Sailing Ships

Richard Henry Dana, a law student turned sailor for health reasons, sailed in 1834 aboard the brig Pilgrim on a voyage from Boston around Cape Horn to California. Drawing from his journals, Two Years Before the Mast gives a vivid and detailed account, shrewdly observed and beautifully described, of a common sailor's wretched treatment at sea, and of a way of life virtually unknown at that time.

Captain John Whidden was an American merchant sailor who sailed all over the world. He wrote this work in 1908, partly as a memoir, but also to offer a snippet of the “old sailing ship days” before major changes occurred. It is a story of a boy from New England and his various roles on ships from the age of 12 to 37. He documents the changes in the shipping industry over the 19th and into the 20th century.

Before the ink was dry on the Constitution of the United States, the establishment of a permanent military had become the most divisive issue facing the young republic. Would a standing army be the thin end of dictatorship? Would a navy protect American commerce from the vicious depredations of...

Crispin is a mosaicist, a layer of bright tiles. Still grieving for the family he lost to the plaque, he lives only for his arcane craft. But an imperial summons from Valerius the Trakesian to Sarantium, the most magnificent place in the world, is difficult to resist. In a world half-wild and tangled with magic, a journey to Sarantium means a walk into destiny. Bearing with him a deadly secret and a Queen's seductive promise, guarded only by his own wits and a talisman from an alchemist's treasury, Crispin sets out for the fabled city. Along the way he will encounter a great beast.

Jonathan Mayford wants to join the Patriot Cause because he wants to prove that he’s a man. Despite his parents’ misgivings, they allow him to join his father’s privateer, the American Elizabeth. Jonathan befriends an old sea cook, Finis Henderson who teaches him about the sea. Later, he also becomes friend with a young African American boy. Jonathan’s young friend, James Forten, though born a freedman, does not realize what freedom means until he experiences it as a privateer. He, also, did not realize the treachery of slavery until sees individuals of his own color in chains on ...

Orphaned at five, nothing held Whidden back from embarking on sea life seven years later. Serving as an apprentice, he quickly proved his worth and earned himself a mate's position by his early 20s. Graduating to third, second, and first office, he ended his career in command of, and having part-ownership of, his own vessel. Ocean Life in the Old Sailing Ship Days records a series of real events from his childhood impressions of rough and ready seamen to his thrilling and brutal experiences of war.

True accounts of disaster and near disaster by sailing ship men and Masters in the age of sail. Many are a moving account of the hardship and the risks inherent in moving large and unwieldy sailing ships around all the key ports of the world. Told in the main with straightforward no nonsense prose, and highlighting the dangers and uncertainties that were accepted by those engaged in trading under sail, and the families of the Masters in many cases. Shipwreck or worse was common, but the best of the Masters remained afloat for a long and fascinating career, aided by a generous dose of luck, ...

A maritime adventure novel set in the unforgiving seas around Kerguelen predominantly during the late 19th century. To Hell from the Sea is a visceral narrative plumbing the depths of a dangerous nautical journey, the gritty life of sailors, and the machinations of high society. Following the lives of worldly seamen and aristocrats alike, this novel delivers hard-hitting truths about survival, human resilience, and enduring love, no matter the odds or societal norms. The heart of the story revolves around the lives onboard the Albatross, a vessel on a treacherous voyage. Axel, a grizzled ...

This photo-based tour includes over 115 pictures from historical locations from several countries in the Caribbean with short background histories. Featured locations include: the Puerto Rico Capitol, Castillo San Cristóbal, Castillo San Felipe del Morro, El Yunque National Forest, statues and pictures from around St. Maarten, Bloody River massacre site (St. Kitts), the remains of a sugar plantation (St. Kitts), Betty's Hope plantation and windmills (Antigua), Nelson's Dockyard (Antigua), Fort James (Antigua), St. John's Cathedral (Antigua), the Devil's Bridge (Antigua), a governor's ...

After sailing 300,000 miles and weathering dozens of storms in all the world's oceans, John Kretschmer has plenty of stories and advice to share. John's offshore training passages sell out a year in advance, and his entertaining presentations are popular at boat shows and yacht clubs all over the English-speaking world. John's talent for storytelling enchants his audience as it soaks up the lessons he learned during his often challenging voyages. Now you can take a seat next to John - at a lesser cost - and get the knowledge you need to fulfill your own dream of blue-water adventure.

