
Fastnet Force 10 The most incredible adventure story ever. Bad weather made the '79 Fastnet race in the North Atlantic into a disaster. Marvelous reading.
Atlantic Circle A lady accompanies her husband across the Atlantic ocean in a small sailing boat. The part where she's buying Tupperware. Lots and lots of Tupperware is hysterical.
River-Horse This guy took a boat through the Huson up the Erie canal. I don't know how he managed to make such an exciting trip sound boring but he managed.
Watersteps through France Simply wonderful. A couple takes a boat through the canals in France. The food descriptions are particularly compelling.
Dove Can you imagine sailing alone around the world when you're 16?

Fiction;
Life of Pi Rather fantastic story of shipwreck...with a tiger.
Robinson Caruso I was surprised and pleased with the religious overtones in this book.

2LyzzyBee
jun 5, 2008, 3:36 pm

Atlantic Circle is going on my wish list right away!

Dove - he was a WEIRD guy though, wasn't he

If you look at my genre - travel section I have quite a lot of boaty ones... I do love them even though I really don't like to sail myself!

3ludmillalotaria
jun 5, 2008, 3:40 pm

I liked A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer: The Life of William Dampier by Diana and Michael Preston. Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for Defoe's Crusoe, was a crew-mate of Dampier's on at least one of his voyages, I think. There's lots about privateering in this one, too. All in all, an adventurous sort of read.

I also enjoyed Laurence Bergreen's account of Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe in Over the Edge of the World. Truly a harrowing tale of survival for the few who actually made it back.

4lorax
jun 5, 2008, 3:54 pm

Sailing Alone Around The World is the classic, and I love it, but from your list it sounds like you're mostly interested in modern stories?

5Makifat
jun 5, 2008, 4:00 pm

Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls is a good anthology of true shipwreck stories, from Alexander Selkirk to World War II. Not all stories pertain specifically to shipwrecks, but it is still an interesting read.

6cosmicdolphin
jun 5, 2008, 10:26 pm

4: Definately Lorax, 'Sailing Alone Around the World' is a fantastic book.

Another book I'm a couple of chapters into is 'In the Heart of the Sea' by Nathaniel Philbrick about the wreck of the whaleship essex, a little slow but promising.

Though it's slightly off target for this thread I can heartily recommend 'Stargazing' by Peter Hill, which is a memoir of a young Scottish Lighthouse keeper in the 1970's.

Rich

7krolik
jun 6, 2008, 5:03 am

For fiction, the grand-daddy of them all is Gulliver's Travels.

For something true and contempory, I've enjoyed reading the blog of the German adventurer and writer Holger Jackobsen. You can follow him here:

http://www.wownet.net/~holger/blog/voyage.html

8chrisharpe
jun 6, 2008, 9:12 am

Gabriel García Márquez's Relato de un náufrago (Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor) is a factual account of one man's ordeal as he drifts for 10 days on a raft in the Caribbean, having fallen off a Colombian destroyer with a cargo of contraband. I read the story a good 15 years ago, but it is still quite vivid in my mind. I say the account is based on fact, but García Márquez's writing really makes the tale come alive.

Further fiction: Robinson Crusoe is the obvious one. Kidnapped includes a gripping account of shipwreck off western Scotland. Then there are Joseph Conrad's novels, most of which are steeped in the sea: Lord Jim and the short The Secret Sharer are two favourites of mine.

The non-fiction shipwreck story that most impressed me was Endurance, about Shackleton's exploits in the southern oceans.

9Clueless
jun 6, 2008, 11:44 pm

#2. I've heard that solo around the world sailors are frequently so asocial that being alone for extended periods of time is the only place they feel comfortable.

I feel the same way about mountain climbing. Love to read about it. Would never consider doing it.

#4. Oh no! It's just that the modern stuff is what I've read.

#6. I loved Mayflower so In the Heart of the Sea is going on my wish list.

#7. Thanks for the link. That looks really interesting.

#8. I'm on an antarctic kick at the moment so I'll have to read the Shackleton book as soon as I whittle down my TBR read pile a bit.

Thanks everybody. I feel like it's Christmas!

others;

The Terror Dan Simmons is a gifted writer who labors over his craft. Not alot of sailing here though because they spend years frozen in the artic ice.

