Maritime Books LIST
Content
"Steaming to Bamboola - The World of a Tramp Freighter" Wanderer - Sterling Hayden "Sailing Alone around the World"-- Slocum "From the Bridge: Authentic Modern Sea Stories" -- Kelly Sweeney "In Peril: A Daring Decision, a Captain's Resolve, and the Salvage that Made History" -Skip Strong "Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings" -- Johnathan Raban "Wooden Boats: In Pursuit of the Perfect Craft at an American Boatyard" -- Michael Ruhlman Sailing into the Abyss: A True Story of Extreme Heroism on the High Seas"...William Benedetto "Simple Courage: The True Story of Peril on the Sea"...Frank Delaney "Until the Sea Shall Free Them":...Robert Frump "The Captain"...Jan der Hartog "Grey Seas Under" & "The Serpent's Coil"..Farley Mowatt most of the works of Wilbur Smith likewise Douglas Reeman not to be missed, any of the books by Alan Villiers the little remembered Colin Glencannon stories by Guy Gilpatrick and of course, the sailor's sailor...Tristian Jones Frank Worsley "Shackleton's Captain" Tania Aebi, (1989). Maiden Voyage. Ballantine Books. Link "Shackleton's Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer" "The Ship and the Storm" by Jim Carrier. Tragic story of a 280 foot windjammer schooner that went down in Hurricane Mitch in 1998 off Roatan, Central America. Eerie story reminescent of the "The Perfect Storm". "Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II" by Robert Kurson The Last Grain Race by Eric Newby. Greenhorn signs on to a square rigger. Like 2 years before the mast but way funnier. Two Years Before the Mast RH Dana The Last of the Cape Horners: Firsthand Accounts From the Final Days of the Commercial Tall Ships by Spencer Apollonio Seaspray and Whisky: Reminiscences of a Tramp Ship Voyage by Norman Freeman Joseph Conrad: Lord Jim Typhoon Youth Nigger of the Narcissus Shadowline The Secret Sharer Mirror of the Sea...a memoir of Conrad's seafaring days Charlie Marlow is another master's master. Jack Hawkins IS Captain Marlow! "Ice Brothers" by Sloan Wilson Robert Thomas Maiden Voyage Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad Alan Villiers books C.S. Forester - start with Lt. Hornblower.
Also Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers. The Cruise of the Cachalot: Around the World After Sperm Whales by Frank Bullen. Desperate Voyage by John Caldwell. "Nights of Ice: True Stories of Disaster and Survival on Alaska's High Seas" by Spike Walker in fact everything by him is really good. "The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd" By Richard Zacks, excellent story about Captain Kidd. "The Sea Shall Embrace Them: The Tragic Story of the Steamship Arctic" By David Shaw, story about a trans-atlantic side wheeler that collided with a steel fishing boat and later sank. "Survive the Savage Sea" By Dougal Robertson, a shipwrecked family survives in the middle of the Indian Ocean. "A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer: The Life of William Dampier" By Diana Preston Best book I read in December was Max Hardberger's book, Freighter Captain. Chris Buckleys, Steaming to Bamboola. "In Peril: A Daring Decision, a Captain's Resolve, and the Salvage that Made History" By Skip Strong, Twain Braden "All the Drowned Sailors : The Tragic Fate of the U. S. S. Indianapolis" by Raymond B. Lech. "On Tugboats" by Virginia Thorndike "The Serpent's Coil" by Farley Mowat "Steaming to Bamboola" and "Looking for a Ship" Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Sobel The Nautical Chart by Arturo Perez-Reverte Linda Greenlaw's THE HUNGRY OCEAN "Until the Sea Shall Free Them: Life, Death, and Survival in the Merchant Marine (Blue Jacket Books)". Robert Frump. The story of the sinking of the Marine Electric in 1983 Colin Glencannon stories by Guy Kilpatrick Farley Mowat's "The Grey Seas Under" Another great one, which is also very funny, is James Michener's Tales of the South Pacific. For modern workboat fiction set in Alaska try David Masiel's 2182 kHz. Defying Empire: Trading with the Enemy Thomas M. Truxes Joe Jablonski's "Three Star Fix" Sea War, the Story of the U. S. Merchant Marine in World War II by Felix Riesenberg There Go the Ships by Robert Carse How to Abandon Ship by Phil Richards and John Banigan Liberty: The Ships That Won the War by Peter Elphick The Fighting Liberty Ships: A Memoir by A. A. Hoehling A Careless Word...a Needless Sinking: A History of the Staggering Losses Suffered By the U. S. Merchant Marine, Both in Ships and Personnel, During World War II by Capt.