A monumental retelling of world history through the lens of maritime enterprise, revealing in breathtaking depth how people first came into contact with one another by ocean and river, lake and stream, and how goods, languages, religions, and entire cultures spread across and along the world's waterways, bringing together civilizations and defining what makes us most human.

The author was asked to bring forth the facts of Windjammer’s demise and present them. This authorized the three Letters of Marque to investigate and present those facts so they can now be judged. The author pulls back the family curtain of privacy to reveal the inner workings of Windjammer Barefoot Cruises, or “Burke’s Navy”, as some crew in the company called Burke’s Windjammers. Burke’s Navy was at one time the largest fleet of cruising sailing ships in the world. Though aged and sometimes poorly maintained, they continued to sail the Caribbean, and sometimes the world. That ...

A fun, exciting read somewhere between Joe Abercrombie and Terry Pratchett. Winner of the Literary Titan Book Award for Epic Fantasy. Winner of the International Firebird Book Award. Winner of the Global Book Award. The island kingdom of Ironbay is under siege from Estovia’s warships. Can a street urchin and a tiny band of royal marines break the siege and free Ironbay, or will Estovia’s oppressive, power hungry tyrant, Emperor Solokov, crush their Ironborn home? Ironborn is fast paced, epic fantasy with heart. You’ll laugh out loud, you’ll cry, and you’ll be on the edge of your ...

A must-have audiobook for walkers, sailors, swimmers, anglers and everyone interested in the natural world, in How to Read Water, Natural Navigator Tristan Gooley shares knowledge, skills, tips and useful observations to help you enjoy the landscape around you. From wild swimming in Sussex to wayfinding off Oman, via the icy mysteries of the Arctic, Tristan Gooley draws on his own pioneering journeys to reveal the secrets of ponds, puddles, rivers, oceans and more to show us all the skills we need to read the water around us.

A historical fiction book set in the Atlantic Ocean during the late 19th century. Embark on a heart-pounding voyage across the turbulent Atlantic in "The Chancellor's Plight," a gripping tale of survival, desperation, and human resilience. This novel transports you to September 1869, aboard the merchant ship "Chancellor," as it sets sail from Charleston, South Carolina, to Liverpool, England, carrying a precious cargo of cotton and an unforgettable cast of passengers. What begins as a routine journey quickly spirals into chaos and terror as fate intervenes in unimaginable ways. As you delve...

In 1500 Spanish sailing ships began hauling gold from South America to Spain. Trade winds caused them to sail near the western coast of Florida, where pirates learned to gather to prey upon them. Thus it was that for 300 years the western coast of Florida became infamous as a pirate lair. We explore this, finding a unique cultural enigma. To have lived in the periods between 1500 and 1800 was not easy. Life was often unjust, hard, brutal, and short. Especially if you were poor. Yet in the midst of this period of injustice and cruelty, the unique practice of piracy created opportunities for ...

This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, Royal Navy, and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of life aboard a man-of-war in Nelson's navy are faultlessly rendered: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the road of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.

Tales of adventures on the high seas captivate both sailors and those who stand on the shore and gaze out across the oceans. In this original collection of sea stories, edited by veteran writer Dick Durham, the gamut of human experience is mirrored in a world of tragic shipwrecks and sea monsters, epic races and brave rescues, tall ships and tiny dinghies.

In October 2012, a replica of the famous HMS Bounty, an eighteenth-century tall sailing ship, was on a collision course with a storm that would become the largest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic - a clash that would prove dramatic, tragic, perplexing, and ultimately one of the most unforgettable stories of Superstorm Sandy. Crewed by an eclectic team of seafarers, the Bounty was led by Robin Walbridge, their highly respected captain with decades at the helm, whose actions - sometimes questionable - decided the fate of his ship and crew.

From one of the most distinguished admirals of our time and a former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, a meditation on leadership and character refracted through the lives of ten of the most illustrious naval commanders in history In Sailing True North, Admiral Stavridis offers lessons of...