Castaway Neither shipwrecked nor marooned but still fits in this catagory I think. There's something about Lucy Irvine's writing I find incredibly compelling. She agrees to accompany a man to a desert island for a year for 'fun.' Sounds like a dream come true, right? I suppose, as long as you don't forget the antibiotics.

10burgett7
jun 8, 2008, 7:50 am

How about The boat who wouldn't float and Grey Seas Under by Farley Mowatt.

The Incredible Voyage is one of my all-time favorites. Ice by Tristan Jones is also good.

11Marensr
jun 8, 2008, 9:33 pm

Voyage Along the Horizon is fiction but very evocative and haunting with a potentially unreliable narrator.

12deebee1
jun 9, 2008, 9:12 am

Another fiction of the same theme - The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco, although a bit ho-hum for me...

13Marensr
jun 9, 2008, 11:45 am

I agree deebee1. There could have been more adventure, or action of some form in The Island of the Day Before

14barney67
jun 9, 2008, 12:43 pm

15FranklyMyDarling
jun 13, 2008, 11:28 pm

Black Wave is a recent book from the Early Reviewer program. It's the story of a Californian family on an extended sea voyage whose catamaran wrecks on a reef in the Pacific. If you're interested, there's a bunch of reviews with very mixed opinions posted on LT.

16aviddiva
jun 14, 2008, 5:32 pm

Minerva Reef by Olaf Ruhen is the true story of a group of Tongans shipwrecked on Minerva Reef near Fiji in 1962.

17baobab
feb 20, 2009, 8:58 pm

How about The Ice Master? Another shipwreck in the Arctic.

By the way, I asked in Name That Book if anybody remembered a book describing short inland canoe or other small boat trips on rivers and lakes in New England and one or two in southeastern Virginia. I read it in the 1970s or perhaps the 1980s. Can't remember the title, but it was a very pleasant read.

18pmarshall
Bewerkt: feb 20, 2009, 10:33 pm

Around Africa: From the Pillars of Hercules to the Strait of Gibraltar. He sailed around the continent, with stopovers, and did a TV series for the BBC as well as the book.
The Saga of the Mary Celeste: Ill-Fated Mystery Ship, the famous ghost ship by Stanley Spicer.

19LyzzyBee
feb 21, 2009, 1:10 pm

17 I bet that's a Paul Theroux - he comes from New England and likes going around in his canoe...

20pmarshall
feb 21, 2009, 3:04 pm

>19 LyzzyBee: Sorry you lose your bet its by Peter Marshall from Wales. His name showed up in the Touchstone so I didn't put it in the message and I should have.

21subarcticmike
feb 21, 2009, 4:37 pm

The modern day, non-fiction super-adventure of
(Kon Tiki) by ((Thor Heyerdahl))...

Balsa raft construction and sailing across the Pacific to prove an archeological migration theory. Even has a climax of how-to-survive wrecking on a reef.

22subarcticmike
feb 21, 2009, 4:47 pm

Try, try again...
since it let me post before I was a member, guess I am stuck with unable to edit #21.

So #22
The Kon-Tiki Expedition
one of my fav all-time adventure stories...

23Breadfan
sep 22, 2009, 12:28 am

Agreed with subarcticmike, The Kon-Tiki Expedition is a surprisingly interesting and informative read. My favorite, already posted higher up is Endurance, Shackleton's incredible voyage. And how about Voyage of the Catalpa an account of an prison escape and rescue by a whaling ship. Not really travel and exploration but still a worthy read. Another: Ancient Mariner: The Arctic Adventures of Samuel Hearne, the Sailor Who Inspired Coleridge's Masterpiece I love the poem, so I had to read this book.

24margd
Bewerkt: sep 22, 2009, 8:09 pm

Logbook for Grace: Whaling brig Daisy, 1912-1913 . Young naturalist Robert Cushman Murphy writes to his new bride from a whaling ship in the Antarctic region. (Time-Life republished this oldie but touchstones doesn't seem to recognize...)

Delilah by Marcus Goodrich. A gritty (fictional) account of life on a coal-burning (decrepit) ship in WW II Asia.

25Makifat
Bewerkt: sep 22, 2009, 2:44 pm

I recently read/reviewed Caliban's Shore, about the shipwreck of a British East Indiaman on the southeastern coast of Africa in 1782. Pretty interesting, but, as some tend to be, also somewhat padded out.

