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iSealife Book's!
Book of the Month
TONY HERRICK
Your connection on the Cape of Good Hope cruising route.
E-books compiled by Tony Herrick on various subjects such as cruising, guides and notes, sailing, yachting, safety and general passage making to assist yachtsmen sailing around the world.
Electronic books (or e-books) by Tony Herrick can either be downloaded direct off this site or ordered to be sent by e-mail. If ordered by e-mail the e-book will be despatched as an attachment so be sure that your mail server will accept (*.exe) attachments of 1.2Mb. You may alternatively request a (.zip) file attachment. Once downloaded, the file can be saved to disk and read at any time as a 'book' and you can print it for your own use. No special software is required - these books can be read using your Internet Explorer browser. Please observe copyright notices.
The Pirate Hunter
The True Story of Captain Kidd
By Richard Zacks
Published by Theia
June 2002; $25.95US/$36.95CAN; 0-7868-6533-4
Captain Kidd has gone down in history as America's most ruthless buccaneer, fabulously rich, burying dozens of treasure chests up and down the eastern seaboard. Over the centuries, novelists, relentless treasure hunters, and even historians have stoked his pirate legend. Robert Louis Stevenson, for one, placed "Kidd's Anchorage" on Treasure Island. But it turns out that most everyone, even many respected scholars, have the story all wrong. Captain William Kidd was no career cut-throat; he was a tough, successful New York sea captain who was hired to chase pirates. In 1696, he set out on a near-impossible mission to travel in a lone ship with a mutinous crew, heading 4,000 miles round the tip of Africa to track down a handful of die-before-surrender pirates and then bring back their treasure to the governor of New York and other secret backers.
His three-year odyssey aboard the aptly named Adventure galley pitted him against arrogant Royal Navy commanders, jealous East India Company captains, storms, starvation, angry natives, and, above all, flesh-and-blood pirates.
Through it all, Captain Kidd found himself facing a long-forgotten rouge by the name of Robert Culliford, who lured Kidd's crew to mutiny not once, but twice.
Through painstaking research, author Richard Zacks has pieced together the never-before-told story of Kidd versus Culliford, of pirate hunter versus pirate. Culliford climbed form Caribbean cabin boy to pirate captain, once capturing a ship in the Indain Ocean loaded with gold and several dozen wives and daughters of the local Moslem nobility. He divvied up both the gold and the women. This was an era of tall-masted sailing ships and lords in full wigs; the drama on land played out in the smuggler's haven of New York City and in Cotton Mather -- dominated Boston and in edge-of-empire London.
Across the oceans of the world, the pirate hunter, Kidd, pursued the pirate, Culliford. One man would hang in the harbor; the other would walk away with the treasure. The Pirate Hunter is both a masterpiece of historical detective work and page-turner, and it delivers something rare: an authentic pirate story for grownups.
Author
Author Richard Zacks spent more than three years researching The Pirate Hunter, including months at the public Record Office in London (where he found a pirate prisoner's long-lost diary). Zacks is the author of two previous books of unusual research: bestselling History Laid Bare and perennial book club favorite An Underground Education. He lives in Pelham, N.Y., with his wife and two children, and every so often when he finds the neighborhood just too smug and comfortable, he flies the Jolly Roger from the flagpole off his son's bedroom.
At Sea in the City
New York From The Water's Edge
By William Kornblum
Published by Algonquin
April 2002; $23.95US; 1-56512-265-8
New York is a city of few boundaries, a city of well-known streets and blocks that ramble on and on, into our literature, dreams, and nightmares. We know the city by the byways that split it, streets like Broadway and Madison and Flatbush and Delancey. From those streets, peering down the blocks and up at the top floors, the city seems immense and endless.
And though the land itself may end at the water, the city does not. Long before Broadway was a muddy cart track, the water was the city's most distinguishing feature, the rivers the only byways of importance. Some people, like William Kornblum, still see the city as an urban archipelago, shaped by the water and the people who have sailed it for goods, money, pirate's loot, and freedom. For them, the City will always be an island.
William Kornblum -- New York City native, longtime sailor, urban sociologist -- has spent decades plying the waterways of the city in his ancient catboat, Tradition. In At Sea in the City, he takes the reader along as he sails through his hometown, lovingly retelling the history of the city's waterfront and maritime culture and the stories of the men and women who made the water their own. In At Sea in the City and in Kornblum's own humility, humor, and sense of wonder, one detects echoes of E. B. White, John McPhee, and Joseph Mitchell.
