Amazing Sailing Stories: True Adventures from the High Seas

by Dick Durham

Overview

Set sail on a thrilling journey to discover some of the most exciting tales of adventure afloat. There's every sort of vessel from majestic square rigger to humble homemade yacht. Journey around gale-whipped headlands and survive mountainous seas – or turn the page to discover the delights of cruising among the islands of a tropical paradise. The exploits of sailing's greatest names are recounted, along with an eclectic mix of tales that never made the headlines, yet make compelling reading. Discover a treasure trove of sailing stories from across centuries, and from the four corners of the globe. This is wonderful reading for anyone with a love of sailing and the sea.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781119952626
Publisher:	Fernhurst Books Limited
Publication date:	08/23/2011
Series:	Amazing Stories , #1
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	395 KB

About the Author

In his childhood Dick Durham explored the creeks and rivers of Essex, Kent and Suffolk in a collection of dinghies and dayboats. When he left school he signed on as mate of the Thames sailing barge Cambria, and served on the last working Thames barge before beginning his writing career on Fleet Street, writing for national newspapers and sailing magazines. He joined Yachting Monthly in 1998 as a feature writer and news editor and has travelled the globe in search of the best sailing stories and adventures. He is well known for his powerful and poetic writing style.

Read an Excerpt

VOYAGE OF DESPERATION

With no sailing or navigation experience John Caldwell set out from Panama on a 9 500-mile voyage to get back to his wife in Australia. His voyage included shark attack, starvation and shipwreck

The lack of shipping, at the end of World War II, prompted lovesick John Caldwell to embark on one of the most foolhardy voyages in the annals of sailing history because he was pining for his newly-wed wife Mary. They had married in 1945, but she was back in Sydney, Australia and the boatless Caldwell had come ashore at Balboa, Panama in May 1946 after working as a merchant seaman aboard a US Liberty ship distributing Australian troops to Borneo.

So the 27-year-old Texan bought Pagan, a 29 ft cutter which had 1 000 pounds of cement poured into her bilge to help the 600-pound lead shoe nailed onto the keel keep her 40 ft mast upright. She would not have been everyone’s choice of craft in which to cross the Pacific

Ocean.

With no experience of sailing or navigation other than that which he had managed to glean from a basic book: How To Sail, Caldwell set off with two cats, Flotsam and Jetsam for company and 248 tins of food and 95 gallons of water. With the engine running and the helm lashed he walked forward to stow the anchor and cable, but while carrying the anchor he tripped and plunged overboard and went down with the hook until he let go and fought his way to the surface. Here he found his little ship driving round and round the dragging anchor.

Table of Contents

Part One Survival

Voyage of Desperation 3

Three Months Adrift in a Rubber Dinghy 7

The True Story ofMobyDick 10

Psychopaths in the Fo’c’sle 14

Once is More Than Enough 20

The Greatest Sea Voyage of All Time? 23

Decoy Ship 27

Death Did Not Deter Her 30

Bligh: A Flawed Real Life ‘Master and Commander’ 33

Drifting Alone Across the Ocean in a Punctured Life-Raft 37

Part Two Calm

A Ship Swallowed by a Cave 43

Orchestra from Hell 48

Death at the Helm 51

Sunk by a Leviathan in Thick Fog 54

The Silent Creeks 58

Part Three Storm

Fastnet 79: The Killer Storm 65

A Chop-Stick Fortune in the South Seas 68

Fatal Delivery Trip 71

Anchoring a Tall Ship in a Puddle 74

Three Times Capsized Sailing Round Antarctica 78

Part Four Human Error

UK Border Patrol of Yesteryear 83

Man Overboard in the Middle of the Pacific 88

Pilot Error Causes Shipwreck and Death 91

Family Day-Trip Becomes Rescue at Sea 95

The Curse of Ill-Gotten Gains 99

Sailing to the Wrong Hemisphere 103

Hanging by a Thread from a Shipwreck 108

Part Five Adventure

A Real Life Monster of the Deep 113

Treasure Island 116

No Way Back: By Raft Across the Pacific 119

The Queen’s Pirate 122

Shoal Waters Run Deep 125

From Honeymoon to Shipwreck 128

A Bitter-Sweet Taste of the Racing Life 132

Dayboat Capsize, Gales and Dismasting 139

Record of Records 142

Part Six Tragedy

The Last Tragic Voyage of Francis Chichester 149

Sailing into Madness 153

After the Wave 160

The Mysterious Voyage of the Mary Celeste 167

The Mysterious Voyage of John Franklin 171

The Raft of the Medusa 176

The Riddle of Erskine Childers 181

Part Seven Rescue

Frozen to the Rigging 187

Good Samaritan of the Southern Ocean 191

Mystery Fire at Sea 194

Sea Dark, Sky Crying 198

The Four Rescues of a Solo Atlantic Yachtsman 205

Part Eight Deliverance

The Exploding Whale 213

Downhill Racer 216

The First Man to Sail Round the World Alone 219

Not Quite the Fastest Ship 223

The First Man to Sail Round the World Non-Stop and Alone 226

Deliverance Trip 229

The Ship that Sailed Herself 232

Round the World in 1000 Breakages 235

DIY Ocean Racer 240

The Dead Lay in Her Wake 246

The Terror of a Lee-Shore 252

The Smallest Boat to Sail Round the World 254

Bibliography 259

Editorial Reviews

A cracking read.” (Yachting World)
“A wonderful collection of sailing stories from across centuries and around the world.” (Yachting Monthly)
“Some of the great sailing yarns retold in gripping style.” (Classic Boat)
“Make sure you have a long watch when you pick this up as you won’t be able to put it down.” (Peter Goss, MBE)
“Worse things happen at sea and when they do men are levelled: admirals become cannibals, mothers become master mariners, and DIY bodgers become circumnavigators as Dick Durham’s book reveals.” (Practical Boat Owner)
"Captivating and an absorbing read." (Little Ship Club)

From the Publisher

"It's a bit of a rollicking read!"

Classic Sailor

"Dick Durham has bought together a collection of some of the most exceptional sailing stories - both ancient and modern."

South West Boating

"Some of the greatest sailing yarns retold in gripping style."

Classic Boat

"Captivating and an absorbing read."

Little Ship Club

"Combines a love of good writing with a taste of seafaring adventure."

Your Boat Life

"A good, diverse, collection of sea stories."

Yachting Monthly