I also recall a book about the wreck of the Medusa called Death Raft, which, after the initially compelling story and human drama, also descends into repetition.

26Willoyd
sep 22, 2009, 4:13 pm

>25 Makifat: I haven't read Caliban's Shore yet, although it's on my TBR list, but although you were luke warm about this one, I reckon Stephen Taylor's other book Storm and Conquest to be a super read - thoroughly recommend it: about the clash between France and England in the Indian Ocean in and around 1809, including the Mauritius campaign which was used by Patrick O'Brian as the basis of his Aubrey/Maturin novel The Mauritius Command.

One of my favourite books in this genre is Peter Nichols's A Voyage for Madmen, the story of the first non-stop round the world solo yacht race. Gripping stuff, even when knowing the result!

28grelobe
okt 2, 2009, 8:33 am

I suggest Capsize: A Story of Survival in the North Atlantic by Alain Bombard
The author asked to be left in the middle of the Atlantic on a rubber dinghy with poorly sea gear and no food, to prove that most of the time shipwrecked people die because they panicked.

29nhlsecord
okt 24, 2009, 1:04 pm

I like to read sailing stories too, I think so I don't have to do the work but can get the thrill (which is why I like to read travel books). I don't remember the names of all of the best books, but there was one about the race around the world when they all went down to the roaring forties close to Antarctica that was fascinating. At least one boat disappeared completely, another overturned and the fellow managed to brace himself standing up on his hull for days until he was found. (Maybe that was Peter Nichols's book, I don't remember.)

And then there was Tristan Jones who moored himself to an iceberg and woke up to find it had turned over.

There's an American writer who wrote some good fiction about a man who lived on his boat and frequently got into trouble with nasty people. A lot of good sailing in those stories. The writer's first name is Tony and I think his last name started with an H or some letter near that (I picture myself going to that section at the Kitchener library to look for him).

30Marensr
nov 5, 2009, 1:58 pm

There is actually a charming and well crafted series of British children's fiction that heavily features saling Swallows and Amazons is the first in the series. They are by Arthur Ransome. I remember them making me want to learn to sale as a child.

I also recently read a work of fiction The Riddle of the Sands that bills itself as the first spy novel but there is a lot of sailing and accurate geographical detail as well as political intrigue.

31Singlegayenviro
nov 5, 2009, 9:03 pm

Batavia's Graveyard by Mike Dash is a good history of a wreck on scattered reefs and islands off the west coast of Australia in the 17th century before longitude was exactly measurable; and the desperate efforts to survive by the castaways, preyed upon by a gang of others. (I know, soundss a bit like a certain TV series.)

32mstrust
nov 6, 2009, 11:39 am

I've read The Wreck of the Batavia by Simon Leys, which I don't recommend, although Leys does suggest his readers find Dash's book as it's so much better than his own!
You're right, the story of the Batavia is so violent and weird that it reads like fiction.

33Makifat
Bewerkt: nov 7, 2009, 12:02 pm

30
The Riddle of the Sands is excellent, even if I usually fail to properly attribute it to Childers; for some reason I always assume it is by John Buchan, author of another great tale of espionage, The 39 Steps.

34Willoyd
nov 7, 2009, 11:46 am

Dit bericht is door zijn auteur gewist.

35Willoyd
nov 7, 2009, 11:49 am

>33 Makifat:
Rather different fates! Childers was shot for treason, Buchan became Governor-General of Canada.

>30 Marensr:
I'd agree - these are both great classics of their type. I have a particular fondness for Ransome, having been brought up on all his S&A books as a child (the first I ever collected with my own money), and then as a student in Leeds lived in the house he was born in.

36Sandydog1
nov 10, 2009, 11:05 pm

> 1,

This is a stretch, but for fiction, we might as well add Candide and The Odyssey.

37eugeniaK
jan 5, 2010, 5:50 pm

THE BOUNTY TRILOGY is a wonderful adventure story; actually three stories!

38Makifat
Bewerkt: jan 5, 2010, 6:15 pm

The Bounty by Caroline Alexander is a recent nonfiction account of the Bounty mutiny, although I confess I haven't read it yet. Decidedly mixed LT reviews.

39DK1010
apr 16, 2010, 11:23 am

I'm late to this thread, but I don't think anyone has mentioned the classic: Two Years Before the Mast by Dana. It's a little slow in spots, but I found the history on trade fascinating when I read it many years ago.