Authur Moore "Iron Coffins: A Personal Account of the German U-Boat Battles of World War II," by Herbert A. Werner" Hungry As The Sea, by Wilbur Smith is a great, quick read. Voyage: A Novel of 1896, by Sterling HeydenThe Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea Civil War Adventures of a Blockade Runner, William Watson, A&M Press In Peril: A Daring Decision, a Captain's Resolve, and the Salvage that Made History, Skip Strong The loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale , Nickerson and Chase (the cabin boy and the first mate). Alexander Kent's Bolitho Series. "The Cruel Sea " by Nicholas Monsarrat John Steinbeck published his first novel and sold 5000 copies, it was called "Cup of Gold" and it was about the life of Capt. Henry Morgan. A must read for pirate novel fans. My favorite modern seagoing book- "Steaming to Bamboola - The World of a Tramp Freighter" by Christopher Buckley. Guy Gilpatric's Glencannon series is a favorite among engineers. "Ocean Titans: Journeys in Search of the Soul of a Ship" "The Sea Wolf" "The Mutiny on the Globe". Endurance - F. A. Worsley Demon of the Waters: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Whaleship Globe - Gregory Gibson 1) The Cape Horn Breed, by William H.S. Jones 2) OF WHALES AND MEN, by R.R. Robertson. 3) The Last Nine Days of the Bismarck, by B. Trevelyan 4) The Voyage of the Armada: The Spanish Story, the Spanish Story, by David Howarth. 5) Yankee Whalers in the South Seas, by A.B.C. Whipple. Nonfiction, a totally enthalling account of an era. 6) The Log of the Skipper's Wife, by James W. Balano. Nonfiction. 7) Looking for a Ship, by John McPhee. Required reading. I assume many of those looking into this site have read this book. 8) The Moonrakers, by Robert Carse. Nonfiction. 9) Yankee Surveyors in the Shogun's Seas, Records of the United States Surveying Expedition to the North Pacific Ocean, 1853-1856, editor, Allan B. Cole. 10) A Deckboy's Diary, by John Richardson. British freighters in the 1950's. More required reading. 11) Passage, From Sail to Steam, by Captain L.R.W. Beavis. Large format, fascinating accounts and great photos. 12) This Was Seafaring, a Sea Chest of Salty Memories, by Ralph W. Andrews and Harry A. Kirwin. Kirwin is the great Pacific Northwest photographer, so you can guess what this book looks like.
13) Under Full Sail, by Morris Rosenfeld. Great black and white photos of yachts and sailing ships. Probably a very hard to find book. 14) Dangerous Voyage (in paperback--original title was Williwaw), by Gore Vidal, who was himself in the Navy in the Aleutians. This was his first novel but there's nothing fake, here. 15) Voyage, a Novel of 1896, by Sterling Hayden. B. Traven The Death Ship. Ferryboats: A legend on Puget Sound, by M.S. Kline and G.A. Bayless. Until the Sea Shall Free Them: Life, Death, and Survival in the Merchant Marine - Great read and amazing story In Peril: A Daring Decision, a Captain's Resolve, and the Salvage that Made HistoryAmazing story of the famous salvage of the space shuttle's main fuel tank by the tanker "Cherry Valley" and the resulting admiralty case. To the Last Salute: Memories of an Austrian U-Boat Commander by Georg von Trapp. Memories of an Austrian U-boat commander in WWI. The book was originally published in German in 1935, and was translated into English by his granddaugher in 2007. Sea Shepherd by Paul Watson. Moby Dick - gotta be on the list In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex - by Philbrick Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea - by Kinder great true life modern treasure hunting story and includes some great history Sinking of the Princess Sophia: Taking the North Down with Her - by Coates Last edited by john; June 7th, 2009 at 09:17 PM. Reason: added links Two Tankers Down: The Greatest Small-Boat Rescue in U.S. Coast Guard History Salvage Books - A List Tankers Full of Trouble: The Perilous Journey of Alaskan Crude by Eric Nalder American Merchant Seaman's Manual, for Seamen by Seamen Bowditch: The American Practical Navigator When a Loose Cannon Flogs a Dead Horse There's the Devil to Pay: Seafaring Words in Everyday Speech 'Don't Stop the Carnival' by Herman Wouk Bottoms Up!: Toasts, Tales & Traditions Of Drinking's Long History As A Nautical Pastime-By Robert McKenna Captain Richard Cahill's two excellent volumes, Collisions and Their Causes and Strandings and Their Causes Away All Boats by Kenneth Dodson is excellent. If it helps, Dodson was a master who volunteered for the Navy during World War II, and merchant seamen serving in the Navy are prominent in the book. Grey Seas Under: The Perilous Rescue Mission of a N.A. Salvage Tug< "The Arctic Grail" and "Where the Sea Breaks Its Back". Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before. By Tony Horwitz 1421: The Year China Discovered America by Gaven Menzies Jack London's short story Tales of the Fish Patrol maybe not the 'best' but still a good
read. Nothing Can Go Wrong by Captain John Kilpack with John D. McDonald (about the last voyage of the MARIPOSA) Looking for a Ship by John McPhee The Seaman’s Friend: A Treatise on Practical Seamanship by Richard Henry Dana Hard on the Wind by Russ Hofvendahl The PEKING battles Cape Horn by Captain Irving Johnson The BOUNTY Trilogy by Nordoff and Hall It didn’t happen on my watch by George E. Murphy The Outlaw Sea by William Langewiesche Liverpool Buttons & Homeward Bound Stitches by Captain Ottmar Friz Song of the Sirens by Ernest K. Gann The Abraham Lincoln of the Sea a Biography of Andrew Furuseth by Arnold Berwick Anything by Joseph Conrad.. To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World (P.S.) Arthur Herman "Voyage" - Sterling Hayden I also enjoy the books by Brian Callison. A British point of view, and largely placed during WWII. A SHIP IS DYING is the best one of his that I have read, and one not placed in WWII. Two Years Before the Mast (Signet Classics) by Richard Henry Dana, Jr., written after a two-year sea voyage starting in 1834 and published in 1840 The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger Rats, Rust & 2 Old Ladies simply because I play a roll in it. The book is about a delivery voyage of 2 ancient American tugs from Bahrain to Trinidad and that voyage was my entry into the world of ship-delivering. Venturesome Voyages of Capt. Voss The Cruel Sea Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls by Edward E. Leslie. True stories of castaways, marooned sailors, shipwrecks I now have a new favorite book. The Sand Pebbles, by Richard McKenna. Sons of Marth and Left Handed Monkey Wrench. Bowditch, The American Practical Navigator: Shackleton's forgotten argonauts (in the US it may have been titled Forgotten Men" by Leonard Bickel. Another one of my favourites is Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentlemen Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail by Stephen R Brown. Of course all of the Francis Chitchester books are a great read. Supership by Noel Mostert yet. The author tagged along for a trip aboard the British tanker Ardshiel in 1973. The Death Ship A Voyage for Madmen by Peter Nichols ANYTHING by Bernard Moitessier...my favorites being The Long Way which is a story
about the same race mentioned above, and Tamata and the Alliance which is his facinating autobiography. Around Alone by Emma Richards Kon Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl, a true story about floating from Peru to Polynesia in a balsa-wood raft in the 50s...a must read for any mariner. North to the Night: a Spiritual Oddsey in the Artic by Alva Simon: I could not put this book down. Amazing true story of sailing his little steel sloop up to the Canadian Arctic, and then staying frozen in the ice for the winter...alone. Looking for a Ship by John McPhee Red Sky in Mourning by Tami Oldha Ashcraft Gray Seas Under is a must read for any tug boaters out there, and also one of my favorites. oxford companion to ships and the sea Robert Raurke, the old man and the boy Pat McManus is a gas. How I got this way