Salty Reading

[Legacy]

I know similar posts have come up over the years but might as well start another. Like to know what authors or specific books you all like when not polishing the stainless, reeling in the big one or sipping Pyrat rum dockside.

For more contemporary authors than CS Forrester, I like Julian Stockwin's Kydd series and Dudley Pope's Ramage Series for naval, historical fiction. I find them much more enjoyable than Patrick O'Brien.

More snow coming, good time to hunker down and read while the bride is out of town.

[poillon1]

10 Degrees of Reconing is a great read, especially for anyone who has cruised the international waterways.

[tincupchalice]

Wilber Smith has a couple of good books (all are good) about sailing ships in the 1600 and 1700's off of Africa.

Also I have recently become a fan of sailing blogs (I will get kicked off this site for sure) from people who have fixed up sailboats and sailed around the world. A lot of the tips apply to power boats too.

A circumnavigation is probably in my distant future (15 years from now) depending on the world.

[bccanucker]

I trust you're referring to Birds of Prey and Monsoon. Just read them before Xmas. The navigation back then --- unreal. Can you imagine walking up to one of these old sailors with a GPS chartplotter
I agree as well, all are good. I'm on my 21st Wilbur book.
As we don't allow snow here for more than one day at a time pretty busy stripping and sanding teak Ya, ok, haven't seen the sun for about 2 months.

[tincupchalice]

Wilber Smith is a great author. You get a feel that he has spent a good part of his life in Africa and he really does justice to the landscape, animals and its people. In addition to the seafaring books, the three pertaining to the queen of Egypt escaping up the Nile to avoid persecution are great. The first two are set a couple thousand years ago, the third is set in modern times and focuses on a treasure hunter (hero) finding the treasure of the queen.

Also a fan of the Clive Culser series and Jack B. Du Brul (who's hero Phill Mercer is a mining geologist (which is what my degree is in))

No takers on the sailboat blogs?

[DougSea]

Also a fan of the Clive Culser series and Jack B. Du Brul (who's hero Phill Mercer is a mining geologist (which is what my degree is in))

No takers on the sailboat blogs?

Cussler - Yes, especially the "Oregon Files" series. Would love to be on that ship!
Du Brul - Yes

Sailing Blogs??? Not so sure about that! Do like Panbo and "The Marine Installers Rant"

[joe.baar]

You must include Two Years Before The Mast by Richard Henry Dana. This tale is by a young Proper Bostonian who shipped out for Califabulous in the 1830's, and then returned after the '49 gold rush. Makes you wonder how they ever did it.

I also recommend Hakluyt's Voyages - "The Principal Navigations Voyages Traffiques & Discoveries of the English Nation Made by Sea or Overland to the Remote and Farthest Distant Quarters of the Earth at Any Time Within the Compass of These 1600 Years". My dad's copy of volume I (of eight) was published by E.P. Dutton in 1927 and it might still be available through antiquarian booksellers. Newer paperback versions include different material but are still interesting.

The Worst Journey In The World "Antarctica 1910-13" by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, currently (?) in paperback from Picador (PanMacmillan Ltd) is a thick book but the images of thawing your way into a sleeping bag have stayed with me for years. Once again, makes you wonder how they ever did it.

Finally, a little booklet "For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington D.C. , price 15 cents": General Specifications-Appendix 6 Instructions for Painting and Cementing Vessels of the United States Navy Edition of April 1939. This gives a comprehensive background and overview about surface preparation, paint formulation and application, and care and maintenance of coatings, from a time before the end of the world as our parents and grandparents knew it. The principles apply even today.

[Russell]

My two favorite marine adventure books are true accounts: Desperate Voyage by John Caldwell and the Nagle Journal. Desparate Voyage is the sometimes hilarious and other times heartfelt account of how Caldwell tried to return to Australia to join the wife he married while in the merchant marine during WW2. Without any sailing experience he purchased a small sailboat and sets out across the Pacific and was lucky to survive the mostly self inflicted misadventures. As one example he caught a large shark and pulled it into the cockpit where it thrashed around, broke through the deck damaging the engine and rupturing the gasoline fuel tank. He payed dearly for this when he reached the doldrums and had no engine.
The Nagle Journal is the diary of Jacob Nagle, an American Revolutionary soldier that served under George Washington when he was 16 year old and ended up in the British navy after the war as an ordinary seaman. He survived 40 years of nearly continuous battles with the French and Spanish and sailed on the first fleet to Australia. His ship was reprovisioned by the Bounty. It is a most amazing account of history coming alive and the editor checked the logs of the ships in Greenwich and confirmed that Nagle served on the ships he claimed and his description of the voyages matched the official record.
For those of you that still like actual books instead of electronic media you can shop for rare and old books at good prices from hundreds of small book stores at the Advanced Book Exchange:
http://www.abebooks.com/

[Legacy]

Good thoughts gents. Now if only the snow will melt....

[bccanucker]

Practical Sailor recommended "Modern Marine Weather" by Burch. Found I could get it through the Library. Very interesting read. Book written in 2008. Brings up lots of the new tools like grib files etc.
Says the barometers we've been using are old school. Look for electronic ones. hmmmm.
http://www.starpath.com/catalog/books/1886.htm

Another not so well known author is Clyde W. Ford. His books Red Herring, Precious Cargo and Whiskey Gulf are detective mysteries takng place on the water between Seattle WA and Desolation Sound in Canada. Probably more interesting to us in the Pacific northwest.
http://www.clydeford.com/index.php?opti ... &Itemid=57

Snowed here again last night. A whole .5 in. Now it's gone and raining and 37F. Need sunshine and warmth