40muzcll
Bewerkt: apr 21, 2010, 3:06 pm

I enjoyed Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana very much. Apparently, at the time of the gold rush, it sold like hot cakes because it was the only available "travel guide" for California.

Another excellent classic that seems has not been mentioned is The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin.

41cosmicdolphin
apr 22, 2010, 1:07 pm

39:

I've had 'Two Years Before the Mast' for some time, and finally started reading it last week, only to get distracted by C. J. Cherryh Science Fiction ;-)

42Trufflehound
nov 18, 2010, 11:27 pm

Dit bericht is door zijn auteur gewist.

43Trufflehound
nov 18, 2010, 11:37 pm

You might want to look at Sufferings in Africa: The Astonishing Account of a New England Sea Captain, Enslaved by North African Arabs, by James Riley

It is an account written by an American ship captain in the early 19th century of his capture and enslavement by Arabs after a shipwreck on the northern coast of west Africa. Riley was not an educated man so his style is not polished, but the account is quite vivid and convincing.

44Bill_Masom
jan 6, 2011, 5:05 pm

Here are some of my suggestions for this genre that have not been mentioned yet.

Those that I have read.

In the Land of White Death: An Epic Story of Survival in the Siberian Arctic by Valerian Albanov. Non-fiction. A Russian steamer gets caught in the pack ice and Albanov and a companion left the ship to walk it out. They made it, but the ship is never heard from again. Maybe more arctic survival than ship wreck. Very good read

Fatal North: Adventure and Survival Aboard USS Polaris, The First U.S. Expedition to the North Pole by Bruce Henderson. Non-fiction. Title says it all, another good read for this genre.

Farthest North: The Incredible Three Year Voyage to the Frozen Latitude of the North by Fridjof Nansen. Non-fiction. Not a shipwreck exactly, but it is a sailing adventure. Nansen purposefully had his ship the "Fram" frozen into the Arctic ice pack. Anther very good read

On my TBR pile.

Our Lost Explorers : The Narrative of the Jeannette Arctic Expedition as related by the survivors, and in the records and last journals of Lieutenant De Long by Richard W. Bliss

The Voyage of the “Why Not” in the Antarctic: The Journal of the Second French South Polar Expedition, 1908-1910 by Jean Charcot

Through the first Antarctic Night, 1898-1899: A Narrative of the Voyage of the 'Belgica' among newly discovered lands and over an unknown sea about the South Pole by Frederick Albert Cook

The Voyage of the “Discovery” by Robert F. Scott

A Voyage towards the South Pole, performed in the years 1822-1824 by James Weddell

Shackleton's Last Voyage: The Story of the Quest by Frank Wild

Narrative of the United States' Exploring Expedition, During the years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842 by Charles Wilkes

As you can see, my main interest is in Arctic/Antarctic exploration, but these titles should fit in the sailing adventure part of this thread. I have many more specific to Arctic/Antarctic exploration. And most of the books listed are available as legal free downloads. Let me know if you are interested in any of them, and I can direct you to where you can get them.

Hope someone finds these useful.

Bill Masom

45subarcticmike
mrt 18, 2012, 9:29 am

#29 nhlsecord
Sounds like the singlehanded sailing race around Antarctica
Godforsaken Sea: Racing the World's Most Dangerous Waters by Derek Lundy

I put any and all of the Roaring Forties up against Slocum's succinct description of seeing the Milky Way rising above massive tumult from safe harbour after his fortuitous escape. Sailing Alone Around the World
Slocum then deferred to Darwin instead of saying more, sigh.

46nrmay
Bewerkt: jul 14, 2014, 6:54 pm

The Cay by Theodore Taylor
Voyage of the Frog by Gary Paulsen

both are fiction

47JPerrier
jul 15, 2015, 11:49 pm

Dit bericht wordt niet meer getoond omdat het door verschillende gebruikers is aangemerkt als misbruik. (Tonen)
For a great fictional maritime adventure, try Captain Rum: A Wondrous Adventure. (Ok, OK, I'm the author. But hopefully you'll love it.)

48benjclark
jul 16, 2015, 9:21 am

Castaway in Paradise is a nice little collection to dip in and out of, and opened me up to digging around for more such stories.

49nrmay
Bewerkt: jul 16, 2015, 11:55 am

How about Sea Wolf by Jack London and
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi.