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This bibliography does not pretend to include all the works that deal with the lore and legend of the sea. Rather, it consists of the central books consulted for the particular topics covered in this work. A reader interested in pursuing particular themes should consult the sources shown after each entry title in sources and notes preceding this bibliography. (Note that not all books identified in the sources and notes section appear in this bibliography.)
Abranson, Erik. Ships of the High Seas. London: Peter Lowe, 1976. A large-format book showing many of the ships and ship types that have figured in history from early times to the present; informative text-essays for the general reader, excellentillustrations: paintings, b&w drawings, photographs. Glossary, index.
Admiralty Manual of Seamanship, volumes 1, 2, 3. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1972. Consolidated edition incorporating change 1. These three volumes introduce the naval entrant to the language, practices, and customs of professional seamanship in the Royal Navy; the manual focuses on modern warships, but much of the material derives from the days of the wooden navy; many excellent b&w drawings and tables. Appendices, index.
Alderson, Brian. The Arabian Nights, Or, Tales Told by Sheherezade During a Thousand Nights and One Night. New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1995. A delightful translation of selected tales brought to life from the original collection, avoiding the sometimes turgid prose of many other English translations; excellent color illustrations by Foreman.
Ashe, Geoffrey. Mythology of the British Isles. London: Methuen, 1990. An interesting and detailed discussion of the forces that have shaped mythology in this region; illustrated in color. Index.
Ashley, Leonard R. N. The Wonderful World of Superstition, Prophecy, and Luck. New York: Norton, 1984. A lively and readable account of a representative sample of superstitious beliefs concerning people, animals, plants, medicine, health, places, events, with a large section on astrology, luck, dreams, and so on. Useful index.
Bateman, Graham, and Victoria Egan, eds. The Encyclopedia of World Geography. Oxford: Roundhouse, 1993; U.S. edition edited by Peter Haggett, 2nd ed., New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2002.
Beatty, Bill. A Treasury of Australian Folk Tales and Traditions. Sydney: Ure Smith, 1960. An interesting roundup of stories and traditions pertinent to the Australian experience. (Not always accurate: Beatty has the whaler Essex "off the coast of Tasmania" when attacked by a whale in 1820, the incident that led to the cannibalism long famous in seafaring lore; in fact, the Essex was 1,200 miles northeast of the Marquesas, some 7,000 miles from Tasmania.) b&w illustrations. Good index.
Bellingham, David, Clio Whittaker, and John Grant. Myths and Legends: Viking, Oriental, and Greek. London: New Burlington Books, 1992. A very readable account of selected myths from Viking, Greek, and Oriental (Chinese, Indian, Japanese) sources; magnificently illustrated. Index.
Berlitz, Charles. The Mystery of Atlantis. London: Souvenir Press, 1976; U.S. edition 1976, New York: Avon. Tackles this age-old conundrum with missionary zeal; many b&w photographs presented under the coy rubric "could this be a temple?" etc.; interesting but not scientifically compelling.
Berlitz, Charles, with the collaboration of J. Manson Valentine. Without a Trace. London: Souvenir Press, 1977; U.S. edition 1977, Garden City, New York: Doubleday. Discusses a number of curious disappearances, all underlined with hints of possible extraterrestrial powers at work; b&w photographs, many suggesting major revelations imminent.
Blackburn, Graham. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ships, Boats, Vessels, and Other Water-Borne Craft: Comprising an Alphabetical Directory of All Types of Craft Past and Present . . . Woodstock, New York: Overlook Press, 1978. A large-format, magnificently illustrated encyclopedia of almost every kind of watercraft ever known, ranging from 4000 B.C. to modern times, highly recommended to students of the Age of Sail; over 600 b&w line drawings, many cross-referenced. Extensive nautical glossary, useful bibliography, index of named vessels.
Boland, Charles Michael. They All Discovered America. New York: Pocket Books, 1963. The well-known and controversial account of voyages to America said to have occurred many hundreds of years before Columbus; interesting but not decisive discussion supported by photographs and line illustrations. Index; selected reading list for each chapter.
Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Also published as Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Rev. ed., revised by Ivor H. Evans, London: Cassell, 1981. U.S. edition revised by Adrian Room, 16th ed. rev., New York: HarperResource, 1999. Excellent compact guide, famous for its sound scholarship; useful as a secondary source.
Bridges, Thomas Charles. The Book of the Sea. London: G. G. Harrap & Co., 1927; rev. ed., 1934. A somewhat old-fashioned account of matters maritime, interesting for all that. Some photographs and color plates, many line drawings. No index.
Burman, Edward. The World Before Columbus, 1100–1492. London: W. H. Allen, 1989. A scholarly and well-written discussion that argues that all geographical discovery is really rediscovery; useful to readers who wish to pursue this topic. Extensive bibliography, good index.
Caldwell, John. Desperate Voyage. London: Transworld Publishers, 1957. Originally published 1950, London: Gollancz; U.S. edition 1991, Dobbs Ferry, New York: Sheridan House. A stirring account of a remarkable voyage from Panama to Australia by a man who had never before set foot on a sailboat. In 1946 Caldwell, an American merchant marine seaman anxious to get back to Mary, his Australian wife in Sydney, bought the 29-foot cutter Pagan in Panama and set out, ending up wrecked in the Fijis; the incredible story ends at Sydney airport, in the arms of his wife.
Clark, David. Vanished! Mysterious Disappearances. London: Michael O'Mara Books, 1990; published in the U.S. as Vanished! True Tales of Mysterious Disappearances, Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1991. A generally well-researched survey of some famous disappearances of persons, ships, and airplanes, written mostly for the popular market. Photographs, with suggested further reading for each topic. No index.
Coles, K. Adlard. Heavy Weather Sailing, 3rd ed. London: Granada Publishing, 1967, 1980. Published in the U.S. as Adlard Coles' Heavy Weather Sailing, edited by Peter Bruce, 30th ann. ed., International Marine, Camden, Maine, 1999. A classic, essential text for all deepwater sailors by a man who sailed for more than fifty years, in all kinds of weather; describes and analyzes the experiences of sailors who have survived storms and severe gales; b&w photographs and diagrams. Appendices, good index.
Cook, James. The Explorations of Captain James Cook in the Pacific: As Told By Selections of His Own Journals, 1768–1779. Edited by A. Grenfell Price. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1969. Originally published 1958, Melbourne: Georgian House; U.S. edition 1988, Norwalk, Connecticut: Easton Press. A biography of a man widely regarded as the greatest sailing ship seaman ever; covers Cook's three voyages, with commentary and notes, happily retaining Cook's wonderful spelling; excellent b&w line drawings. No index.
Cooper, Russell. Shark Bay Legends. Geraldton, Western Australia: L. J. Cogan, 1997. A history of the early days in the Shark Bay (central west) region of Western Australia; this general area is where the light cruiser HMAS Sydney was sunk by the German raider Kormoran on November 19, 1941, with the loss of all hands.
Cotterell, Arthur. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Myths and Legends. Sydney: Collins Australia, 1989; published in the U.S. as The Macmillan Illustrated Encyclopedia of Myths and Legends, New York: Macmillan, 1989. A scholarly survey of myths and legends of some eighteen different cultures, each story presented in a compact and readable form. Well illustrated; includes a Micropedia listing more than a thousand short entries on mythological subjects; further reading suggested for each cultural area. Extensive index.
Dana, Richard Henry. Two Years Before the Mast. London: Arrow Books, 1973. Originally published anonymously, 1840; published in the U.S. as Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea, New York: Modern Library, 2001. The famous account of life at sea as it really was in the early nineteenth century. Dana shipped aboard an American vessel as a common sailor for a voyage around the Horn; his experience of brutality and injustice afloat led him to write what almost immediately became a classic of the sea, which it remains to this day.
Dash, Mike. "Batavia"'s Graveyard. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002; U.S. edition 2002, New York: Crown Publishers. Perhaps the best and certainly to date the most thoroughly researched account of the wreck of the Dutch East Indies ship Batavia, which in 1629 piled up on the reefs and sandy cays off the central Western Australian coast. A mutiny then turned into wholesale bloody murder; of the 322 people on board, at least 110 were slaughtered; copious notes. Good index.
Davey, Gwenda Beed, and Graham Seal, eds. The Oxford Companion to Australian Folklore. New York and Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1993. A thorough if somewhat sober discussion of Australian folklore, written in a scholarly fashion; arranged alphabetically and cross-indexed; many contemporary photographs.
Dixon, R. M. W., W. S. Ramson, and Mandy Thomas. Australian Aboriginal Words in English: Their Origin and Meaning. New York and Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1990. Deals with most (about 400) of the Aboriginal words assimilated into Australian English from the 250 or so languages spoken in Australia before white men arrived in 1788; written by recognized scholars; some b&w illustrations. Good index.
Dixon-Kennedy, Mike. Celtic Myth and Legend: An A–Z of People and Places. London: Blandford, 1996. An A–Z of people and places arranged in dictionary format; persons and sites associated with Celtic lore are explained in brief but compact detail; appendices list Celtic genealogies and non-Celtic deities and heroes (though, curiously, Jason of Argonaut fame is missing); very useful first reference. Excellent bibliography.
Drabble, Margaret, ed. The Oxford Companion to English Literature, rev. ed. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Edwards, Hugh. Islands of Angry Ghosts. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1969. Originally published 1966, London: Hodder & Stoughton. Arkon paperback ed., 1979. A detailed and well-researched account of the wreck of the Dutch vessel Batavia on the Western Australian coast in 1629 and the mayhem, mutiny, and bloody slaughter that followed; also describes the discovery of the wreck site in the 1960s. Index.
Encyclopædia Britannica. 24 volumes. Harry S. Ashmore, editor in chief. London: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1961 edition.
Encyclopedia of World Mythology. London: Octopus Books, 1975; U.S. edition 1975, New York: Galahad Books. Selected myths from Egypt, the Middle East, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Northern and Central Europe, and the Celts, with the mythology of animals and plants; profusely illustrated in color. Extensive index.
Freuchen, Peter. Peter Freuchen's Book of the Seven Seas. London: Jonathan Cape, 1958; U.S. edition 2003, Guilford, Connecticut: Lyon's Press. This very readable, famous sea-lover's broad-ranging history of the significance to man of the world's oceans covers exploration and discovery, trade and empire, and the inevitable wars fought to gain control of it all; b&w photographs, line drawings, tables, maps. Good index.
Garrett, Richard. Voyage Into Mystery: Reports from Sinister Side of the Sea. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987. A discussion of various mysteries to do with the sea: sea monsters, phantom ships, floating man-made islands, and other imponderables; some b&w photographs. No index.
German, A. W., ed. The Log of Mystic Seaport. Mystic, Connecticut: Mystic Seaport Museum, vol. 41, no. 2, 1989; vol. 42, 1990; vol. 44, no. 3, 1992; vol. 45, no. 2, 1993; vol. 46, no. 1, 1994a; vol. 46, no. 2, 1994b; vol. 48, no. 2, 1996. A quarterly bulletin on a wide variety of seafaring topics, well written, good illustrations.
Gerritsen, Rupert. And Their Ghosts May be Heard. South Fremantle, Western Australia: Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1994. An extensively researched and compelling examination of the possibility (leading to a distinct likelihood) that many sailors shipwrecked on the coast of Western Australia in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries found refuge with various groups of Aborigines. Gerritsen argues his case with particular reference to Dutch seamen cast ashore along the central coast, between Perth and Shark Bay; maps, b&w line drawings, some photographs; copious notes. No index.
Gordon, Stuart. The Encyclopedia of Myths and Legends. London: Headline, 1993. A comprehensive and useful introduction to world mythology; arranged alphabetically, extensive cross-references; includes a concordance of themes discussed. Large bibliography.
Grimal, Pierre. The Penguin Dictionary of Classical Mythology, abridged ed. Edited by Stephen Kershaw, translated by A. R. Maxwell-Hyslop. New York and London: Penguin Books, 1991. Excellent introduction to the mythology of Ancient Greece and Rome (the English translation reads well); arranged alphabetically, with genealogical tables to help the reader navigate the complexities of family life on Mount Olympus.
Haining, Peter. Superstitions. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1979. Interesting and well-researched information on the myriad superstitions entertained by all manner of people; written for the popular market; many b&w photographs and line illustrations. Index.
Hakluyt, Richard. Voyages and Documents. Edited by Janet Hampden. London: Oxford University Press, 1958. Issued by Oxford in The World's Classics, a selection from Richard Hakluyt's remarkable work of 1598–1600 (The Principal Navigations,Voiages, Traffiqves and Discoueries of the English Nation); indispensable for the researcher seeking the flavor of original accounts. Excellent introduction by the editor; chronology of important maritime events, glossary of terms in common use four hundred years ago. Extensive index.
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. Boston: Little, Brown, 1942. One of those rarities: an extremely accessible account of "timeless tales of gods and heroes" written by a world-renowned classicist; selected stories from Greek, Roman, Norse mythology; b&w line drawings, genealogical tables. Good index.
Hampshire, A. Cecil. Just an Old Navy Custom. London: W. Kimber, 1979. A fascinating account of the background of many of the naval expressions still used today, written by a man who spent a lifetime in the Royal Navy; many b&w photographs. Useful bibliography, good index.
Hanson, Neil. The Custom of the Sea. London: Doubleday, 1999; U.S. edition 1999, New York: Wiley. This is the true and well-written story of the British yacht Mignonette, wrecked in 1884 by a terrible storm during a voyage from Southampton to Sydney. When the survivors were finally rescued it was clear that they had resorted to cannibalism, Hanson's "custom of the sea." The trial of these survivors kept Britain awake at night. Select bibliography.
Hardwick, John Michael Drinkrow, and Mollie Hardwick. The World's Greatest Sea Mysteries. London: Odhams Books, 1967. An entertaining and informative summary of maritime mysteries, written for the general public but well researched; many line drawings. Bibliography, good index.
Hayter, Adrian. "Sheila" in the Wind: A Story of a Lone Voyage. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1959. Soon after the end of World War II, Hayter, demobilized from the British army, set out to return home to New Zealand by way of the Suez Canal. The story of his voyage—which lasted six years (1950–56)—is a fascinating account of how a man, if he so wishes, can become entirely at one with the elements. (Nevertheless, he was washed ashore on the Western Australian coast in 1951; as a result, the author of this book, still a boy, met the man himself.)
