Author Alex Stone presents a selection of New Zealand titles with maritime themes encompassing history, adventure, and triumph over adversity.
CLAWMARKS DOWN THE JETTY – A NEARLY BUT NOT QUITE CIRCUMNAVIGATION BY JILL HARRIS WBJ PUBLISHING, 2025
THE PRIZE IN this instalment of book reviews for the most evocative title! And also, it shows that a story told well, need not be revealed instantly. The extended cruising voyages that Jill Harris recounts so vividly in Clawmarks took eight years – from 1978 onwards, visiting Norfolk Island, Australia, Christmas Island, the Comoros, Mauritius, South Africa, Kenya, Sudan, Yemen, the Med, Mauritania, the Gambia, the West Indies, et al, along with her larger-than-life husband Bunji.
The book took 25 years to complete. Possibly because the balancing of warm memories of exotic places visited and wonderful cruising folk and locals met, with more complicated emotions about relationships and risk, is a difficult thing to pull off successfully. Which Jill does. And the vector for this is evocative prose about the profound/simple/startling things that ocean cruising offers. Wonderful turns of phrase from the get-go: “…the plastic promise of [1970s] wet weather gear”; “… seas streaked with the white phlegm of disorder”; “…a cupboard flew open spewing two dozen eggs onto the carpet, yellow eyes bouncing madly.”
Passages like this in their last Atlantic crossing: “Sextant [the cat] looked after himself, catching flying fish when they flew into the cabin sides… and Bunji and I spent mornings dreaming up menus and taking turns in creating new flavours from the same old stores, like sardines à la mayonnaise, tinned oysters on hard dry toast and tinned tuna spaghetti. Even the remains of the warthog, rapidly dried on the backstay, was a tasty treat.” (The warthog was Bunji’s share from when he went hunting with the blokes in West Africa.)
Then: “We were like a jigsaw, fitting together in rituals of boat life. I realised that at sea Bunji and I were great together. It was only when we got to land that he was drawn to partying and escapades with his mates – things that always caused conflict with me.” All of this makes Clawmarks a strong and worthwhile book, in its ability to speak with honesty in paradise and in peril – while simultaneously reflecting on life’s lessons. It’s both an insightful voyaging adventure and a quest of self- discovery. Clawmarks could become a classic of women’s seafaring literature.
THE VOYAGE OF THE ROXANE – A TRUE KIWI YACHTING ADVENTURE BY KEITH DAWSON ALIBI PRESS, 2010
THIS CHARMING, SLIM BOOK could also be sub-titled, the ‘Tiny yacht which started something huge.’ For the tale of the Roxane carries humble elements leading to greater things. Two Kiwi lads buy a 26-foot E Class keeler, built by Tercel Brothers of Auckland, for the ‘princely sum of £225, in the depths of the Great Depression, and set off on adventures.
First, the crossing of a boisterous Tasman Sea (isn’t it always so?), via Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands, and arriving in Sydney Australia to quite some media astonishment. The smallest yacht to have made the crossing. And admiration from a young woman who becomes the author’s wife. Another young Australian, Peter Luke, who helped tie up Roxane to the jetty in Sydney when she made landfall there in 1937, was so inspired he went on to found the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, and establish the iconic Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race.
These were the days of ocean sailing, remember, in a pure accessory-free form, that is almost incomprehensible to us now. A passage from early on: “Dick had bought a pocket watch from Woolworth for two shillings and sixpence, which we were contemplating using as a substitute for a chronometer. Dick tossed the watch over to me…I missed the catch and it hit the floor. The back flew off and the cog attached to the hair spring was merrily going up and down like a yo-yo. Very carefully we steadied the hairspring in its mad cavorting, turned the watch over and replaced the works, slapped on the back, and to our surprise the watch kept working perfectly.”
A heartwarming epilogue is provided by the author’s daughter Kath Taylor, who took it upon herself to find Roxane somewhere in Australia – believing that such a nuggety wee boat could surely never die – and offer her dad a sail on her 50 years later. Which happened, in Cairns, in 1987. Her successful sleuthing, in the days before the internet, is a story in itself. So perhaps the book could also be subtitled, ‘The little boat who wanted to be found.’
The Voyage of the Roxane is a must for any Kiwi boatie with a penchant for the unknown gems within the saga of our rich sailing-adventuring history.
