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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Boating books
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moron
Shipmate
# 206
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Posted
Presuming some few are attracted here because of a love of being on the malleable water I posted this thread.
I recently read Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before The Mast which was very much worth reading; in particular, his concluding words resonated with me.
(Coincidentally I'm heading to San Diego with the folding kayak stowed tomorrow.)
And Hannes Lindemann's Alone At Sea remains one of my favorites.
He's still alive so if you actually want to PAY him for his writing: http://www.amazon.com/Alone-at-Sea-Hannes-Lindemann/dp/1406750794
Any others you'd recommend? TIA.
Posts: 4236 | From: Bentonville | Registered: May 2001
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HCH
Shipmate
# 14313
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Posted
Try "The Boat That Wouldn't Float" by Farley Mowat.
Posts: 1540 | From: Illinois, USA | Registered: Nov 2008
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Yangtze
Shipmate
# 4965
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Posted
Great thread for this Ship...
There's always the classic Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
quote:
"there is nothing—absolute nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats"
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Arthur & Henry Ethical Shirts for Men
organic cotton, fair trade cotton, linen
Sometimes I wonder What's for Afters?
Posts: 2022 | From: the smallest town in England | Registered: Sep 2003
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MrsBeaky
Shipmate
# 17663
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Posted
I've just finished "One Summer's Grace" by Libby Purves and I really enjoyed it.
It has some brilliant descriptions of sailing, family life and the glories of the UK coastline.
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"It is better to be kind than right."
http://davidandlizacooke.wordpress.com
Posts: 693 | From: UK/ Kenya | Registered: Apr 2013
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
We had a thread on this very subject not so long ago when Luvanddaisies was looking for some maritime-themed reading material. The perennial favourites are C S Forester's "Hornblower" books and Patrick O'Brian's "Aubrey-Maturin" novels (people tend to fall firmly into one of two camps here), plus a lesser following for Dudley Pope's "Ramage" novels.
However, "being on the water" could include rivers as well as seas, so could be a broader scope than the last thread. There's the children's classics, the Arthur Ransome novels, about boating on the Norfolk Broads (and beyond). And Tim Severin's voyages in reconstructed antique boats, following journeys of legend, may be old now but are still a good read.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Garasu
Shipmate
# 17152
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Posted
Pretty much anything by Arthur Ransome!
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"Could I believe in the doctrine without believing in the deity?". - Modesitt, L. E., Jr., 1943- Imager.
Posts: 889 | From: Surrey Heath (England) | Registered: Jun 2012
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
Arthur Ransome Children's Novels Swallows and Amazons Series has a wide range of setting but if centred anywhere, then in the Lake District. They nearly all involve boats but some are bigger than others.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Erskine Childers' The Riddle of the Sands
Jerome K Jerome's Three Men in a Boat?
There are more, which will no doubt surface later.
I'm another person who grew up reading the Swallows and Amazons books, but we sailed in boats various and were given books on boats.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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betjemaniac
Shipmate
# 17618
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Posted
Well Swallows and Amazons obviously. Patrick O'Brian and Forester (I actually like both but, if forced to choose, PO'B all the way)
Sailing Alone Around The World by Joshua Slocum (Ransome said any boy that didn't like it should be shot at dawn)
Read most of them during my own time at sea with the Grey Funnel Line...
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And is it true? For if it is....
Posts: 1481 | From: behind the dreaming spires | Registered: Mar 2013
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HCH
Shipmate
# 14313
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Posted
By all means, "Three Men in a Boat".
Posts: 1540 | From: Illinois, USA | Registered: Nov 2008
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betjemaniac
Shipmate
# 17618
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Posted
Of course, I seem to have forgotten the real classics there:
Capt Marryatt - Mr Midshipman Easy
Erskine Childers - The Riddle of the Sands
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And is it true? For if it is....
Posts: 1481 | From: behind the dreaming spires | Registered: Mar 2013
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betjemaniac
Shipmate
# 17618
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Posted
Sorry, I keep thinking of others...