Heyerdahl, Thor. The "Kon-Tiki" Expedition: By Raft Across the South Seas. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1963. English translation by F. H. Lyon first published 1950 by Allen & Unwin, London. The famous voyage made by the Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl and five companions: in 1947 they sailed a balsa raft from South America across the South Pacific to show that the Polynesians could have descended from seagoing Incas of Peru; the raft was eventually wrecked east of Tahiti; b&w photographs. Index.
Hiscock, Eric C. Cruising Under Sail, 2nd ed. New York and London: Oxford University Press, 1965; first published 1950 by Oxford University Press. Published in the U.S. as Cruising Under Sail: Incorporating Voyaging Under Sail in 1981, now in its 3rd ed., Camden, Maine: International Marine, 1985. Regarded by many as the bible for cruising sailors, written by a man who knew through long and varied experience what he was talking about; covers every facet of maintaining a sailboat and handling it in all kinds of weather; exceptionally well illustrated: b&w photographs and diagrams. Three appendices (including a bibliography), glossary, excellent index. Highly recommended.
———. Voyaging Under Sail. New York and London: Oxford University Press, 1959. A superb text on deep-sea voyaging by a man who was not only a consummate seaman himself but also a gifted writer and photographer. Hiscock discusses all aspects of preparing for sea and how to manage it when you get there; many b&w photographs; diagrams, tables. Appendices, excellent index. Highly recommended.
Homer. The Odyssey, translated by E. V. Rieu. New York and Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1945; reissued 1967. Revised translation by D. C. H. Rieu, 2003. The original is still one of the best and more readable accounts of the adventures of Odysseus, translated by a recognized scholar.
Horder, Mervyn. On Their Own: Shipwrecks and Survivals. London: Duckworth, 1988. A well-researched account of shipwrecked people who by various means and aided by not a little good luck have managed to survive the experience despite very adverse circumstances.
Irvine, Lucy. Castaway. London: V. Gollancz, 1983.
Jacob, Trevor K., and Jim Vellios. Southland, The Maritime Exploration of Australia. Perth, Western Australia: Ministry of Education, 1987. Excellent large-format volume produced for use in Western Australian schools; discusses the history of maritime contact with the Australian continent; abundant color illustrations. Reading list, good index.
Jeans, Peter. My Word: Digressions on Language, Literature, and Life. Perth, Western Australia: St. George Books, 1993. A collection of articles on language written for the West Australian newspaper. Index.
———. Ship to Shore: A Dictionary of Everyday Words and Phrases Derived from the Sea. Camden, Maine: International Marine, 2004. First published 1993 by ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, California. Surveys the extent to which seafaring language has for many hundreds of years been adopted into everyday English; dictionary format; illustrated with excellent b&w line drawings by marine artist Ross Shardlow; four appendices.
Jordan, Michael. Myths of the World: A Thematic Encyclopedia. London: K. Cathie, 1993. An interesting and well-written account of worldwide myths (Myths of Childhood, Myths of Immortality, etc.), arranged as chapters; not illustrated, but a useful appendix showing myths by culture. Index is neither extensive enough nor arranged satisfactorily.
Kemp, Peter, ed. The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. London: Paladin, 1979; U.S. edition 1976, New York: Oxford University Press, reprinted 1988 with corrections. An excellent compendium of maritime lore, focusing mostly on sail, written by experts and edited by a distinguished naval historian (but occasionally at variance with other sources in the matter of dates; note, too, that the entry for Fremantle, the principal port of Western Australia, identifies that city as the state's capital, which no doubt will very much surprise the citizens of Perth while delighting those of Fremantle); dictionary format; well illustrated with many photographs and drawings.
Kennedy, Ludovic. A Book of Sea Journeys. London: Fontana, 1982. An anthology of some of the best writing by, and about, people at sea, from journals, letters, verbatim reports, fiction; ranges from 1500 to present times, covering a satisfying variety of seafaring experiences; illustrated.
Knowlson, T. Sharper. The Origins of Popular Superstitions and Customs. London: T. Werner Laurie, 1930; reissued 1994, London: Senate. Discusses the background to a wide range of popular superstitions (though including only a few nautical beliefs); useful only as a secondary source. Adequate index.
Landström, Björn. The Ship: A Survey of the History of the Ship from the Primitive Raft to the Nuclear-Powered Submarine. Translated by Michael Phillips. London: Allen & Unwin, 1961. This is the famous and probably very best general survey of ship types available today; examines the history of mankind's association with the sea from prehistoric times to the present; magnificently illustrated in color and b&w. Highly recommended.
Le Golif, Louis Adhémar Timothée. The Memoirs of a Buccaneer: Being a Wondrous and Unrepentant Account of the Prodigious Adventures and Amours of King Louis XIV's Loyal Servant, Louis Adhemar Timothee Le Golif, Known for his Singular Wound as Borgnefesse, Captain of the Buccaneers. Translated by Malcolm Barnes. Edited by G. Alaux and A. t'Serstevens. London: Allen & Unwin, 1954. Originally published in French as Cahiers de Louis Adhé-mar Timothée Le Golif dit Borgnefesse, Capitaine de la Flibuste, 1952, Paris: Bernard Grasset. U.S. edition 1954, New York: Simon & Schuster. The plain, unvarnished, and always diverting account of a young man who, having studied for the Church and there found wanting, took passage to the West Indies, fell in with a band of buccaneers and filibusters, and entered on a heady life of roistering adventure.
