Near Death on the High Seas

February 15, 2008
Kuhne ("On the Edge: Adventurous Escapades from Around the World") edits this first entry in Vintage's four-volume adventure series of anthologies. All 12 of these stories have previously been published in their own right, e.g., Thor Heyerdahl's "Kon-Tiki," Rob Mundle's "Fatal Storm," and Pete Goss's "Close to the Wind." One particularly captivating entry, Steven Callahan's "Adrift," ends abruptly with the author floating in a life raft amid an Atlantic storm, watching his ship capsize and disappear (amazingly, Callahan survived another 76 days at sea, though you won't read about them here). The anthology is rife with stories recounting ferocious and devastating storms, devastating especially for those boats sailing into the Southern Ocean. For readers unfamiliar with sailing vocabulary, the unceasing jargon might be off-putting and diminish the stories' dramatic nature. William F. Buckley Jr. writes in the foreword that "boys will be boys," and this collection seems to embody that sentiment, with no stories written by or about women. Optional for adventure and sailing collections.Margaret Atwater-Singer, Univ. of Evansville Libs., IN

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2008
The first in a promising series of nonfiction adventure anthologies deals with disasters and near disasters in small craft on the high seas. Some of the accounts are of those who went to sea for science (Thor Heyerdahls Kon-Tiki) or as merchant sailors (Eric Newbys The Last Grain Race). More are of narrow escapes from disaster while yachting (Steven Callahans Adrift, Sir Francis Chichesters Gypsy Moth Circles the World, and Peter Nichols Sea Change). In the grimmest narratives, death not only stalks but catches its prey, in the South Pacific in Gordon Chaplins Dark Wind, off the coast of Australia in Rob Mundles Fatal Storm, and in the Irish Sea in John Rousmanieres Fastnet, Force 10, about historys worst yacht-racing disaster. This kind of sampler offers little to the seasoned adventure reader, perhaps, but is invaluable for introducing the curious to the subject and some classic books about it. On to mountains, deserts, jungles, the sky, the ocean deeps, the bowels of the earth, and beyond!(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)