and they shoot canoes In The Heart of the Sea Couldnt put it down. James Nelson's books. Jim was a sailor before becoming an author. I really enjoyed A Voyage for MADMEN by Peter Nichols. - Anything by Frederick Marryat. He was an English naval officer in the early 1800's. If I remember right he was a midshipman at Trafalgar and served with Lord Cochrane who some say was the inspiration for Hornblower and Aubrey. Excellent books written by someone who was there. - Masefield's "Bird of Dawning". Clipper ship story. - Francis Chichester's "Along the Clipper Way", a collection of stories from other authors. - Samuel Elliot Morrison's "European Discovery of America". - George MacDonald Fraser "The Pyrates" (he's most famous for a comic series of books about Harry Flashman, a Victorian soldier). "Blue Latitudes" by Tony Horwitz - Boldly going where Capt. Cook has gone before, recounting Cooks voyages of discovery & then revisiting the people & places 200 yrs later. Part Cook biography, part travelogue & very much a stroke of genius! Anything by Joseph Conrad, "Lord Jim","The Secret Sharer". That George MacDonald Frazer book is great too. The Patrick O'Brien books about Jack Aubrey and Steven Mathurin are my favorites though. "The Cruel Sea " by Nicholas Monsarrat "The last Time Around Cape Horn" The historic 1949 voyage of the Windjammer Pamir By William F Stark "Rules of the Road" Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe That Ended the Outlaws' Bloody Reign by Stephan Talty Flying Cloud: The True Story of America's Most Famous Clipper Ship and the Woman Who Guided Her by David W. Shaw 1851 speed record from NY to SF, navigator was
cap't wife Tracks in the Sea : Matthew Fontaine Maury and the Mapping of the Oceans by Chester G. Hearn invented mapping of the oceans with wind and sea currents, the very little known story and reason for weather reports Racing Through Paradise: A Pacific Passage and Atlantic High: A Celebration by William F. Buckley New Book by Capt. Max Hardberger, author of Freighter Captain, available April 6th. through GCaptain link to Amazon. Seized: A Sea Captain's Adventures Battling Scoundrels and Pirates While Recovering Stolen Ships in the World's Most Troubled Waters My new novel THE CORYDON SNOW is about an EC2 (Liberty Ship) 15 month Pacific cruise in WWII. The Terror by Dan Simmons, an interesting historical/fiction book about a failed attempt to seek the Northwest Passage. The Wave by Susan Casey, "in pursuit of rogues, freaks, and giants of the oceans" basically a book about ridiculous waves and people who have encountered them. (also The Devil's Teeth) In the Heart of The Sea, the tragedy of the Whale ship Essex, by Nathaniel Philbrick, a great historical book about a whale ship that sank and the men that survived, the basis for Moby Dick Lost at Sea by Patrick Dillion, about the crab boats Americus & Altair sinking Leviathan by David L. Golemon, a fiction book about a 1800 era submarine, very fun read. Breverton's Nautical Curiosities by Terry Breverton, a book about the origins of nautical sayings and such, not a read as much as a dictionary. interesting though. The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard is a well researched history of the development of piracy in the Caribbean, and a fun read. It gives the reader a good understanding of why the Bahamas became home to a number of pirates in the 18th century. The only normal people are the ones you do not know very well. Sharkman of Cortez, my memoir about being a commercial shark fisherman in the 60-80's in Southwest Florida. Dark Sea Running George Morrill Pub 1959 Rough Passage Dana G Prescott Pub. 1958 Twillight of sailing ships: Kicking Canvas Capt. A.A. Bestic Published 1957 SAVED!-The Story of the Andrea Doria William Hoffer Published 1979 Disaster at Sea-Collection of sea disaster stories Otto Mielke (German author, originally published in German) 1958 Dangerous Waters-Modern Piracy and Terror on the High Seas John S. Burnett 2002 American Merchant Seaman's Manual Cornell Maritime Press Weather for the Mariner Naval Institute Press 1977 "ten hours until dawn" by michael tougias. White Jacket,reburn,moby dick-meville