Leslie, Edward E. Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls: True Stories of Castaways and Other Survivors. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988. This is a particularly well-written account of survivors of maritime disasters, all of them true stories painstakingly researched and told in a clear and compelling fashion; highly recommended to students of the literature of the sea; extensive notes on each chapter. Excellent bibliography.
Lewis, David. We, the Navigators: The Ancient Art of Landfinding in the Pacific. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1972; U.S. 2nd edition edited by Sir Derek Oulton, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994. Dr. David Lewis is well known among yachtsmen not only for his wide experience and skill in world voyaging but also for his abiding interest in the traditions of long-distance oceanic navigation practiced by the Polynesian peoples for thousands of years; highly recommended to all mariners who use a GPS, the batteries of which will one day certainly expire, far out at sea.
Lewis, Jon, ed. Giant Book of the 20th Century. Sydney: The Book Company International, 1995. A collection of reports, letters, and extracts from longer pieces, all dealing with a wide variety of events, beginning with Kipling's account of a skirmish in the Boer War, 1900, ending with Nelson Mandela voting in South Africa, 1994; many of the accounts are eyewitness reports, all are engaging.
Lind, Lew. Sea Jargon: A Dictionary of the Unwritten Language of the Sea. Kenthurst, New South Wales: Kangaroo Press, 1982. An extensive collection of naval jargon used in the messes, wardrooms, and fo'c'sles of the English-speaking navies and merchant services of the world.
Lloyd, Christopher. The British Seaman 1200–1860: A Social Survey. London: Collins, 1968. U.S. edition 1968, Rutherford, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press; reprinted 1970. A detailed study of the life of the British sailor, 1200–1860, which examines the problems involved in manning the king's ships; an essential reference for the student of naval warfare; tables. Bibliography, index.
Macksey, Kenneth, and William Woodhouse. The Penguin Encyclopedia of Modern Warfare: 1850 to the Present Day. New York and London: Viking, 1991. Beginning in 1850 and ending in 1982 with the Falklands War, chronicles man's eternal preoccupation with fighting his fellow man; it describes, in a style that is always clear and concise, some fifty serious clashes, campaigns, and full-blown wars, as well as the rapidly evolving strategies and technologies that enable us to visit death and destruction on each other. Fully cross-referenced, dozens of maps and diagrams; chronology. Bibliography, excellent index.
Masefield, John. Sea Life in Nelson's Time, 4th ed. London: Conway Maritime Press, 1984; first published 1905; U.S. edition 2002, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. A nuts-and-bolts account of the kind of life that seamen led in the time of Nelson (1758–1805), written by a man who joined the training ship HMS Conway as a boy in 1891 and who went to sea at age fifteen, spending some years in windjammers rounding the Horn before leaving the sea to take up journalism; profusely illustrated, b&w drawings, woodcuts, and photographs. Bibliography, index.
Mason, Michael, Basil Greenhill, and Robin Craig. The British Seafarer. London: Hutchinson/BBC in association with the National Maritime Museum, 1980; unpaginated. The book from BBC Radio 4's serial history, The British Seafarer (1980); a wonderful collection of b&w photographs and drawings to illustrate the text, entirely extracts from the writings of those who went to sea and those who waited for them to return.
Mercatante, Anthony S. The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend. New York: Facts on File, 1988. One of the very best works available on world mythology; a large-format scholarly account of more than 3,000 myths, with many b&w line drawings; entries arranged alphabetically, with serial numbers for cross-referencing; a very extensive annotated bibliography divided into geographical, cultural, ethnic groupings; key to variant spellings. Cultural and ethnic index cross-referenced to the entries, and a massive general index. Highly recommended.
Meteorological Office. Meteorology for Mariners, with a Section on Oceanography, 2nd ed. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1967. The official handbook on all matters to do with weather, climate, oceanography as they affect those who insist on going down to the sea in ships; Columbus and Cook and all those hardy souls in the intervening three hundred years would have given much for this tome; many b&w drawings, tables, inserted charts. Good index.
Moitessier, Bernard. Cape Horn, The Logical Route: 14,216 Miles without Port of Call. Translated by Inge Moore. London: Hart-Davis MacGibbon, 1977. First published in English 1969, London: Adlard Coles. Published in the U.S. as Cape Horn: The Logical Route, Ferry, New York: Sheridan House, 2003. Originally published in French as Cap Horn à la voile: 14.000 milles sans escale in 1967, Paris: Les Éditions Arthaud/Flammarion. An account by the doyen of modern long-distance yachtsmen of a voyage with his wife from Tahiti to France by way of Cape Horn, told by a man who understands the power and the beauty of the world's oceans; b&w photographs, maps, diagrams.
