Books for Sailors: SIMPLE COURAGE

During this cold raw bitter winter the weather has not been good enough to spend much time on the boat working on projects. But it is a good time to curl up with a good book especially one regarding aspects of the sea.  I recently finished a riveting book about an incident that occurred in the Atlantic Ocean back in the early 1950s. In December 1951 A cargo ship built in World War II called the Flying Enterprise was heading toward New York when it encountered a severe storm which cracked it’s hull and put the ship in a severe  list. It was not only carrying its crew but also a number passengers including children. The book is an excellent detailed account of what happened before during and after the ship sailed into harm's way. The book describes the harrowing rescue of the passengers and crew and the raw determination of the captain who stayed with the ship until the end. The book is called SIMPLE COURAGE: The True Story of Peril on the Sea and is a very good read or listen to If you like audible books  which is read by the author Frank Delaney.

Gabriel García Márquez and the Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor.

The death of Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel García Márquez at the age of 87 has reminded me of one of my favorite books of the sea. The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor written in 1955 as a series of newspaper articles by  Márquez about a twenty year old Colombian Navy Sailor named Luis Alejandro Velasco. He and seven other sailors were washed overboard along with some cargo on their severely overloaded ship. The search for the sailors was called off after four days. Velasco was lucky enough to find a raft and was the only one who survived having washed up on shore after ten days at sea.  Márquez spent twenty six hour days interviewing Velasco about his ordeal. Taking copious notes and asking trick questions to expose any contradictions in the sailors account. It was so detailed that it still makes an impression on me today and I think about it every time I hear about a rescue at sea. I recommend it.

THE SHIPPING FORECAST

We here in the states are stuck with the semi droning artificial voices for the NOAA VHF radio marine forecasts. Over in England humans still read the weather forecasts for shipping interests and boaters around the island nation. It also attracts it share of landlubbers also. Books have been written about The Shipping Forecast like Attention All Shipping: A Journey Round the Shipping Forecast (Radio 4 Book of the Week) or And Now the Shipping Forecast: A Tide of History Around Our Shores. Another is a book of paintings of locations and areas mentioned in The Shipping Forecast called Rain Later, Good: Painting the Shipping Forecast
  National Public Radio had an interesting report about the allure of the Shipping Forecast that can be found here.  It is interesting to hear how all of the English waters are covered in one broadcast while here in the states forecasts are more localized. Click here to listen to the latest Shipping Forecast on BBC4.

TSUNAMI IN JAPAN: SHIPS CAUGHT IN THE MALESTROM