The wreck of the Medusa-unknown two years before the mast-dana the last ship-unknown on the beach-nevil shute 20000 leagues under the sea-Verne Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is a true story about a WWII bombardier who survives floating across the pacific in a life raft, only to be captured and taken prisoner by the Japanese. ANYTHING AT ALL BY CAPTAIN ALAN VILLIERS! Any mariner who wants to understand what the men who have preceeded them went through to be seafarers must read his works. Seamen in deepsea square rigged ships where able to do the unbelievable in conditions that us today cannot conceive of suffereing though. My respect for those men is boundless. Melville's Redburn and White Jacket Ten hours till dawn, Unto the Sea Shall Set them free (Marine electric), Simple Courage, and In peril are all fine selections that are captivating reads. Each has some very informative information in post incident discussion. Highly suggest for new and old mariners to gain respect for those who have perished and almost so at sea. A recent read is "The Shipping Man", a novel about ship finance and ownership. For what would seem to be a dry, boring subject, the novel is VERY entertaining. It is a great perspective with regard to how ship owners view mariners and their vessels. It is also a reminder that mariners cannot live without the owners and bankers, either. He does a great job with the different characters; many of which I seem to have run across in my varied maritime career. A VERY entertaining read
Also Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers. The Cruise of the Cachalot: Around the World After Sperm Whales by Frank Bullen. Desperate Voyage by John Caldwell. "Nights of Ice: True Stories of Disaster and Survival on Alaska's High Seas" by Spike Walker in fact everything by him is really good. "The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd" By Richard Zacks, excellent story about Captain Kidd. "The Sea Shall Embrace Them: The Tragic Story of the Steamship Arctic" By David Shaw, story about a trans-atlantic side wheeler that collided with a steel fishing boat and later sank. "Survive the Savage Sea" By Dougal Robertson, a shipwrecked family survives in the middle of the Indian Ocean. "A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer: The Life of William Dampier" By Diana Preston Best book I read in December was Max Hardberger's book, Freighter Captain. Chris Buckleys, Steaming to Bamboola. "In Peril: A Daring Decision, a Captain's Resolve, and the Salvage that Made History" By Skip Strong, Twain Braden "All the Drowned Sailors : The Tragic Fate of the U. S. S. Indianapolis" by Raymond B. Lech. "On Tugboats" by Virginia Thorndike "The Serpent's Coil" by Farley Mowat "Steaming to Bamboola" and "Looking for a Ship" Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Sobel The Nautical Chart by Arturo Perez-Reverte Linda Greenlaw's THE HUNGRY OCEAN "Until the Sea Shall Free Them: Life, Death, and Survival in the Merchant Marine (Blue Jacket Books)". Robert Frump. The story of the sinking of the Marine Electric in 1983 Colin Glencannon stories by Guy Kilpatrick Farley Mowat's "The Grey Seas Under" Another great one, which is also very funny, is James Michener's Tales of the South Pacific. For modern workboat fiction set in Alaska try David Masiel's 2182 kHz. Defying Empire: Trading with the Enemy Thomas M. Truxes Joe Jablonski's "Three Star Fix" Sea War, the Story of the U. S. Merchant Marine in World War II by Felix Riesenberg There Go the Ships by Robert Carse How to Abandon Ship by Phil Richards and John Banigan Liberty: The Ships That Won the War by Peter Elphick The Fighting Liberty Ships: A Memoir by A. A. Hoehling A Careless Word...a Needless Sinking: A History of the Staggering Losses Suffered By the U. S. Merchant Marine, Both in Ships and Personnel, During World War II by Capt.
