Tristan Jones - Fact or fiction?

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msvob34

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I was following some links on line and chanced apon www.tristanjones.org I have a copy of his single handed book One hand for the boat etc., I was shocked to read he died some years ago a double amputee in Thailand also that "some" of his tales maybe "not" quite fact...anyone else share this view or know more bout the man and the Myths....
 
I think they're all great tales and have read many of them with great pleasure. I've no definite knowledge about their veracity but they've always seemed to be enjoyably embellished and compressed tales of real voyages and experiences. His story of the Med to Thailand trip is one of my favourites, even though he meets far fewer characters.

I imagine him seeing a pristine yacht with an elderly foreign gentleman on board and thinking, "Wonder if he's a retired admiral - that would be handy in an emergency...", and off he'd be with a story. Having said that, if you spend as long cruising as he did, and with as little money, then quite a few bizarre things will probably happen to you.
 
There is a book called "The Wayward Sailor : in search of the real Tristan Jones" by Anthony Dalton available from amazon.co.uk. I have'nt read it but have browsed through it and apparently he stretched the truth just a bit..........
 
Enjoy the books in the way they were meant to be read - true history they are not!, but then what is true history, all truly historical facts are written by the victors, so information detrimental to them gets supressed.

He was an experienced and well travelled yachty who financed his way of life by selling books, and knew that the book had to appeal to a wider audience than the true yachtie, so wrote them for his target audience.

I particularly enjoyed his story of the journey across the Thai peninsular via the river system (cant remember the title offhand).
 
The book was reviewed in either the CA mag or Classic Boat a while back, and appears to conclude there was quite a lot of additional yarning. But still vintage and full fo great knowledge.

I met a couple a few years ago who had met him somewhere in the Med yonks ago. He had taken them out on Cresswell with their two small (then) boys. One of them had grizzled a bit an then demanded a pee. TJ told him to 'stop whining and use a bloody bucket'. Much to the parents' astonished delight boy did as told. They were great fans of his ever after, and said they didn't care if every word was fiction - which it obviously wasn't having sailed with him.
 
I met Tristan in 1975 in Buenas Aries at the end of his Matto Grosso trip, in fact our ship brought Sea Dart home and I very nearly bought her off him when she was impounded by customs at Ramsgate. There was also some dispute over paying the shipping bill, I seem to remember.

He was 'entertained' in the bar and had his first pint of proper beer for a year or two. His store of sea songs was in exaustable, not to say a little wearing after a while! I last saw him bellowing 'Liverpool Lou' from the dockside as we cast off.

My impression of Tristan remains that of a single minded chancer; a Victorian style adventurer; an old fashioned mysogonist; a deeply spiritual yet practical man;a superb seaman and a great teller of tales.

I'm very glad our paths crossed, though I'm sure others he owed money to may not feel the same way. I wouldn't have wanted to get in an arguement with him.

I know that I've told the same sea stories for so long now, and 'embroidered' them along the way, that I've forgotten how much is fact and how much fiction. That's the way of sea stories.

Does it matter if he gilded the lily to excess?
 
I must confess I haven't read any of his books, apart from reading about him over the years in the yachting press - seemed a real character. Pity I never met him.

I didn't realise he had been down in Thailand - I have had quite a bit of experiance down there and FWIW from my experiances the more bizarre the story in that part of the world............the more likely it is to be true!

Funnily enough a few years back my old man got asked whether he was Tristan-Jones - he was quite chuffed.
 
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