Alex Stone looks at tempting onboard reading options for this summer.
MRS JEWELL AND THE WRECK OF THE GENERAL GRANT
BY CHRISTINA SANDERS
THE CUBA PRESS, NZ, 2022
IF YOU LOVE an epic shipwreck tale half as much as I do, this is one for you. A cracker of a novel, with the most vivid opening chapter, re-imagining the awful night of the wreck.
And what great opening lines! “We boarded the General Grant in Melbourne on the third day of May, 1866, with light hearts and heavy steps.
“The night past I had spent stitching gold into our clothing – sewing by candlelight with the curtains drawn and my husband watching my hands as though surprised his new wife had such skills…” The narrator is young 22-year-old Mary Ann Jewell, and through her voice Cristina Sanders draws us irresistibly into this remarkable novel of the aftermath of the famous, fated shipwreck.
From the back-cover blurb: “Only fourteen men make it ashore and one woman – Mrs Jewell. Stuck on a freezing and exposed island, the castaways have to work together to stay alive, but they’re a disparate group with their own secrets to keep…” Mrs Jewell and the Wreck of the General Grant was deservedly in the 2023 Ockham Prize shortlist – and should be on your bookbuying list for your boating summer reading too!
THOSE MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS OF THE PACIFIC
BY RICK FISHER & ANDREW CROWE
BATEMAN BOOKS, NZ, 2023
PERFECT FOR YOUNG on-board guests to leaf through – and most-likely offering new insights to Pacific voyaging to adults also. Magnificent Voyagers splendidly combines the distinctive, artistic style of Rick Fisher’s illustrations with the authoritative text by Andrew Crowe, who previously wrote the extraordinary book Pathways of the Birds – the voyaging achievements of Māori and their Polynesian ancestors. (Which should be in your boat’s library already, aye.) This new book is especially interesting in providing on-the-page visual comparisons between Polynesian ocean voyaging, and the contemporaneous marine exploration by Phoenician, Viking, Chinese and Portuguese navigators too.
NAVIGATORS & NATURALISTS – FRENCH EXPLORATION OF NEW ZEALAND AND THE SOUTH SEAS (1769–1824)
BY MICHAEL LEE
BATEMAN PUBLISHING, NZ, 2018
GIVEN NEW ZEALAND’S development heritage, it’s little remembered (convenient oversight) that the superpower of international science at the time of first visits by Europeans, was France.
This fascinating book does much to redress that, in looking deeply at the actions and outcomes of the early French expeditions, led by Surville, Marion Dufresne, La Pérouse, d’Entrecasteaux, Du’mont d’Urville and Lesson. Names less recognisable than Captain Cook’s – but equally as important, especially in their scientific contributions to recording New Zealand’s unique plants, birds, marine animals and geography. Richly illustrated with period watercolours, engravings and maps, and weaving together geography, natural philosophy (what they called science then) and human history, this book is a must in the shelves of any modern New Zealand navigator’s library. More so on board your boat.
STRAITS – BEYOND THE MYTH OF MAGELLAN
BY FELIPE FERNÁNDEZ-ARMESTO
BLOOMSBURY, LONDON, 2022
THE FULLA WE’VE all heard so much about. The same guy after whom these have been named: an expensive cruise ship, NASA’s mission to Venus, a costly private health care business, firms dedicated to financial management and aerospace engineering – among many others.
But as the intro to this fascinating book reminds us, “Failure is fatal to happiness, but can be fruitful for fame.” For Fernández-Armesto “reveals that Magellan did not even attempt – much less accomplish – a journey around the world, and that in his own lifetime, was considered a traitor, a tyrant and a failure.”
To balance things, the author reminds us about Magellan: “In many ways he deserved the esteem he has attracted.” The provisor comes soon after: “…he did more than just fail: he drove on to disaster when failure was already obvious.
“But the people who praise him or try to appropriate his renown do not know who Magellan really was. They ought to think again.”
This book does splendidly on both counts – re-introducing an already famous explorer; and getting us to reflect on that fame itself. An enlightening and lively read.
