Book List

Some nautical reading for the long winter evenings recommended by Mark Hitchin.

"War with Cape Horn"

Alan Villiers

Pan Books

The gripping stories of Cape Horn sailing merchant ships and their voyages round Cape Horn told from their logs and interviews. Villiers had worked on sailing ships himself and interviewed the last remaining notable Masters personally. This book gives an insight into the perilous lives of these heroes and Villiers himself offers some personal memories. Short of asking Alan Waller there's no better way of finding out what sailing was like a century ago! Out of print but plenty on Amazon.

"Master and Commander"

Patrick O'Brien

HarperCollins

Anything in the 'Aubrey-Maturin' series of novels is good but I guess you have to start with the first. It's fiction but O'Brien captures the language of the time and pretty much every chapter of every novel gives a thought provoking insight into life on a warship under sail. O'Brien, himself pointed out that he was able to crib from inexhaustible true events of naval gallantry. The plots are compelling and the characters engaging. Best of all Aubrey spends a lot of time giving the nasty Napoleonic French a bloody nose. The thinking sailor's Bernard Cornwell.

"Three Corvettes"

Nicholas Monsarrat

Cassell military

Monsarrat's description of his life as an officer escorting convoys in the bleak days when both the Battle of the Atlantic and WW2 seemed lost to the British. Given added immediacy by the fact he largely wrote it at the time in note form because he was unsure of his survival and he wanted to get the text down and published fast. Has a similar feel to "The Cruel Sea" but better because it's real.

"Above and Under Hatches: The Recollections of James Anthony Gardner"

James Gardiner

Chatham Publishing

Gardiner was a 19th century RN officer. This book recounts in his own words what his life as a seaman was like. It was written after his retirement but he seems to have good recall and tells it like it was! It will make you laugh in places and there's some authentic 19th century swearing too!

"The Bounty:

The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty"

Caroline Alexander

Perennial

Four thousand miles in an open boat with less than a hand's width freeboard? No, it's not the next Ashdown cruise it's Bligh's voyage to Tofua & on to Timor. A current best seller. The back of my copy says it's the definitive account and it is for me 'cos it's the only one I've read! Using lot's of direct quotes from the protagonists writing at the time Alexander makes you feel like it happened yesterday. Skippers can learn from Bligh's famous man management techniques and Ashdown crew members can learn the price of disobedience to our betters!

"Naval Occasions"

Bartimeus

You might struggle to get hold of this, my copy is from 1912 if I remember correctly and there are no second hand copies on Amazon. It's fiction but supposedly accurate. The book is a series of short stories of the junior members of the wardroom a few years before WW1 written by someone who was there. Simple English and well written. (Might even be Children's literature but I didn't feel it talked down to me.) Has a touching innocence about it.

"Yachtmaster (RYA Book of)"

Philip Ouvry, Pat Langley-Price

Adlard Coles Nautical

If you already know it, this is great reference material. If you need to learn it, it's all in here. I've seen it in the libraries of boats from the Solent to north of Skye so it must be good.

"Longitude"

Dava Sobel

Fourth Estate

You'd think the story of the search for an accurate time piece would be boring and nothing to do with sailing. You'd be wrong. The best thing about this book is the dead ends in the search for a solution to the problem of working out longitude: If you think GPS is an undependable way to work out your position how about calculating your position west/east from the number of times an injured dog barks? Great reading.