Nicholas Monsarratt - The Cruel Sea, Three Corvettes, HMS Marlborough will Enter Harbour, The Ship That Died of Shame
Philip Seymour - Where the Hell is Africa
Philip Ziegler - Mountbatten
John Winton - We Joined the Navy (very funny)
CS Forester - The Ship
Edward Young - One of Our Submarines
Roland Huntford - Shackleton
Jan Morris - Fisher's Face
Christina Hardyment - Arthur Ransome and Captain Flint's Trunk
Roger Wardale - Nancy Blackett: Under Sail with Arthur Ransome
David Cordingley - Billy Ruffian
NAM Rodger - The Wooden World; An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy
Ewen Southby-Tailyour - The Falkland Islands Shores
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And is it true? For if it is....
Posts: 1481 | From: behind the dreaming spires | Registered: Mar 2013
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Ricardus
Shipmate
# 8757
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Posted
The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monserrat, although incredibly depressing.
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Then the dog ran before, and coming as if he had brought the news, shewed his joy by his fawning and wagging his tail. -- Tobit 11:9 (Douai-Rheims)
Posts: 7247 | From: Liverpool, UK | Registered: Nov 2004
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Ah, now, there's a whole shelf of wartime sea stories. "The Caine Mutiny" by Herman Wouk is arguably one of the best.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
James Bisset wrote a three-volume autobiography of his life at sea. He started in the late 1890s as an apprentice on a sailing ship and ended up as captain of the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth.
The first volume, Sail Ho is about his career on sailing ships. Tramps and Ladies is about his early career on steamships. Among other interesting experiences, he was Second Officer on the Carpathia when they went to pick up the Titanic survivors.
The third book, Commodore is good, but IMO not as good as the first two. He was captain of the Queen Mary in World War 2, when it was being used as a troopship. The record number of people on one voyage was almost seventeen thousand. I think the reason Commodore is not so interesting is that Bisset did everything he could to avoid trouble, and he succeeded very well.
He comes across as someone with a zest for life who loved the responsibility of being a ship's captain. He also comes across as someone with a great sense of humor. I would love to have had him for a next-door neighbor.
These three books were published in the 1950s, and second-hand copies can be expensive. The first two were published in the US as well as in Britain and Australia. The third was not published in the US, and I had difficulty in finding a copy.
These three books are excellent.
Moo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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Horseman Bree
Shipmate
# 5290
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Posted
Is "boating" a term applied to "boats" or does it include "ships" as well? (or would that be "shipping", which implies something a bit different?)
Can't add to your list, since most of what I like is already there.
I would add that reading the Swallows & Amazons, et seq., in landlocked Winnipeg 60 years ago led to my taking on boat-building as a retirement pastime 10 years ago. (Actually, I'm building a boat" was extremely helpful in getting me out of a lot of activities that other people wanted me to do!)
The first one was a Penobscot 14-ft dinghy (Arch Davis design) which was recommended as the nearest thing to Swallow, without the excess weight. Didn't need all those pigs of lead, for instance, but sailed like a dream. Easy to recommend for beginners.
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It's Not That Simple
Posts: 5372 | From: more herring choker than bluenose | Registered: Dec 2003
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Barnabas Aus
Shipmate
# 15869
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Posted
While in Canada this time last year, I was recommended to read The Curve of Time by M Wylie Blanchet. This is a memoir of a widow and her five children who cruised the waters of British Columbia in a small cabin cruiser. It is beautifully written, evocative of both the boating experience and the amazing country. I read it from cover to cover on the homeward flight.
Posts: 375 | From: Hunter Valley NSW | Registered: Sep 2010
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
Have you read any of Daniel V. Gallery's books? He wrote fiction and non-fiction. My dad would get the books from the library, and after he laughed his way through them, I'd get to read them. I think the favorite of both of us was the non-fiction Eight Bells and All's Well.
[One of the privileges of being a host, you get to correct your grammar any time you want.]
[ 09. May 2014, 12:30: Message edited by: jedijudy ]
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
I'm certainly in the Aubrey/Maturin camp.
The Last Grain Race by Eric Newby is a lovely book about an 18 year old on one of the last Grain boats from Australia to Europe in 1938. It's notable among sailing memoirs in that that he took a camera with him which gives a visual sense of the ship.
The Search for Speed Under Sail, 1700-1855 by Chapelle. A history of the evolution of the extreme clippers in America.
