Favourite sailing fiction?

[Greenheart]

Melville, Forrester, O'Brian, Homer, Arthur Ransome...even Kipling and Hemingway. So many memorable tales of the sea.

For me, Erskine Childers' Riddle Of The Sands is the top. The first-person narrative sets 'Carruthers', a total novice, discovering the joys and trials of amateur yachting aboard a friend's yawl, in German territorial waters at the start of the 20th century.

The writing is masterly. Every creak of the converted ex-lifeboat, every gasp-inducing drenching of spray, every blissful evening spent in Frisian ports or anchored on the wilderness of tidal sands, every cigar, beer or morning coffee, evokes memories of times aboard.

Today, travel tales are often written from cynical perspectives, which I dislike. But here, the teller starts out world-weary, but finds the minimalist yachting-life suits him. Childers' rich, educated phrasing gives every description and reflection, perfect depth and focus.

All set against a backdrop of initially mysterious, increasingly horrifying German imperialist ambitions, with an action-finale.

It's free online, in six parts. Here's part one: http://www.fullbooks.com/Riddle-of-the-Sands1.html 100% recommended, by me.

 

[maby]

I like the early Swallows and Amazons - kinda lost direction in the later books.

Not exactly fiction, but I've recently finished Magic of the Swatchways and that was a very enjoyable read!

 

[Burnham Bob]

Conrad is a wonderful writer about the sea. Read him first as a school boy, but rereading him now with some knowledge of sailing, its amazing how he brings seafaring to life. Reading Typhoon is like being there!

 

[BarryH]

I found the Voyage of Jack de Crow very entertaining. Its not exactly fiction, but I would have thought a bit of creative licence was used.

 

[ean_p]

The Master Mariner....by Nicholas Montserrat

 

[Graham_Wright]

It's got to be Hornblower!

I read a review that claimed if you opened a Hornblower book at any page, you would not put it down for a quarter of an hour.

Sceptical, I chose one at random. ………………I finished the book!

 

[Kukri]

Arthur Ransome, "We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea".

 

[Seajet]

Arthur Ransome, "We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea".

+ 1 ! My favourite of the series, and the first one I read.

I gave a copy to a chums' two very young lads and am delighted to say they love it; when I leant them an engine to use on holiday he rowed up with them, " the Swallows wanted to say thankyou for saving their holiday ! "

So there is still hope for future generations...

I'm also a great fan of Patrick O'Brians' 'Jack Aubrey' books, and while it's certainly not fiction I will never tire of reading 'The Lonely Sea And The Sky' by Francis Chichester.

 

[Highndry]

Borrowed Michael Mapurgo's 'alone on a wide, wide sea' from my daughter. Brilliant! Also read the O'Brien series and loved it.

 

[Greenheart]

+ 1 ! (re. We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea) My favourite of the series, and the first one I read.

I gave a copy to a chums' two very young lads and am delighted to say they love it; when I leant them an engine to use on holiday he rowed up with them, " the Swallows wanted to say thank you for saving their holiday ! "

So there is still hope for future generations...

I'm also a great fan of Patrick O'Brians' 'Jack Aubrey' books, and while it's certainly not fiction I will never tire of reading 'The Lonely Sea And The Sky' by Francis Chichester.

Fantastic! WDMTGTS was my first Ransome too, I think. So atmospheric, with the kids enjoying being trusted alone aboard the anchored yacht in fog, then the tension growing when the skipper doesn't return, and horror when they see they're dragging, drifting seaward...

I read the second and third Patrick O'Brians, sitting on flights to Australia in 2001...then the next fifteen episodes over the following five years. Somehow I haven't yet finished the series, though O'Brian's writing is totally satisfying...

...I recall a sequence about one of Aubrey's smaller commands, in the icy South Atlantic, facing imminent foundering, and only being saved by very long, unrelenting, thankless, palpably wearisome tasks of pumping and patching the hull. A nightmare, brilliantly described.

I'm still planning to read F. Chichester...

My mother lately sent me a rather ancient, school edition of Hornblower and the Hotspur, which seems to be aiming to encourage obdurate non-readers, with a subtitle on the cover: ...in which Hornblower does his best to keep the French at bay!

 

[Seajet]

I haven't read the book - I think it was by Conrad ? - but one film I enjoy is 'Sailor For The King', based on 'Brown of the Resolution', where a sailor is marooed on a desolate island, then the German surface raider which sank his ship comes in for repairs, so he makes life awkward for them via his rifle !

Sorry to drift into films, but another all time favourite is Star Trek II, which is pretty much a reworked sailing story, and owes a lot to Moby Dick; the chap who did the music described how his brief was to capture the feel of sailing warships and it shows, particularly in the 'Enterprise Leaving Dry Dock' sequence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKogc14hHtQ

 

[noelex]

Trustee to the tool room
By Neville Shute.

 

[Seajet]

Trustee to the tool room
By Neville Shute.