———. The Long Way. Translated by William Rodarmor. London: Granada, 1973, reprinted 1983. U.S. edition 1973, Garden City, New York: Doubleday. Originally published as La longue route in 1971, Paris: Les Éditions Arthaud/Flammarion. In 1968 Moitessier set out in the Singlehanded Round the World Race, but after passing the three capes (Good Hope, Leeuwin, Horn) and while still in the lead, he withdrew and carried on into the Pacific once more, to be with friends; an interesting account of one man's relationship with the sea; color photographs, b&w diagrams, drawings.
Morris, Roger. Pacific Sail: Four Centuries of Western Ships in the Pacific. Southampton: Ashford, 1987; U.S. edition 1987, Camden, Maine: International Marine. This is a sumptuous visual feast of the ships that have voyaged across the Pacific in the past four centuries as they pursued exploration, warfare, and trade; accompanying the magnificent watercolors and b&w drawings are extended notes about details of rigging, sails, early navigation, and so on, as well as commentaries on the principal characters involved. Essential for students of sail; glossary. References, copious index. Highly recommended.
Morton, Harry. The Wind Commands: Sailors and Sailing Ships in the Pacific. St. Lucia, Australia: University of Queensland Press, 1975, reprinted 1980. A scholarly and very readable treatise on seafarers and their ships in the Pacific, spanning some four centuries of maritime affairs. Well illustrated with photographs, line drawings; glossary of nautical terms used. Extensive bibliography, excellent index. Highly recommended.
Mowat, Farley. Westviking: The Ancient Norse in Greenland and North America. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1965; U.S. edition 1965, Boston: Little, Brown. A detailed, scholarly discussion of the voyages made by the Norsemen to the North American continent, beginning with their settlement in Iceland in A.D. 870; eminently readable, with meticulous reference to the sagas of the Norsemen; excellent appendices explaining chronology and sources; b&w maps. Detailed index. Highly recommended.
Murray, Alexander S. Who's Who in Mythology: Classic Guide to the Ancient World, 2nd ed, rev. and enl. London: Bracken, 1994; a reprint of the earlier enlarged Manual of Mythology, 2nd ed. A popular exposition, by a famous scholar, of the gods, heroes, villains in Greek and Roman mythology; somewhat more discursive than Seyffert (see below) but perhaps not as inclusive; sections on Norse, Indian, Egyptian mythology; b&w woodcuts. Good index.
Newby, Eric. The Last Grain Race. London: Pan Books, 1972; first published 1956, London: Secker & Warburg. U.S. edition 1984, New York: Penguin Books, reprinted 1986. The famous story of the last grain race between a number of square-riggers in 1938–39; nineteen-year-old Newby shipped aboard the four-masted bark Moshulu as Ordinary Seaman and completed the voyage, Belfast to Port Lincoln (South Australia) and return to Queenstown (Ireland); Newby relates the adventure of a lifetime in a clear and compelling style; b&w photographs.
———. Round Ireland in Low Gear. London: Picador, 1987, reprinted 1988. U.S. edition 1987, New York: Penguin Books, reprinted 1989. An entertaining account of a bicycle tour of Ireland in the 1980s. Newby is well known for his travel writing; as a young man he sailed in the last square-rigger grain race (see above); maps, line drawings. Good index.
Newton, Michael. Monsters, Mysteries, and Man. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1979. Useful for background to sea monsters, but somewhat breathless in its "discussion" of UFOs; some b&w photographs, line drawings. Modest index.
Nordhoff, Charles, and James Norman Hall. Pitcairn's Island. New York: Pocket Books, 1954; originally published 1934, Boston: Little, Brown. The final book in the Bounty trilogy (the first two are Mutiny on the "Bounty" and Men Against the Sea). All three give a fictionalized account of the famous mutiny and its aftermath, later romanticized out of all recognition (and belief) by Hollywood. Nordhoff and Hall diligently researched all available sources in writing these historical novels.
Odgers, George. Diggers: The Australian Army, Navy and Air Force in Eleven Wars. Sydney: Lansdowne, 1994. A large-format, richly illustrated survey of the involvement of Australian defense personnel in conflicts ranging from the Land Wars against the Maoris in 1860 to the (first) Gulf War in 1990, with two World Wars and other bitter conflicts in between and the inevitable peacekeeping missions that follow. Excellent index.
Palmer, Robin. A Dictionary of Mythical Places. New York: H. Z. Walck, 1975. Readable accounts of legendary settings such as the many mythical islands that feature in man's yearnings; b&w drawings.