Fictional work I've enjoyed include:
Mark Twain's Life on the Missisipi describes pre civil war life on steamboats.
Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling is a romantic story with life on a Atlantic Fishing Boat.
The Bounty Trilogy by Nordhoff and Hall describe the Bounty mutiny and its aftermath.
Moby Dick by Herman Melville, loosely based on the story of the whaling ship Essex.
[ 09. May 2014, 04:44: Message edited by: Palimpsest ]
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
Drowned Ammett by Diana Wynne Jones, who obviously had a lot of experience of sailing...
It's part of the 'Dalemark Quartet' (number 2 or number 3, depending on whether you think of The Spellcoats as the first or third) but it does work as a standalone.
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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Felafool
Shipmate
# 270
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Posted
Thor Heyerdahl's 'Kon Tiki' was possibly the first non-fiction book I ever read (I was 9 years old). A fascinating story about building then sailing a raft made out of reeds across the Pacific Ocean.
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I don't care if the glass is half full or half empty - I ordered a cheeseburger.
Posts: 265 | Registered: May 2001
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
Captain Joshua Slocum : The Adventures of America's Best Known Sailor by Victor Slocum - a must read for any serious sailor. JS was the first man to sail alone around the world - and did that at the end of a long life on sailing vessels in both Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
A more modern take on long-distance is Mike Golding's No Law, No God, one of only a handful of sailors to have raced around the world in both directions.
(I confess to daydreaming of doing at least one leg of a round-the-world before I hang up the oilies for good.)
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by MrsBeaky:
I've just finished "One Summer's Grace" by Libby Purves and I really enjoyed it.
It has some brilliant descriptions of sailing, family life and the glories of the UK coastline.
Yes a lovely book. I can never re-read it now though without remembering that Libby Purves' and Paul Heiney's son, Nick, took his own life a few years ago.
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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moron
Shipmate
# 206
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Posted
Thanks much... too many books, too little time.
And on a tangent: please allow me to introduce Tom McNally.
'Mine is smaller than yours'. ![[Killing me]](graemlins/killingme.gif)
Posts: 4236 | From: Bentonville | Registered: May 2001
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Boadicea Trott
Shipmate
# 9621
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Posted
The Brendan Voyage, by Tim Severin - re-creating st Brendan's voyage across the Atlantic in a leather and wood glorified coracle...
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X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett
Posts: 563 | From: Roaming the World in my imagination..... | Registered: Jun 2005
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Garasu
Shipmate
# 17152
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Posted
Bit of an out there suggestion, but: A door into ocean, by Joan Slonczewski.
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"Could I believe in the doctrine without believing in the deity?". - Modesitt, L. E., Jr., 1943- Imager.
Posts: 889 | From: Surrey Heath (England) | Registered: Jun 2012
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moron
Shipmate
# 206
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by HCH:
Try "The Boat That Wouldn't Float" by Farley Mowat.
Didn't get quite that far yet but I did pick up Never Cry Wolf which was both informative and funny - he's got a new fan - thanks again for the recommendation.
Who would have guessed healthy caribou, including the young, largely ignore wolves?
Posts: 4236 | From: Bentonville | Registered: May 2001
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Felafool:
Thor Heyerdahl's 'Kon Tiki' was possibly the first non-fiction book I ever read (I was 9 years old). A fascinating story about building then sailing a raft made out of reeds across the Pacific Ocean.
Yes!
Also, very much agree about The Caine Mutiny , and The Boat That Wouldn't Float is flipping hilarious.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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MrsBeaky
Shipmate
# 17663
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:
Originally posted by MrsBeaky:
I've just finished "One Summer's Grace" by Libby Purves and I really enjoyed it.
It has some brilliant descriptions of sailing, family life and the glories of the UK coastline.
Yes a lovely book. I can never re-read it now though without remembering that Libby Purves' and Paul Heiney's son, Nick, took his own life a few years ago.
Oh my goodness,I'm glad I read it before I discovered this.It certainly adds extra poignancy to an already lovely account.
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"It is better to be kind than right."
http://davidandlizacooke.wordpress.com
Posts: 693 | From: UK/ Kenya | Registered: Apr 2013
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