Inspiring Books

[Matthew P]

December has arrived and the family are asking what I want for Christmas so maybe now is a good time to see if anyone has book recommendations.

Authors and books I have enjoyed are:

W. H. TILMAN; Mischief in Patagonia, Mischief Among the Penguins, Mischief in Greenland, Mischief in…..etc
Tilman was extraordinary, a WW1 survivor, he pioneered alpine style expeditions in the Himalaya with Eric Shipman.  In WW2 he fought with SOE behind the lines in Italy and Yugoslavia.  After other adventures he took to cruising to remote islands in the South Atlantic and arctic in an old Bristol pilot cutter (Mischief) from his fifties until nearly eighty.  He writes with dry humour and topical interest.  His mountaineering books are good too. 

FARLEY MOWAT; The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float
A humorous account of dogged incompetence with a leaky sail boat from Newfoundland

PATRICK O’BRIEN; Master & Commander, H.M.S Surprise….and another 19 novels chronicling the adventures and misadventures of swashbuckling, violin playing, financially incompetent Jack Aubrey and intellectual, naturalist, nautically challenged spy, Dr Maturin.
The greatest historical novelist ever, say many people and I agree.  It took me a while to get used to O’Brien’s writing style; apparently modelled on Jane Austin - but how would I know? Completely worthwhile once I got used to it.  Most of these books are surprisingly not action-packed but about everyday life, characters and events on a Georgian warship.  Other SY Forum contributors have mentioned the horrific account of a ship chase in Desolation Island but it’s the characterisation and authentic technical and historic detail I find most enthralling. My alter-ego is Awkward Davies – who’s yours? 

J.C VOSS;  Venturesome Voyages
Less well known than Joshua Slocum but the same era and equally interesting.  Voss sailed a modified Indian dug-out canoe westwards from Vancouver to England in 1898 plus other ocean voyages in boats little bigger than a Bay Cruiser 23.  More adventure, humour and seamanship that we can learn from.  His opinions on sea anchors are worth reading.

Others books I’ve enjoyed that other people may add comment on are:

JOSHUA SLOCUM; Sailing Alone Around the World
As described in the title - an account of the first solo voyage  around the world but like Voss written with great interest.

ARTHUR RANSOME; Swallows and Amazons – I'd better let Tony describe this .

More ideas please

Matthew
BR20 Gladys

[mark1]

Have you read any of Roger Taylors books?
I enjoyed Mingming, (and the art of minimal ocean sailing)
also The Brendan Voyage, about some guys building a leather boat and crossing the atlantic, recreating the possible route of some irish monks way back in history...

[Graham W]

Roger Taylor's books, like Frank Dye's, are really interesting for the extraordinary feats of endurance that they undertook in small boats.  Taylor's Mingming was a converted 22' Corribee and Dye's boat was an open Wayfarer (which you can see in the maritime museum in Falmouth if you're taking part in the Swallow Raid next summer).  Webb Chiles's and Ken Duxbury's books about very long voyages in open Drascombe Luggers are in a similar vein.

However, for true inspiration (as in get out there and try to copy them), I prefer Roger Barnes's 'Dinghy Cruising Companion' and Paul Constantine's 'Practical Dinghy Cruiser'.  Of the two, Barnes's practical advice is more comprehensive and he has more interesting tales of the kind of cruises that we could undertake in our own boats. Predating these books is John Glasspool's 'Open Boat Cruising', while Frank Dye's wife Margaret wrote 'Dinghy Cruising'.  Both are worth looking out for second hand.

If you live near the Thames Estuary, you might like Charles Stock's 'Shoal Waters'.  I haven't read it yet but Ben Crawshaw's 'Catalan Castaway' looks interesting and is nicely illustrated.  Lodestar Books (http://lodestarbooks.com) frequently publishes old sailing books that may have been out of print for a while.  They have reissued some of the books mentioned here.

[Ged]

Catalan Castaway is an excellent book, I really enjoyed it.

Two of my favourites, but in very different genres are 'The unlikely voyage of Jack de Crow' which is truly brilliant and 'Left for dead' by Nick ward which is truly terrifying.