Authur Moore "Iron Coffins: A Personal Account of the German U-Boat Battles of World War II," by Herbert A. Werner" Hungry As The Sea, by Wilbur Smith is a great, quick read. Voyage: A Novel of 1896, by Sterling HeydenThe Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea Civil War Adventures of a Blockade Runner, William Watson, A&M Press In Peril: A Daring Decision, a Captain's Resolve, and the Salvage that Made History, Skip Strong The loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale , Nickerson and Chase (the cabin boy and the first mate). Alexander Kent's Bolitho Series. "The Cruel Sea " by Nicholas Monsarrat John Steinbeck published his first novel and sold 5000 copies, it was called "Cup of Gold" and it was about the life of Capt. Henry Morgan. A must read for pirate novel fans. My favorite modern seagoing book- "Steaming to Bamboola - The World of a Tramp Freighter" by Christopher Buckley. Guy Gilpatric's Glencannon series is a favorite among engineers. "Ocean Titans: Journeys in Search of the Soul of a Ship" "The Sea Wolf" "The Mutiny on the Globe". Endurance - F. A. Worsley Demon of the Waters: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Whaleship Globe - Gregory Gibson 1) The Cape Horn Breed, by William H.S. Jones 2) OF WHALES AND MEN, by R.R. Robertson. 3) The Last Nine Days of the Bismarck, by B. Trevelyan 4) The Voyage of the Armada: The Spanish Story, the Spanish Story, by David Howarth. 5) Yankee Whalers in the South Seas, by A.B.C. Whipple. Nonfiction, a totally enthalling account of an era. 6) The Log of the Skipper's Wife, by James W. Balano. Nonfiction. 7) Looking for a Ship, by John McPhee. Required reading. I assume many of those looking into this site have read this book. 8) The Moonrakers, by Robert Carse. Nonfiction. 9) Yankee Surveyors in the Shogun's Seas, Records of the United States Surveying Expedition to the North Pacific Ocean, 1853-1856, editor, Allan B. Cole. 10) A Deckboy's Diary, by John Richardson. British freighters in the 1950's. More required reading. 11) Passage, From Sail to Steam, by Captain L.R.W. Beavis. Large format, fascinating accounts and great photos. 12) This Was Seafaring, a Sea Chest of Salty Memories, by Ralph W. Andrews and Harry A. Kirwin. Kirwin is the great Pacific Northwest photographer, so you can guess what this book looks like.
13) Under Full Sail, by Morris Rosenfeld. Great black and white photos of yachts and sailing ships. Probably a very hard to find book. 14) Dangerous Voyage (in paperback--original title was Williwaw), by Gore Vidal, who was himself in the Navy in the Aleutians. This was his first novel but there's nothing fake, here. 15) Voyage, a Novel of 1896, by Sterling Hayden. B. Traven The Death Ship. Ferryboats: A legend on Puget Sound, by M.S. Kline and G.A. Bayless. Until the Sea Shall Free Them: Life, Death, and Survival in the Merchant Marine - Great read and amazing story In Peril: A Daring Decision, a Captain's Resolve, and the Salvage that Made HistoryAmazing story of the famous salvage of the space shuttle's main fuel tank by the tanker "Cherry Valley" and the resulting admiralty case. To the Last Salute: Memories of an Austrian U-Boat Commander by Georg von Trapp. Memories of an Austrian U-boat commander in WWI. The book was originally published in German in 1935, and was translated into English by his granddaugher in 2007. Sea Shepherd by Paul Watson. Moby Dick - gotta be on the list In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex - by Philbrick Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea - by Kinder great true life modern treasure hunting story and includes some great history Sinking of the Princess Sophia: Taking the North Down with Her - by Coates Last edited by john; June 7th, 2009 at 09:17 PM. Reason: added links Two Tankers Down: The Greatest Small-Boat Rescue in U.S. Coast Guard History Salvage Books - A List Tankers Full of Trouble: The Perilous Journey of Alaskan Crude by Eric Nalder American Merchant Seaman's Manual, for Seamen by Seamen Bowditch: The American Practical Navigator When a Loose Cannon Flogs a Dead Horse There's the Devil to Pay: Seafaring Words in Everyday Speech 'Don't Stop the Carnival' by Herman Wouk Bottoms Up!: Toasts, Tales & Traditions Of Drinking's Long History As A Nautical Pastime-By Robert McKenna Captain Richard Cahill's two excellent volumes, Collisions and Their Causes and Strandings and Their Causes Away All Boats by Kenneth Dodson is excellent. If it helps, Dodson was a master who volunteered for the Navy during World War II, and merchant seamen serving in the Navy are prominent in the book. Grey Seas Under: The Perilous Rescue Mission of a N.A. Salvage Tug< "The Arctic Grail" and "Where the Sea Breaks Its Back". Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before. By Tony Horwitz 1421: The Year China Discovered America by Gaven Menzies Jack London's short story Tales of the Fish Patrol maybe not the 'best' but still a good
