Good book for winter reading

[hilbert]

Hey everyone, I thought to try and revive Roberto's thread since good books are like old friends, but the kind of friends who will never show up in the middle of the night requesting that you ask no questions as they borrow your semi-automatic and a couple thousand dollars . . .

For those who are interested in the history of the Navy, Marine Corp and/or early 19th century American politics, I suggest "Six Frigates" by Ian W. Toll.
Some things that I took away from it, without giving away the ending

1) Life was hard.
2) How close the United States came to not having warships in 1812.
3) Politics today are polite and civilized in comparison.
4) Sailors and Marines were rugged and combat was close quarter, gruesome and very bloody.
5) Cowardice and treason were punished immediately and in the most cruel fashion.
6) How well the tiny US Navy stood up the overwhelming might of the British, who dominated the seas.
7) Did I mention that life was hard?

Being naive when I took American history, I took for granted the jingle "millions for defense and not one penny for tribute"
The biggest surprise for me was that the United States paid tribute to Barbary Pirate States of North Africa and would have continued to do so, if only they would have stayed bought.

C'est la vie

[jen1722terry]

Another book I liked was "The Shipping News." Generally, it's about modern life in coastal Newfoundland, but a boat and a very green boatowner are an important part of this yarn.

OK, another character in the book is a yacht upholsterer, a person many of us owners of fine old boats will get familiar with, sooner or later.

Happy New Year a bit early. We'll see some of you at the luncheon in Dover, NH next month. Maybe we can convince Jim Walsh to drive up and agin talk about his Bermuda trip like he's doing for the winter meeting. Otherwise, Jenn and I will do a talk on being stuck in the harbor for a month last summer waiting for a new transmission and install. I'm sure you'll all be enthralled.

Jenn and Terry

[swpatooty2]

One of my favorites is " The Riddle of the Sands," written by Erskine Childers in 1903. It was reprinted in the 1960's, and may still be available today. It mixes a brew of seamanship, intrigue, spies, etc., and is set in the German Frisian Islands in the North Sea. Worth reading if you can find a copy. Ken

[David Patterson]

Enjoyable thread. One engrossing read for me recently (thanks to John off MINTAKA) has been William Albert Robinson's 10,000 Leagues Over the Sea, about his 1920s circumnavigation aboard his SVAAP. Both nautically and anthropologically interesting, it acts as a fine precursor to Dwight Stanley Long's Seven Seas on a Shoestring. You might need a library with stacks deep into the 1930s to locate his book. I can't find one for sale online. The number of early 20th century circumnavigators with whom he crossed paths is interesting, as were his experiences with lands and crew. Shoestring has fascinating info about Stone Age (New Guinea headhunters, for example) peoples as well. A fine adventure.