Philbrick, Nathaniel. In the Heart of the Sea: The Epic True Story that Inspired Moby Dick. London: HarperCollins, 2000; published in the U.S. as In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship "Essex," New York: Viking, 2000. Probably the best account available of the sinking, by an enraged whale, of the Nantucket whaleship Essex in 1820, an event that set in train not only one of the classic stories of cannibalism at sea but also became the source for Herman Melville's famous novel Moby-Dick. Extensive select bibliography, index.
Pope, Dudley. The Black Ship. New York: Henry Holt, 1998; first published 1963, London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson. In 1797, while cruising in the Caribbean, a group of seamen on board HMS Hermione waged the bloodiest mutiny ever to occur in the British navy: the captain and nine of his officers were summarily dispatched by cutlass, hatchet, and knife. Pope has masterfully told the story of this incident, together with details of how the navy, over a period of years, brought most of the mutineers to account.
Raban, Jonathan, ed. The Oxford Book of the Sea. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. An intelligent and evocative selection of writing that focuses on the meaning of the sea in literature; ranges from A.D. 900 to present times; excellent introduction.
Reader's Digest editors. Reader's Digest Illustrated Story of World War II. Sydney: Reader's Digest, 1970. A large-format account of the Second World War, told graphically in the form of essays, maps, dozens of excellent b&w photographs; chronology of outstanding events. Detailed index.
Rees, Nigel. Why Do We Say—?: Words and Sayings and Where They Come From. New York and London: Blandford, 1987. A survey of some popular phrases in current usage by a well-respected researcher in the field.
Robertson, Dougal. Survive the Savage Sea. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1975; U.S. edition 1994, Dobbs Ferry, New York: Sheridan House. In 1972 the schooner Lucette was rammed and sunk in the central Pacific, west of the Galápagos Islands, by killer whales, with four adults and two children on board. Their vessel sank immediately. The family took to their rubber dinghy, and with food and water for only three days the Robertsons drifted for over five weeks before being rescued by a Japanese fishing vessel. A modern classic of survival at sea; b&w drawings and one photograph. No index.
Robertson, Robert Blackwood. Of Whales and Men. London: Macmillan, 1956; reprinted 1958, London: The Reprint Society, London. U.S. edition 1966, New York: Knopf. An intelligent and warm-hearted account of whaling in the Southern Ocean; b&w photographs.
Robinson, Herbert Spencer, and Knox Wilson. The Encyclopædia of Myths and Legends of All Nations, rev. ed. Edited by Barbara Leonie Picard. London: Edmund Ward, 1962. A modest but exceptionally well-organized and readable survey of myth worldwide; chapters devoted to individual cultures. Topical index and extensive general index. Recommended.
Rodger, N. A. M. The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy. London: Collins, 1986; U.S. edition 1986, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. This is a scholarly and very readable investigation in considerable detail of life in the British navy of the eighteenth century; b&w photographs of ships and personalities of the period; glossary of sailing terms of the period. Index. Recommended.
Rogers, Stanley. Sea-Lore. London: G. G. Harrap & Co, 1929. A lively account of various aspects of life at sea, written in nontechnical language, with competent b&w illustrations by the author. Index.
Seligman, Adrian. The Voyage of the "Cap Pilar," 3rd ed. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1947; first published 1939; U.S. edition 1947, New York: E. P. Dutton. An account of one of the very last square-riggers to put to sea. In 1936 Seligman, his new wife, and a changing group of young men sailed this three-masted bark around the world, returning to London two years later at the end of 1938; an interesting and well-told tale.
Severin, Tim. The Brendan Voyage. London: Hutchinson, 1978; U.S. edition 2000, New York: Modern Library. Follows in the wake of the Kon-Tiki as one of the great sea voyages of modern times. Severin and his companions set out in 1976 to explore the possibility that the sixth-century Irish monk Saint Brendan could have sailed from Ireland to America; thirteen months later Severin's leather boat, the Brendan, made landfall at Newfoundland. A stirring account, with color photographs.
Seyffert, Oskar. The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Religion, Literature, and Art, rev. ed. Edited by Henry Nettleship and J. E. Sandys. New York: Gramercy Books, 1995. Originally published in English in 1891 as Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (translated from the German), contains a wealth of information on various classical themes like myth, geography, marriage, gladiators, architecture, the Trojan War, and so on, profusely illustrated with hundreds of b&w line drawings and cuts. General index, illustrations index. Highly recommended.
Shakespeare, William. The Complete Illustrated Shakespeare. Edited by Howard Staunton. Bombay: Lalvani Publishing House, 1989. U.S. edition 1989, New York: Gallery Books. First published 1858, 1859, 1866, 3 vols., London & New York: George Routledge & Sons. A superb example of Victorian editing by one of the foremost Shakespearean scholars of his time; extensively illustrated, b&w line drawings; copious notes and glossary; consulted here for its contemporary comments on maritime matters in, for example, The Tempest.
