Tom McCarthy - Sea Stories

Edited by Tom McCarthy

Guilford, Connecticut

An imprint of Globe Pequot, the trade division of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowman.com

Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

Copyright 2021 by Thomas P. McCarthy

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: McCarthy, Tom, 1952 editor.

Title: Sea stories : 28 thrilling tales of the deep / edited by Tom McCarthy.

Description: Guilford, Connecticut : Lyons Press, an imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc., [2021]

Identifiers: LCCN 2021016538 (print) | LCCN 2021016539 (ebook) | ISBN 9781493060030 (cloth) | ISBN 9781493060047 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Sea stories. | Ocean travel.

Classification: LCC G525 .S436 2021 (print) | LCC G525 (ebook) | DDC 910.4/5dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021016538

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021016539

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

SEA STORIES ARE, PLAIN AND SIMPLE, WONDERFUL SPRINGBOARDS FOR VICARIOUS ADVENTURE.

There is nothing like a sea story to entertain, thrill, move, shock, or inspire a reader, and this collection will do just that.

What is it about the sea that lends itself to so many indelibly classic stories? The sea is a wonderful stage on which to unroll a dramatic narrative or introduce a heroic character. Its no wonder so many masterpieces are set on the seas of the world.

From sublime moments gunkholing with Erskine Childers in An Introduction to Informality to sheer terror with the ill-fated men among sharks in Raymond B. Lech The Loss of the Indianapolis to astounding respect for the endurance of Ernest Shackleton and his storm-tossed men in Escape from the Ice, there is simply nothing that can compare to what awaits in this collection of twenty-eight thrilling stories. Many, having withstood the test of time and the vagaries of popular culture are classics Classic or not, the stories in this collection are good reading--breathtaking, and entertaining. They offer unexpected pleasures.

Youll soon find there is much surviving among these stories. What internal chemistry is required to spend five days drifting in the Pacific under a broiling sun while shipmates floating beside you are ripped apart by sharks? How does one maintain any sort of sanity? What degree of strength is needed to live for seventy days in a small boat as you watch your boatmates voluntarily drop into the sea to end it all? For that matter, at what point does one decide not to mourn over the body of a crewmate but rather to eat him?

For anyone sitting adrift in a small, fragile boat while a ship sinks rapidly nearby, the prospect of what lies ahead can hold only terror. Everyone who has experienced this has been afraid. In these stories, those who controlled their fearthe stronger ones who somehow used it to motivate themselvesmade it to shore. Those who were overcome by fear soon enough perished.

Read on.

The stories in this collection will provide a master class for readers seeking to understand the singular psychic strength that can persist under the direst of conditions. On a simpler level, these tales offer an astounding look at how one can stare down death and survivewith courage and strength and amazing patience. There is among the survivors a certain arrogance toward death.

These tales are a resounding affirmation of the power of hope.

There is much more to this collection than mere survival. Here is history, and drama, intrigue, well-paced tales, and colorful charactersall available to enjoy as you sit back in the comfort of a warm and cozy (and I hope, dry) reading chair anchored to your living room floor.

Thats the magic of a good sea story tale and why some of the best writers chose the sea as a backdrop.

The accounts in this collection are stronger and more dramatic for their total lack of affectation, their frankness, and their absence of ego.

The stories here are frank andone must admitinspiring stories of adventure from authors who by luck, more often than not, bad luck, found themselves at sea, alone on a boat in devastating circumstances.

Read the first person accounts of William Lay and Cyrus M. Hussey on board the ship Globe out of Nantucket, who witnessed the bloody carnage of a mutiny. Or perhaps Lewis Holmess account of a whalers frozen voyage. Or Owen Chases understated but eloquent tale of survival.

Here also are giants among authors, not only of seafaring classics but of literature, Herman Melville, Robert Louis Stevenson. Joseph Conrad, James Fenimore Cooper, Jack London--who celebrated the uniqueness of the American character so eloquently that their writing has never faded from public view. But here also are other writers who produced hidden jewels that simply slipped away quietly. Its time to revive them all.

Few people would want to test their mettle in an ice-encrusted boat with Ernest Shackleton, sail the Straits of Magellan with Joshua Slocum, or watch with Owen Chase as an angry whale sends his ship to the bottom thousands of miles from the nearest land.

That is why it is best to simply read about them.

The Capture, by Aaron Smith is a true account of the authors abduction by Cuban pirates while en route from Jamaica to England in 1822. Smith subsequently gained his freedom, but his bad karma continued when he was later arrested as a pirate in Havana, returned to England in chains, and put on trial for his life.

Another first-hand account of the travails of life at sea is Owen Chases chilling retelling of watching his whaler, the Essex out of Nantucket, being rammed by a white whale and sunk. Chase was only one of eight crew to survive an ordeal that included spending ninety three days adrift in a whaleboat after the ship was sunk. Chases 1821 narrative inspired Melville to write Moby Dick, a portion of which appears here. Of Chases story Melville wrote, The reading of this wondrous story upon the landless sea, and very close to the latitude of the shipwreck has a surprising effect on me. Melville, the icon, appears here also with Rounding Cape Horn, from his 1850 work, White-Jacket. Melvilles contemporary Richard Henry Dana presents an interesting glimpse into the highly superstitious life of a sailor in Loss of a ManSuperstition, from Two Years Before the Mast.

No collection of sea stories, classic or not, would be complete without Joseph Conrad. Dirty Weather, from