+1, excellent book, then Nevil Shute was incapable of writing a bad book !

You may know, 'Trustee From The Toolroom' was inspired by Miles & Beryl Smeeton of the factual 'Once Is Enough' fame, they were escaping grim post war Britain and the rules about taking money out of the country, as were the characters in the book.

Nevil Shute knew the Smeetons and probably felt the same, as he emigrated to Australia; there's a lot of interesting info at 'The Nevil Shute Foundation'.

http://www.nevilshute.org/nlfebruary2011.php

 

[Kukri]

+1, excellent book, then Nevil Shute was incapable of writing a bad book !

You may know, 'Trustee From The Toolroom' was inspired by Miles & Beryl Smeeton of the factual 'Once Is Enough' fame, they were escaping grim post war Britain and the rules about taking money out of the country, as were the characters in the book.

Nevil Shute knew the Smeetons and probably felt the same, as he emigrated to Australia; there's a lot of interesting info at 'The Nevil Shute Foundation'.

http://www.nevilshute.org/nlfebruary2011.php

+2. (I guessed as much!) Funnily enough, I read it on board Tilman's "Baroque" en route to Sptizbergen in 1974; he thought it was excellent, too.

 

[Greenheart]

...another all time favourite is Star Trek II, which is pretty much a reworked sailing story, and owes a lot to Moby Dick; the chap who did the music described how his brief was to capture the feel of sailing warships and it shows, particularly in the 'Enterprise Leaving Dry Dock' sequence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKogc14hHtQ

Wasn't that on Film4, 9pm last night?

Viewers of Family Guy will smile at Cpt. Shatner's order: "Mr Sulu...you may indulge yourself"...and George Takei's grin.

I saw Terence Stamp in the adaptation of Herman Melville's Billy Budd about twenty years ago and liked it, with the monstrously harsh master-at-arms Robert Ryan, and nice old Niall MacGinness & director Ustinov as the captains.

I actually thought Peter Weir's compressed film of the Jack Aubrey books, was pretty good, notwithstanding Paul Bettany being nine inches taller than Dr Maturin is meant to be.

Damned shame those 'nineties sailing movies, Wind and later, White Squall fell so flat. And don't mention Open Water 2!

I've been trying to write a short ghost-story on a sailing theme, for about two years, now. It's still very, very short...

 

[Fantasie 19]

I haven't read the book - I think it was by Conrad ? - but one film I enjoy is 'Sailor For The King', based on 'Brown of the Resolution', where a sailor is marooed on a desolate island, then the German surface raider which sank his ship comes in for repairs, so he makes life awkward for them via his rifle !

Brilliant book and one of Foresters first efforts before he went on to Hornblower...

Another vote for "Riddle of the Sands" here - one of the first (free) books I read on my new Kindle... superb....

O'Brian's Aubrey & Maturin series however is just beyond fault - simply a joy to read... makes me laugh out loud at times..... and just for once Hollywood made a decent fist of transferring Aubrey to the screen - Russell Crowe fits my mental image of Jack to a tee!

 

[Seajet]

Fantasie 19,

I'd agree with everything you say there; quite remarkable that Hollywood resisted the temptation to turn 'Master & Commander' into a chromium plated c**k up ! I did wonder why the Doctors' other pastime as a spy didn't get more mention.

Of course it was C.S.Forester who wrote 'Brown on resolution', ta for that.

Another favourite film of mine is Yangtse Incident, but that's based on fact.

Minn,

as a casual name-drop, Tilman takes some beating !

I've never got round to reading his books, but should do as people whose taste I admire rate him very highly.

 

[Greenheart]

...as a casual name-drop, Tilman takes some beating !

I've never got round to reading his books, but should do as people whose taste I admire rate him very highly.

Tilman...didn't he have a reputation for austerity and a harsh way with inadequate underlings? And for beastly-cold expeditions?

 

[Seajet]

Tilman...didn't he have a reputation for austerity and a harsh way with inadequate underlings? And for beastly-cold expeditions?

Yes, a real hair-shirt type is the impression I get; personally if ever having the time and money to go off round the world it's sunshine and girls in grass skirts for me, they can stuff the arctic !

 

[Greenheart]

Yes, a real hair-shirt type is the impression I get; personally if ever having the time and money to go off round the world it's sunshine and girls in grass skirts for me, they can stuff the arctic !

And for me, too! Still...

I just looked up Tilman on Google...what a character! And so madly English...I've only got as far as reading about a Himalayan climb:

"...it gave us a curious feeling of exaltation to know that we were higher than every peak within a hundred miles on either hand...I believe we so far forgot ourselves, as to shake hands on it."

Look out, gentlemen! Really lost our heads, there. Handshakes? Whatever next, French-kissing our valets?

I think I'll be reading all I can find about this tough old fellow. Disappeared with all his crew when his boat was lost in 1977...when he was aged nearly eighty, and still looking for frosty South Atlantic island-peaks to climb!