Sailing The Unknown

A sailor boy named Nick travels the uncharted world of the late 1700s in this illustrated account of the historic three-year voyage of the British vessel Endeavour and its captain, James Cook.

"A sailor boy named Nick travels the uncharted world of the late 1700s in this illustrated account of the historic three-year voyage of the British vessel Endeavour and its captain, James Cook"--Provided by publisher.

In early 1968, desperate entrepreneur Donald Crowhurst was trying to sell a nautical navigation device he had developed when he saw that the Sunday Times would be sponsoring the Golden Globe Race, the first ever solo, round-the-world sailing competition. An avid amateur sailor, Crowhurst sensed a marketing opportunity and shocked the world by entering the competition using an untested trimaran of his own design. Shock soon turned to amazement when he quickly took the lead, checking in by radio message from locations far ahead of his seasoned competitors. But on July 10, 1969, roughly eight months after he had sailed from England--and less than two weeks from his expected triumphant return--his wife was informed that his boat, the Teignmouth Electron, had been discovered drifting quietly, abandoned in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Crowhurst was missing, assumed drowned. How did he come to such an end when his race had begun with such incredible promise? In this masterpiece of investigative journalism, Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall reconstruct one of the greatest modern stories of one man's descent into self-delusion, public deception, and madness. Based on in-depth interviews with Crowhurst's family and friends, combined with gripping excerpts from his logbooks that revealed (among other things) he had been falsifying his locations all along, Tomalin and Hall paint an unforgettable, haunting portrait of a complex, deeply troubled man and his final fateful journey.

This book explores the sociology of sailing and yachting. Drawing on original research, and employing a theoretical framework based on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the book argues that sailing is, still, an upper-middle-class activity that has much to tell us about the wider sociology of leisure and sport. The book examines the historical foundations of blue-water sailing as established by naval and colonial shipping, to trace the roots of contemporary sailing and yachting culture. It also examines archives of sailing narratives and cruising guides, as well as the children’s books of Arthur Ransome, arguing that this archival material offers a social rather than a psychological interpretation of the ‘bodily investment’ in sailing. The book uses Bourdieu’s concepts of ‘illusio’ – an investment of time, emotion and body into a worthwhile activity – and ‘habitus’, or lifeworld, alongside contemporary data sets, to examine the yacht club as a social institution, including why many boats never go out on the water, the relationship between yacht clubs and the state, and social issues as manifested in yacht clubs, such as sexism, racism and homophobia. Offering a vigorous sociological critique of yachting and sailing, this book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the sociology of leisure and sport, subcultures, social theory, or social issues in wider society.

Christian Beamish, a former editor at The Surfer’s Journal, envisioned a low-tech, self-reliant exploration for surf along the coast of North America, using primarily clothes and instruments available to his ancestors, and the 18-foot boat he would build by hand in his garage. How the vision met reality – and how the two came to shape each other – places Voyage of the Cormorant in the great American tradition of tales of life at sea, and what it has to teach us.

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year “Brilliantly breathes life not only into the perils of living at sea, but also into the hidden dangers of domesticity, parenthood, and marriage. What a smart, swift, and thrilling novel.” —Lauren Groff, author of Florida Juliet is failing to juggle motherhood and her stalled-out dissertation on confessional poetry when her husband, Michael, informs her that he wants to leave his job and buy a sailboat. With their two kids—Sybil, age seven, and George, age two—Juliet and Michael set off for Panama, where their forty-four foot sailboat awaits them. The initial result is transformative; the marriage is given a gust of energy, Juliet emerges from her depression, and the children quickly embrace the joys of being at sea. The vast horizons and isolated islands offer Juliet and Michael reprieve – until they are tested by the unforeseen. A transporting novel about marriage, family and love in a time of unprecedented turmoil, Sea Wife is unforgettable in its power and astonishingly perceptive in its portrayal of optimism, disillusionment, and survival.

From the mid-fifteenth to mid-eighteenth centuries, the driving force behind world exploration was Europe's growing passion for the luxuries of life and for discovering the uncharted territories that provided these luxuries. We know the shape of the world today because ships, driven by wind and human muscle, were navigated into every last bay and estuary on Earth, searching for this wealth. The ships that made these voyages were the products of a long evolution, and their navigators were the beneficiaries of centuries of accumulated experience. Voyages recounts the extraordinary feats of more than twenty daring maritime explorers, including Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, Martin Frobisher, and James Cook. In narrating these explorers' tales, Gordon Miller touches on the great themes of maritime history, including the development of new maritime technologies, the rise and fall of the maritime empires, and the discovery of new continents. Exquisitely illustrated with almost 100 of the author's paintings and many detailed maps and drawings of sailing ships, Voyages recounts the history of Europe's early navigators as they ventured into the unknown, braving uncharted territory. In carrying out their voyages, these ships and sailors defined the true dimensions of the oceans and coastlines of the world.