Simmons, James C. Castaway in Paradise: The Incredible Adventures of True-Life Robinson Crusoes. Dobbs Ferry, New York: Sheridan House, 1993. This is a highly readable account of a number of castaways ranging from Alexander Selkirk on Màs a Tierra island (the original of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe) through the terrible Essex incident in 1820 involving cannibalism at sea to more modern episodes such as the famous Minerva Reef story in the west central Pacific, 1962; well researched and highly recommended. Further reading, extensive bibliography, index.
Slocum, Joshua. Sailing Alone Around the World. New York: Dover Publications, 1956. The account of the first single-handed circumnavigation of the world (1895–98), told with wit and charm by the man who became famous for doing it; Slocum is one of the few to have accomplished this feat without a motor of any kind (Harry Pidgeon is another, in 1921–25); many b&w line drawings.
Time-Life Books. The Seafarers. Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1980 and other dates, various authors. The famous series comprising these volumes: Ancient Mariners, Armada, Atlantic Crossing, Clipper Ships, Dreadnoughts, East Indiamen, Explorers, Fighting Sail, Frigates, Great Liners, Luxury Yachts, Men-of-War, Northwest Passage, Pacific Navigators, Pirates, Racing Yachts, Spanish Main, U-Boats, Venetians, Vikings, Whalers, Windjammers. All richly illustrated. Each includes bibliography and index. Highly recommended.
Tryckare, Tre. The Lore of Ships. New York: Crescent Books, 1975. A large-format survey of shipping from the early days of sail to the modern warship, very attractively illustrated with exquisitely executed detailed and informative drawings in color and b&w. Excellent index. Highly recommended.
Unsworth, Barry, ed. and intro. Classic Sea Stories. London: Bracken, 1994. A selection of nautical literature from ancient times to the present, embracing fiction and nonfiction sources from (in order of presentation) Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Bible, Arabia, Persia, the Celts, Great Britain, the United States of America, France, Modern Greece, Holland, Germany, Poland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Japan. Useful as supplementary source material.
Vare, Ethlie Ann, and Greg Ptacek. Mothers of Invention: From the Bra to the Bomb: Forgotten Women and Their Unforgettable Ideas. New York: Morrow, 1988. An interesting and challenging investigation of some important inventions commonly ascribed to men but which, the author shows, really owe their genesis to the earlier work of women; topics treated include Liquid Paper, automatic flight controls, calculus, computer languages, penicillin, smallpox inoculation, DNA molecule, X and Y chromosomes, and maritime signal flares.
Villiers, Alan. Captain James Cook. New York: Scribner, 1967. A biography of a great seaman—perhaps the greatest—by a man who himself was a master mariner and a writer of considerable note. Villiers recounts the three voyages of Cook in a simple, clear, and thoroughly compelling style; maps, b&w illustrations. Bibliography, index. Highly recommended.
Wannan, Bill. A Dictionary of Australian Folklore: Lore, Legends, and Popular Allusions. Sydney: Lansdowne Press, 1970. Reprinted with another subtitle 1987, Ringwood, Victoria: Viking O'Neil. The best compendium available on this subject, compiled by the acknowledged expert on Australian folklore; extensive articles arranged alphabetically; b&w photographs, line drawings.
White, Howard. "The Cadborosaurus Meets Hubert Evans," in Pat Norris, Time and Tide: A History of Telegraph Cove. Raincoast Chronicles, 16. Madeira Park, British Columbia: Harbour Publishing, 1995. Local stories and reports of matters maritime in British Columbia.
Williams, Gwyn A. Excalibur: The Search for Arthur. London: BBC Books, 1994. A well-written and scholarly account of the Arthurian legend; extensively illustrated with color and b&w photographs and paintings. Good bibliography and index.
Willis, William. The Epic Voyage of the Seven Little Sisters: A 6,700 Mile Voyage Alone Across the Pacific. London: Hutchinson, 1956. Published in the U.S. 1955 as The Gods Were Kind: An Epic 6,700 Mile Voyage Alone Across the Pacific, New York: Dutton. In 1954 Willis (a German-born American) sailed a balsa raft from Callao, Peru, to Pago Pago in American Samoa, taking some four months to cover 6,700 miles, a much greater distance than the Kon-Tiki seven years earlier (see Heyerdahl 1963); a classic tale. Maps, b&w photographs, appendix.
———. The Hundred Lives of an Ancient Mariner: An Autobiography. London: Hutchinson, 1967. The fascinating autobiography of an indefatigable adventurer, born in Germany and raised in America; in 1963, at age seventy, Willis built Age Unlimited, a steel raft, and—as with Seven Little Sisters (see above)—sailed it from Callao across the South Pacific, this time to the Queensland coast of eastern Australia, a voyage of over 11,000 miles in 204 days (recounted in full in An Angel On Each Shoulder).
Witchell, Nicholas, The Loch Ness Story, 2nd rev. ed. Lavenham, England: Dalton, 1976. A thorough but not entirely disinterested review of the Loch Ness tale; the author seems anxious to convince the reader of Nessie's existence; supporting b&w photographs are less than compelling. Bibliography and index.