Author
William Kornblum is a professor of sociology at the City University of New York. He is a graduate of Cornell University and the University of Chicago and was among the nation’s first Peace Corps volunteers. He is the author of numerous scholarly books and articles on the people of New York. A native New Yorker, he’s been sailing around the city his whole life.
All in the same Boat Tom and Mel Neale's "Ever daydream about what it's like to quit your job, sell your house and most of your possessions, say good-bye to your neighbors, and set sail with your family--permanently? Tom and Mel Neale left their 9 to 5 world nearly two decades ago and never looked back."Boatowner's Mechanical & Electrical Manual Nigel Calder's "How to Maintain, Repair, and Improve Your Boat's Essential Systems. If you own any type of boat and plan on doing any repair or maintenance yourself, this is an indispensable book."
Fun Afloat " In 1995, the Fort family set out from Everett, Washington to see the world in the Good Sloop Lindsay Christine. Amie, then 9, and Alex, then 6, had been homeschooled up to that point so naturally boatschooling was begun. Kids are insatiable learners and Theresa's motto, " the world is our classroom", was heard in 9 countries over a two and a half year period. Theresa found that keeping the children involved in the process of boating and having related activities was the best way to keep them interested and happy. After talking with numerous other families, many ideas were discovered that made boating more interesting for the kids and helped them develop a love of learning. People began suggesting that Theresa write a book with these activities and Fun Afloat is a result. Theresa, who earned her bachelors degree at the University of Montana is busy with another book and occasionally writes articles for sailing magazines. The Forts are currently refitting Lindsay Christine for another voyage planning to begin winter of 2001."
Marine Diesel Engines, Second Edition Nigel Calder's "If you own a small marine diesel engine that you depend on - at least occasionally - this book was written for you. Nigel Calder, a diesel mechanic of many year's experience, a good writer, and perceptive teacher, has written a guide that is clear, logical, and actually interesting. A boatowner born with a monkey wrench in one hand will find Marine Diesel Engines useful and agreeable; a mechanical illiterate will find it a godsend."
The Essential Galley Companion "Recipes and Provisioning Advice for your Boating Adventures by Amanda Swan-Neal."
The Mind of the Sailor The Mind of the Sailor Noble, Peter & Ros Hogbin A psychiatrist with 30 years of sailing experience, Nobel reveals the psychological forces at play on a boat and provides useful insights into key issues such as what it takes to be a good skipper, what makes for an effective crew, why some sailors handle stress better than others, and why some crews pull together in adversity while others fall apart. With the help of co-author Hogbin, he also considers the special issues raised by bluewater cruising, ocean racing, single-handed sailing, sailing under extreme conditions, and abandoning ship. He cites many real-life examples drawn from the history of seafaring--including Captain Bligh and the mutinies he provoked, the strange case of Donald Crowhurst, and the case of the German yacht "Apollonia" in which a crewmember took control of the boat and "executed" the owner and his girlfriend. 192pp. hardcover 2001 $34.95 CAN."
Transiting the Panama Canal in a Small Vessel "A Captain's Guide to Transiting the Panama Canal by David W. Wilson."
Refrigeration for Pleasureboats Nigel Calder's "Refrigeration for Pleasureboats explains step-by-step the information necessary to select an appropriate refrigeration system for a boat, and then explains how to design and construct it. Later chapters deal with maintenance and troubleshooting. Even if you have no intention of building your own system, this book will arm you with the right questions to ask when it comes to selecting and installing a system from off-the-shelf, and will help you keep the system running efficiently once it is installed."
Sailing Books by Sheridan "An extensive collection of essential reading for every sailor, armchair or otherwise, and for all boating enthusiasts."
Welcome to Armchair Sailor Seabooks, Newport Since 1979, the world's leading resource for marine books, charts, software, videos & more.
Adlard Coles' Heavy Weather Sailing by Peter Bruce (Editor)
World Cruising Routes (4th Ed) by Jimmy Cornell
Mariner's Weather Handbook by Steve Dashew, Linda Dashew
Advanced First Aid Afloat by Peter F. Eastman, Peter F. Eastmen
The American Practical Navigator Originally by Nathaniel Bowditch
Desirable and Undesirable Characteristics of the Offshore Yachts by John Rousmaniere (Editor)
The Complete Book of Anchoring and Mooring by Earl R. Hinz
Offshore Cruising Encyclopedia-II by Linda Dashew, Steve Dashew
Where There Is No Dentist by Murray Dickson
Seaworthiness : The Forgotten Factor by C.A. Marchaj
Sail Performance : Designs and Techniques to Maximize Sail Power by C.A. Marchaj
Oceanography and Seamanship by William G. Van Dorn, Richard Van Dorn (Illustrator)
