I’m in the process of joining g the Coast Guard reserves right now, and I’ve read a hand full of books about the sea. A lot of US Navy books and books about survival stories in the days of sail like the Endurance and the whale ship Essex. Does anyone know any lesser known maritime books worth reading that can humble me a bit and bestow me some wisdom about the sea?
by The_SaIty_Dog
5 Comments
**Kon-Tiki and I**, by Erik Hesselberg.
A group of men build a raft. Then they try to travel four and a half thousand miles of ocean on it
*Master and Commander* by Patrick O’Brian. There’s also a great movie, and I wish they’d done sequels.
Although these are not lesser known books, they are the epitome of golden age of sail book series. All about Jack Aubrey and his career in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Great stuff. Lost of books.
ETA: Also not lesser known are the Horatio Hornblower books by C. S. Forester.
And if you want some naval flavor, but lots of Dragons, try *His Majesty’s Dragon* by Naomi Novik which is basically Hornblower and Aubrey on dragonback against the forces of Napoleon on their dragons.
Famous author **John Steinbeck** has a criminally underrated book covering a specimen-collecting expedition, **The Log from the Sea of Cortez**. Highly recommend!
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger if you want to be humbled.
I would recommend books by Tristan Jones – The Incredible Voyage: A Personal Odyssey is really good. His books are based on his sailing adventures and are fascinating- every book of his details his adventures around the world sailing. Definitely great reads.