read. Nothing Can Go Wrong by Captain John Kilpack with John D. McDonald (about the last voyage of the MARIPOSA) Looking for a Ship by John McPhee The Seaman’s Friend: A Treatise on Practical Seamanship by Richard Henry Dana Hard on the Wind by Russ Hofvendahl The PEKING battles Cape Horn by Captain Irving Johnson The BOUNTY Trilogy by Nordoff and Hall It didn’t happen on my watch by George E. Murphy The Outlaw Sea by William Langewiesche Liverpool Buttons & Homeward Bound Stitches by Captain Ottmar Friz Song of the Sirens by Ernest K. Gann The Abraham Lincoln of the Sea a Biography of Andrew Furuseth by Arnold Berwick Anything by Joseph Conrad.. To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World (P.S.) Arthur Herman "Voyage" - Sterling Hayden I also enjoy the books by Brian Callison. A British point of view, and largely placed during WWII. A SHIP IS DYING is the best one of his that I have read, and one not placed in WWII. Two Years Before the Mast (Signet Classics) by Richard Henry Dana, Jr., written after a two-year sea voyage starting in 1834 and published in 1840 The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger Rats, Rust & 2 Old Ladies simply because I play a roll in it. The book is about a delivery voyage of 2 ancient American tugs from Bahrain to Trinidad and that voyage was my entry into the world of ship-delivering. Venturesome Voyages of Capt. Voss The Cruel Sea Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls by Edward E. Leslie. True stories of castaways, marooned sailors, shipwrecks I now have a new favorite book. The Sand Pebbles, by Richard McKenna. Sons of Marth and Left Handed Monkey Wrench. Bowditch, The American Practical Navigator: Shackleton's forgotten argonauts (in the US it may have been titled Forgotten Men" by Leonard Bickel. Another one of my favourites is Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentlemen Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail by Stephen R Brown. Of course all of the Francis Chitchester books are a great read. Supership by Noel Mostert yet. The author tagged along for a trip aboard the British tanker Ardshiel in 1973. The Death Ship A Voyage for Madmen by Peter Nichols ANYTHING by Bernard Moitessier...my favorites being The Long Way which is a story
about the same race mentioned above, and Tamata and the Alliance which is his facinating autobiography. Around Alone by Emma Richards Kon Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl, a true story about floating from Peru to Polynesia in a balsa-wood raft in the 50s...a must read for any mariner. North to the Night: a Spiritual Oddsey in the Artic by Alva Simon: I could not put this book down. Amazing true story of sailing his little steel sloop up to the Canadian Arctic, and then staying frozen in the ice for the winter...alone. Looking for a Ship by John McPhee Red Sky in Mourning by Tami Oldha Ashcraft Gray Seas Under is a must read for any tug boaters out there, and also one of my favorites. oxford companion to ships and the sea Robert Raurke, the old man and the boy Pat McManus is a gas. How I got this way and they shoot canoes In The Heart of the Sea Couldnt put it down. James Nelson's books. Jim was a sailor before becoming an author. I really enjoyed A Voyage for MADMEN by Peter Nichols. - Anything by Frederick Marryat. He was an English naval officer in the early 1800's. If I remember right he was a midshipman at Trafalgar and served with Lord Cochrane who some say was the inspiration for Hornblower and Aubrey. Excellent books written by someone who was there. - Masefield's "Bird of Dawning". Clipper ship story. - Francis Chichester's "Along the Clipper Way", a collection of stories from other authors. - Samuel Elliot Morrison's "European Discovery of America". - George MacDonald Fraser "The Pyrates" (he's most famous for a comic series of books about Harry Flashman, a Victorian soldier). "Blue Latitudes" by Tony Horwitz - Boldly going where Capt. Cook has gone before, recounting Cooks voyages of discovery & then revisiting the people & places 200 yrs later. Part Cook biography, part travelogue & very much a stroke of genius! Anything by Joseph Conrad, "Lord Jim","The Secret Sharer". That George MacDonald Frazer book is great too. The Patrick O'Brien books about Jack Aubrey and Steven Mathurin are my favorites though. "The Cruel Sea " by Nicholas Monsarrat "The last Time Around Cape Horn" The historic 1949 voyage of the Windjammer Pamir By William F Stark "Rules of the Road" Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe That Ended the Outlaws' Bloody Reign by Stephan Talty Flying Cloud: The True Story of America's Most Famous Clipper Ship and the Woman Who Guided Her by David W. Shaw 1851 speed record from NY to SF, navigator was