[Michael Rogers]

I agree about the Jack de Crow book. The man was bonkers (his actual channel crossing, in a Mirror dinghy, is How NOT To Do It), and intermittently sidesplittingly funny. For example, his interpretation of a mediaeval stained glass window in cricketing terms is utterly hilarious, not least because it suddenly jumps out at you from fairly mundane descriptive stuff. Anyone who hasn't, read it!

[Matthew P]

I've just started reading "How to Read Water" by Tristan Gooley and almost regret starting when I realise how much there is to know.  Everything from how South Sea Islanders detected the existence of remote islands by studying wave patterns through to the causes of potholes in roads. OK, understanding road potholes is not a priority for me, I just want someone to fill them in without fuss, but understanding wave patterns is more useful and interesting.  Mr Gooley describes everything from beach topography to the difference between blow lug and black lug worm casts in easy-to-visualise English with simple diagrams and photos where relevant.

I notice the current Classic Sailor magazine features a fairly candid article by Robin Knox-Johnston on HW Tilman and Lodestar Books are republishing his Mischief books.

Matthew
BR20 Gladys 

   

[mainecoast]

Gents, good list so far for sure!

But can't leave out either the Long Way or Tamata and the Alliance by Moitessier!

Maybe not "inspirational" but Ninety Degrees North (Fergus Flemming) takes one back to a time when folks were truly tough.  No boat needed to wander about the Arctic! 

Oh, of course: Before the Mast.  Can't leave off Dana!

Pete
BC 23, hull 37 Corvus

[charliea]

Anyone else a fan of the Last Grain Race by Eric Newby?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Grain_Race

[Michael Rogers]

Yes!
Also 'The Voyage of the Cap Pilar.' This barquentine, which a bunch of enthusiasts sailed round the world in the 1930s, was quietly mouldering in the mud in the R Colne a bit upstream from Brightlingsea, fifteen years later. The hull was pretty well intact, with three mast stumps visible, and we could still read her name on her graceful stern. I don't suppose there is much to see now (haven't been able to go and see). We came across the book (Pan Books paperback), a first hand account from her skipper, several years later. Very well written.

Michael R

[Matthew P]

I agree Charliea, The Last Grain Race by Eric Newby is a wonderful book, amusing and impressive.   Newby's other books (with the exception of a few later pot boilers) are good too.  Although not about sailing I especially enjoyed A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush (mountain travel) and Something Wholesale  -ahem,  , about the fashion industry but not as dire as that might seem.

Matthew
BR20 Gladys

[Andy Dingle]

Me too, I read Eric Newby's 'Last Grain Race' years ago and it is an amazing book. A must read. Saddens me to see such books languishing in a dusty corner of a charity shop, unread and unloved.

Nearly all the many true life sailing tales are inspirational to me and I think I have probably read many of the ones mentioned.
But one book that really does stand out for me is Francis Chichester's autobiography 'The lonely sea and sky'. I was astonished at what this chap achieved. Primarily an aviator flying Gypsy Moth's (hence all his yacht's being called that), just about invented and refined air navigation. Many flying adventures and even trying, unsuccessfully, to fly around the world. Took up sailing after being diagnosed, and subsequently 'cured' of lung cancer by a faith healer (!), hence could no longer fly, but which sadly did get him in the end. His subsequent sailing exploits are legendary - read it!

It occurred to me that we no longer seem to breed men of this calibre? Or do we and it's just the modern world that holds them back ... Or are there just no adventures left..?  I don't know.

On that theme I see they are making a film about Donald Crowhurst - another nutter, but one who instilled a certain amount of sympathy from me when reading 'The strange last voyage of..'

[David H]

An evocative read that I don't think has been mentioned so far: The Magic of the Swatchways - Maurice Griffiths.

Enjoy! David

[Tony]

I won’t mention any of the books that have gone before - except Tristan Gooley's "How to read Water.", which Mathew P has spoken of, mainly because  I fell foul of diffracted waves in a F8 last summer. Had I realised how the waves were going to diffract around the breakwater I would have found a different spot to hole up.

