“Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World” by Eric Jay Dolin. Liveright Publishing Corporation. 2024. 314 pp. $24.25. Reviewed by Bob Muggleston The Falkland Islands, for those of us of a certain age, are generally the place of an undeclared war that tookRead More
Winter 2024 Reviews by Sandy Marsters There are many ways to write a story, put a cover on it, and call it a book. In the case of the following three books, we look at a chilling fiction fashioned from whole cloth, a book of historical mystery/fiction about something weirdRead More
December 2023 By Randy Randall Four Months in a Sneak-Box by Nathaniel H. Bishop. Lee & Shepard Publishers. 1879. 348 pp. $19.13. Kindle Edition free. When it comes to cruising, how small a vessel is too small? Extraordinary voyages in ridiculously small boats, it seems, have been a maritime traditionRead More
Fall 2023 Boats with an Open Mind: Seventy-Five Unconventional Designs and Concepts by Phil Bolger. McGraw Hill, LLC. 1994. 432 pp. $22. Reviewed by Randy Randall “Boats with an Open Mind: Seventy-Five Unconventional Designs and Concepts” is Phil Bolger’s last published book. He died in 2009, but his influenceRead More
How To Build a Tin Canoe: Confessions of an Old Salt by Robb White. Hyperion Books. 2003. 228 pp. $45 (Hardcover). September 2023 Reviewed by Bob Muggleston Ever meet someone who might have missed his calling? After reading “How to Build a Tin Canoe: Confessions of an Old Salt,” byRead More
July 2023 By Randy Randall We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea (Swallows and Amazons) by Arthur Ransome, Jonathan Cape Ltd. 1937; 333 pp, $15. If you didn’t happen to grow up in the UK, you might not know about a series of children’s books called “Swallows and Amazons.” IRead More
June 2023 Still Water Bending by Wendy Mitman Clarke, Head to Wind Publishing 2017; 351pp, $17. Reviewed by Christopher Birch There’s been a lot of rumbling lately about the elusive work/life balance. For Jines Arley Evans, that issue is not a concern: The man just fishes. His boat is hisRead More
June 2023 War Sailor Maria Ekerhovd (Producer). Gunnar Vikene (Writer and Director). (2022). (Norwegian: Krigsseileren). Netflix. https://www.netflix.com/ Review by Webb Chiles Singapore. 1948. A European man is comatose in what appears to be an opium den. Another European man arrives, deliberately seeking him. “War Sailor,” a Norwegian-made, three-part Netflix series,Read More
In The Boy Who Fell to Shore: The Extraordinary Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Thomas Thor Tangvald By Charles J. Doane, Lata Books, 2022, 298 pp, $19.95 May 2023 By Tim Murphy When I was a kid and circumnavigators were gods, Per (“Peter”) Tangvald was a Titan. He was theRead More
Spring 2023 The Compleat Cruiser – the Art, practice, and Enjoyment of Boating By L. Francis Herreshoff, published by Sheridan House, 1963. By Randy Randall Arthur Wiley was a farmer, an airplane pilot, a welder, an inventor, a mechanic and a teacher. He was also Gary’s father-in-law, and when GaryRead More
