Book Reviews

New and established books will be reviewed here including such novels as I think are relevant. Please use the contact page to make your own suggestions or to contribute reviews.

Sailing and paddling in the past and today

Sailing Into The Past. Learning From Replica Ships edited by Jenny Bennett is a very attractive and well illustrated book.  It makes no claim to be comprehensive and if you are looking for British attempts at replicating the earliest boats of the past you will be disappointed. However, these are covered in other works and what this book does do is to explore the sailing qualities of reconstructed boats. An angle we might expect from Jenny Bennett's previous book "Sailing Rigs".

Written by experts in the field  the main reconstructions are covered adequately and impressively illustrated. An article by Sean McGrail on Experimental Archaeology and the recreation of vessels from the archaeological record emphasises his purist approach in that minimal reconstruction is the key as he sees it. Valuable real research does result from their construction and voyaging. Seamanship under sail and craft skills are maintained.

The public love these ships as they see them sailing or as static displays, both in the flesh and on screen. They give the enthusiast and tourist the chance to actually sail into the past. This book is the next best thing to stepping aboard or seeing them in a seaway.

Link to the publisher: http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/?product_id=2010

Yankee Jack Sails Again, a sentimental journey to the forgotten ports of the Southwest by TONY JAMES

This is the book I have wanted to read since coming across Flatners in Working Boats of Britain by Eric McKee and then visiting the Watchet Boat Museum http://www.wbm.org.uk/index.html.  Although a flatty is probably one of the easiest ways of taking a hole in the water and lining it with wood you only need to watch the The Spencer Tracy film Captains Courageous shows how seaworthy a flat-bottomed boat could be and this book which is about a boat and is a tribute to an old-time sailor and shanyty-man, Yankee Jack or or John Short, shows how good a craft a modern reproduction can be.

Not only is this an enjoyable sailing yarn full of interesting and amusing stories but it takes us to an area and an era  when small ships were the life-blood of commerce in the Southwest. You will want to visit the forgotten quays for yourself in those magical Cornish, Devon and Somerset estuaries and havens. Topsham, Morwellham, Polperro, Malpas Hayle Clovelly and the others are as evocative as Adlestrop and the rest of the vanished railway stations we used to have. Ironically it was the coming of the railways that led to the eclipse of a lot of these small ports. We can only hope that this book and others like it will aid the rediscovery of this important part of our maritime and national heritage as well as emphasising the joy and fun from simple sailing.

ISBN 0955024323 | £14.95 pbk

http://www.seafarerbooks.com/