For Inspiring Books, using Graham W's definition (as in get out there and try to copy them), I prefer Small Adventures (and plenty of 'em) to the Frank Dye ‘dicing with death’ variety, so I lead off with:-
"Circle Line" Steffan Meyric Hughes.  Round London in a Storm 15. I particularly like this as Steffan told me -  after the event – that he would have been happier using “Four Sisters” with her cabin for cosier nights afloat. He might have changed his mind after a few hours rowing against a head wind!
“Downstream” Tom Fort.   A  great idea and a good read but definitely the wrong boat. Tom’s punt was perfect in the shallow head waters but not up to the job downstream of Newark. I have often thought of using my lugger for this trip but huge metal barges, ‘navigators’ in hired narrow boats (Think Timothy West bumping everything in the locks.) and a ‘slow to drop’ mast rather put me off.
“Tiny Islands”    Dixe  Wills.  A sort of AA Guide to Islands in lakes, rivers and offshore. Given me a heap of ideas for trips in various sorts of boats from 30’ AWBs downwards.   Er….Anyone flogging a Canadian canoe off cheap, by any chance?
NEXT:
“Channel Crossing”       Sebastian Smith.    Preping a “Wayfarer”; learning to sail it; crossing the channel. …but much more than that.
“Southern Winds”         Sebastian Smith.    Seb and partner Adele sail from the South of France to Corsica in something a bit bigger than a Wayfarer. Sensible girl!
“Theatre of Fish”           John Gimlette.          Travels through Newfoundland and Labrador. You can smell the sea – er…..or the fish.
“Cod”                                Mark Kurlansky.      A scholarly, fascinating eulogy to the fish, the Grand Banks and the people who literally changed the world with the trade in stockfish. A salutary lesson on sustainable management of resources – and six hundred years of Cod recipes at the back.   
“Salt. A World History”   Mark Kurlansky.      I wouldn’t have thought that anyone could write 450 pages on a single topic like salt but Kurlansky showed up my ignorance in a thorough and entertaining way. I’ll be looking out for his other books.
“Trawler.”                         Redmond O’Hanlon.    Having read his previous travel books (e.g. Congo Journey) I was expecting something similar. Not a bit of it! This is O’Hanlon suffering from seasickness and sleep deprivation. The TLS called it “Vivid, hair-raising and occasionally surreal.” Couldn’t agree more!
“Feeding Nelson’s Navy.” Janet Macdonald.   Now you’ve read all of Patrick O’Brian’s oeuvre it’s time to fill in the gaps.  (Lobscouse and Jam Roly-Poly for me, please.)
“The Edge of the World.”  Michael Pye.           About the North Sea and its surrounding countries. One of those books that makes me realise how ignorant I am.
“Down to the Sea in Ships.”     Horatio Clare.   Cruising the world without a cabaret. Clare’s travels aboard a container ship. Heaven for some, Hell for others.
“The Log from The Sea of Cortez”.  John Steinbeck.   Just what it says on the tin. “It’s Steinbeck, Jim, but not as we know it.”
“Captains Courageous.”           Rudyard Kipling.    Forever identified with “India” and “Empire” I forget that Kipling married an American girl and lived in Vermont. This story shows he was taking notice of his new surroundings. An unfashionable classic but OK if you like the style.

I could go on….…and on….!  (...and often do.)

[Matthew P]

Two more books to add, both by Adam Nicolson, particularly if you are interested in the Hebrides.

"The Seabird's Cry" has detailed descriptions of the astonishing lives of Puffins, Gannets, Guillemots etc.  A complete 360 degree description of biological, behavioural, evolutionary, environmental, cultural and other points of view.

"Sea Room" is an intimate description of the Shiant Isles, midway between Skye and the Outer Hebrides.  Nicolson inherited these small (500 acre), uninhabited, remote islands.  He writes about every aspect of the Shiants from geology through to archaeology via many other 'ologies on the way.  Sometimes a bit philosophical (I speed-read those bits) but includes wonderful descriptions of people, history, wildlife, culture, AND small open boats sailing in difficult seas.

Matthew
BR20 Gladys

[Mikecambray]

Any of the sailing books by Miles and Beryl Smeeton are inspiring. Try ‘Once is enough’ (surviving a pitch pole in a 46’ ketch whilst rounding the Horn!) as a starter. Their biography ‘ High Endeavours ‘ is also an inspiring read. Two exceptional people.