Hydraulicjump
Senior Member
Since it is heading into the Great Dark--at least for our friends in northern latitudes--I thought I would recommend a couple of winter reads for Trawler Forum folks unable to spend time working on or cruising on their boats.
The first is a book handed to me by a boating friend and many of you have probably read it. It falls into the category of "bad plans poorly implemented". The title is Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton
https://a.co/d/02ZGV4k
There are so many heroic sea tales out there--think Shackleton's Antarctic efforts and the Jeanette Expedition to find the north pole--this choice is about the de Gerlache expedition to find the magnetic South Pole. No spoiler alerts here, but it is a study in incompetence and even madness that turns yet another explorer into a hero.
The book emphasizes the point about explorers, especially 19th Century explorers, who were touted as heroes by the press and various explorer clubs. In most cases--Shackleton the best example--the effort starts out with what can only be described as a lethal mix of hubris, ambition, and incompetence that leads to disaster. It is only in the efforts to mitigate the disaster and get home alive that these characters emerge as, and are ultimately celebrated as heroes.
You shake your head through all of this and similar stories. Natural selection should have wiped these folks out.
On a lighter note, I know that most of us with dreams of long range cruising would like to spend the next year or two skipping winter and going to all the South Pacific islands in our fantasy Nordhavn or Selene. Christina Thompson has written a very interesting book titled Sea People: the Puzzle of Polynesia:
https://a.co/d/5dHmCJs
This book is less about how Polynesia was colonized (there must have been some pretty epic sailing disasters in this effort) and more about the people, the cultures and the numerous explorers and scholars involved in piecing the story together. An enjoyable read and an antidote to the books recommended above.
Enjoy! I am sure many on this forum have already read these.
Let's hear other recommendations.
Jeff
The first is a book handed to me by a boating friend and many of you have probably read it. It falls into the category of "bad plans poorly implemented". The title is Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton
https://a.co/d/02ZGV4k
There are so many heroic sea tales out there--think Shackleton's Antarctic efforts and the Jeanette Expedition to find the north pole--this choice is about the de Gerlache expedition to find the magnetic South Pole. No spoiler alerts here, but it is a study in incompetence and even madness that turns yet another explorer into a hero.
The book emphasizes the point about explorers, especially 19th Century explorers, who were touted as heroes by the press and various explorer clubs. In most cases--Shackleton the best example--the effort starts out with what can only be described as a lethal mix of hubris, ambition, and incompetence that leads to disaster. It is only in the efforts to mitigate the disaster and get home alive that these characters emerge as, and are ultimately celebrated as heroes.
You shake your head through all of this and similar stories. Natural selection should have wiped these folks out.
On a lighter note, I know that most of us with dreams of long range cruising would like to spend the next year or two skipping winter and going to all the South Pacific islands in our fantasy Nordhavn or Selene. Christina Thompson has written a very interesting book titled Sea People: the Puzzle of Polynesia:
https://a.co/d/5dHmCJs
This book is less about how Polynesia was colonized (there must have been some pretty epic sailing disasters in this effort) and more about the people, the cultures and the numerous explorers and scholars involved in piecing the story together. An enjoyable read and an antidote to the books recommended above.
Enjoy! I am sure many on this forum have already read these.
Let's hear other recommendations.
Jeff
