|
A good adventure story that I will most likely read again. If you like being on the water give this one a read.
Michael Brooker. The story is remarkable with Slocum building 'Spray' from a wreck and sailing it single handed around the world. I first read Joshua Slocum's book as a young boy and it still gives me the thrill of his voyage, even after many years. I am now 78 years old.
I first read this book about 30 years ago, I think. Slocum rebuilt the SPRAY completely. It is anything else but that, from today's perspective. No wonder it's still around, over a century later.Slocum, who worked his way up to shipmaster and owner after starting before the mast in the days when sailing ships still ruled international commerce, reached middle age in a different era.
Now, off on his own with a freedom he hadn't known before, he savored each new experience and then recorded it for eventual publication."The author made me feel that I was there, too," is a cliche. Then he set out in her alone, to circumnavigate the globe.He spent nearly three years in that successful effort. Seasoned world traveler though he was, I got the feeling as I read that he hadn't had time for much of that learning on earlier voyages. But cliches come into being because they're true enough to invite over-use, and in this book's case the words fit perfectly. He'd been busy looking after his ship, its cargo, and his family (who sailed with him). I vaguely remember thinking it was dry, and now I'm amazed at myself.
Newspapers followed his progress, and in port after port he made new friends and learned new things. A classic for good reason. First published in 1900, Slocum's prose reads fresh and crisp; and his sense of humor pleases me with its dryness. With his family grown, he accepted a friend's gift of a sloop that lay decaying in a field.
This is a book that's easy to get lost in and holds your attention until the very last page. I recommend that you do the same. This book is a wonderful find. I read it while on the beach. The sound of the lapping waves makes the book that much more enjoyable. Very readable and compelling, the author unwittingliy tells the tale of his adventures around the world on a small boat that he built with his own two hands in New England near the turn of the century. The book is without pretense, at times is hard to imagine, yet the language is so simple and straightforward how can we do anything but believe his stories written in a down home style.
I just this past friday saw a replica of the Spray, the vessel on which he made this unprecedented voyage, owned by an old sailor. I saw it because it was at the annual wooden boat festival in Port Townsend, Washington. This story is the greatest sailing story I have ever heard of. The replica is named Joshua, and sails from Alameda California. Spectacular. Joshua Slocum is so far out and such an indomitable human being that it is difficult to fathom without reading the story. This book is truly an exercise in understatement.A large society of Slocum afficianados exists now, largely in response to this one book.
|