SERGEANT KELLY’S QUEST BY TERRY CARSON ALIBI PRESS, 2025
THERE’S SOMETHING RICHLY satisfying when one finds a snippet of history that hasn’t quite made it to mainstream consciousness, and which can then be fleshed out way further fictionally. I do this in my own short stories. And it’s what Terry Carson has done in two books about a world-weary 1870s Auckland policeman, in his books Sergeant Kelly’s Elephant – where our man is tasked with looking after the visiting Prince Alfred’s pet baby elephant, all the while upsetting a fiendish Fenian assassination attempt. And this one, Sergeant Kelly’s Quest, which features the shipwreck of the American schooner Massachusetts Maid carrying a familiar desperado, on – and her daring escape from – Great Barrier Island (foiled by our man Kelly, natch, but with some complications).
Populated by a cast of memorable characters, including the beautiful blue-eyed temptress-murderess Lily Powell, and Sergeant Kelly’s trusty sidekick, the whiskey-thirsty (demoted) Constable Walker, plus well-observed period boats as characters in their own right, Sergeant Kelly’s Quest clips along at an agreeable pace. Told in a straight-forward, no- nonsense narrative style, the Sergeant Kelly books make good companions on your summer cruise; all the while adding to the trove of 19th Century New Zealand crime (and nautical- themed) fiction.
WAIHEKE ISLAND – 800 YEARS OF THE HISTORY OF TE MOTU ĀRAI ROA BY PAUL MONIN PENDRAGON PRESS, 2025
THE MOST POPULAR cruising destination in New Zealand is the northern coast anchorages of Waiheke Island, in the bays of Oneroa, Mawhitipana (Palm Beach), and Onetangi. Here’s the way for boat- borne visitors to get the full, in-depth stories of their favourite island. Local historian Paul Monin has done a splendid job of distilling the most pertinent stories of Waiheke for all of us to appreciate. He’s also known for his previous, even-more- in-depth socio-political history of the entire Hauraki Gulf, Hauraki Contested 1769-1875, published in 2001.
This new Waiheke history is presented with the nautical chart Approaches to Auckland as a wraparound cover, which when shifted, reveals a stunning cover image, a specially commissioned painting by Roger Morris, of HMS Tortoise departing Waiheke waters bound for England, in June 1843.
Waiheke Island is the result of a productive partnership between Paul and local newspaper Gulf News (Pendragon Press is its book publishing arm), whose photo archives contributed greatly to the visual language that complements Paul’s storytelling. Jenny Nicholls is to be admired for her fine book design too. The most authentic way to buy this beautiful book would be to sail to Oneroa, drop anchor, and wander up the hill to the Paper Plus in the main street of the village. Then enjoy at your leisure in the saloon, where and whenever you’re cruising the Gulf.
DAVEY JONES OF WHAKATAHURI AND THE SOUNDS WRECKING COMPANY BY DAVEY JONES, MARTIN BERTHOLD SELF-PUBLISHED, 2025
BOATS – AND THEIR DEVOTEES – inhabit a world full of dreams. Of both kinds, sometimes opposites. For a launching is a great cause for celebration. An ocean voyage, or an island rescue, is an elevating experience. While a shipwreck can surely bugger up your day.
All these thoughts were there when I looked into the eyes of a bloke named Davey Jones (true story!) at the most remote (and only!) combined boat-building and ship-wrecking operation in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Only it’s not working anymore – the Sounds Wrecking Company, that is – and there’s just one, seemingly-indefinitely-stalled boat-building project on the not- quite-so-go there now.
Davey Jones, a partner in these enterprises and still living there at Whakatahuri in the outer reaches of Pelorus Sound (access only by boat), full name David Harrison Jones, has on his business card the titles ‘Connoisseur of Classic Wood Boats & Ancient Lister Engines.’ Sounds like a bloke with a yarn or two worth telling. And so he has. The book is wonderful in every way, recording fascinating history, and using great and evocative photos, while also coincidentally providing a chronicle of the unique, slim, mostly double-ended, always elegant launches developed specifically for family, commercial and fishing use in the Marlborough Sounds.
While the first part of the book is made up of Davey Jones’ personal adventures and reflection, the second half is a re-print of a previously-difficult-to-find, but still-enormously-valuable history Sounds Wrecking Company, by Martin Berthold. More shipwreck pics and facts, than you can shake a stick at.