cap't wife Tracks in the Sea : Matthew Fontaine Maury and the Mapping of the Oceans by Chester G. Hearn invented mapping of the oceans with wind and sea currents, the very little known story and reason for weather reports Racing Through Paradise: A Pacific Passage and Atlantic High: A Celebration by William F. Buckley New Book by Capt. Max Hardberger, author of Freighter Captain, available April 6th. through GCaptain link to Amazon. Seized: A Sea Captain's Adventures Battling Scoundrels and Pirates While Recovering Stolen Ships in the World's Most Troubled Waters My new novel THE CORYDON SNOW is about an EC2 (Liberty Ship) 15 month Pacific cruise in WWII. The Terror by Dan Simmons, an interesting historical/fiction book about a failed attempt to seek the Northwest Passage. The Wave by Susan Casey, "in pursuit of rogues, freaks, and giants of the oceans" basically a book about ridiculous waves and people who have encountered them. (also The Devil's Teeth) In the Heart of The Sea, the tragedy of the Whale ship Essex, by Nathaniel Philbrick, a great historical book about a whale ship that sank and the men that survived, the basis for Moby Dick Lost at Sea by Patrick Dillion, about the crab boats Americus & Altair sinking Leviathan by David L. Golemon, a fiction book about a 1800 era submarine, very fun read. Breverton's Nautical Curiosities by Terry Breverton, a book about the origins of nautical sayings and such, not a read as much as a dictionary. interesting though. The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard is a well researched history of the development of piracy in the Caribbean, and a fun read. It gives the reader a good understanding of why the Bahamas became home to a number of pirates in the 18th century. The only normal people are the ones you do not know very well. Sharkman of Cortez, my memoir about being a commercial shark fisherman in the 60-80's in Southwest Florida. Dark Sea Running George Morrill Pub 1959 Rough Passage Dana G Prescott Pub. 1958 Twillight of sailing ships: Kicking Canvas Capt. A.A. Bestic Published 1957 SAVED!-The Story of the Andrea Doria William Hoffer Published 1979 Disaster at Sea-Collection of sea disaster stories Otto Mielke (German author, originally published in German) 1958 Dangerous Waters-Modern Piracy and Terror on the High Seas John S. Burnett 2002 American Merchant Seaman's Manual Cornell Maritime Press Weather for the Mariner Naval Institute Press 1977 "ten hours until dawn" by michael tougias. White Jacket,reburn,moby dick-meville
The wreck of the Medusa-unknown two years before the mast-dana the last ship-unknown on the beach-nevil shute 20000 leagues under the sea-Verne Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is a true story about a WWII bombardier who survives floating across the pacific in a life raft, only to be captured and taken prisoner by the Japanese. ANYTHING AT ALL BY CAPTAIN ALAN VILLIERS! Any mariner who wants to understand what the men who have preceeded them went through to be seafarers must read his works. Seamen in deepsea square rigged ships where able to do the unbelievable in conditions that us today cannot conceive of suffereing though. My respect for those men is boundless. Melville's Redburn and White Jacket Ten hours till dawn, Unto the Sea Shall Set them free (Marine electric), Simple Courage, and In peril are all fine selections that are captivating reads. Each has some very informative information in post incident discussion. Highly suggest for new and old mariners to gain respect for those who have perished and almost so at sea. A recent read is "The Shipping Man", a novel about ship finance and ownership. For what would seem to be a dry, boring subject, the novel is VERY entertaining. It is a great perspective with regard to how ship owners view mariners and their vessels. It is also a reminder that mariners cannot live without the owners and bankers, either. He does a great job with the different characters; many of which I seem to have run across in my varied maritime career. A VERY entertaining read
