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"A gripping compendium of noteworthy small-boat voyages made over the centuries."--John Harland, author of Seamanship in the Age of Sail
A Speck on the Sea chronicles the greatest ocean voyages attempted in the littlest boats. These feats include:
- Diego Mendez's voyage to rescue Columbus
- William Okeley's escape from slavery in a folding rowboat
- Ernest Shackleton's death-cheating journeys
- And more
List of contents
Introduction63 A.D. - Sixteenth Century / The Fogbound PastSeventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries / Two Desperate Escapes1865 - 1876 / Victorian Venturers1876 - 1900 / The Paths of Glory1900 - 1920 / A World to Conquer1920 - 1930s / Lovers and Other LosersThe 1940s / Big Feat, Little NoticeThe 1950s / Goofy and GallantThe 1960s / Doing Your Own ThingThe 1970s / The Pursuit of HappinessThe 1980s / The Golden DecadeThe 1990s / Records and ReduxThe New Millennium / New Faces and OldTo Sea or Not to Sea / ConclusionAppendix / Rowers and Other StrangersAppendix / Other Notable VoyagesNotesBibliographyAcknowledgmentsIndex
About the author
William H. Longyard has published several books and has written numerous articles for boating, auto and airplane journals. He has also produced the video, Kayaking in Europe. He has been an English teacher at North Davidson High School for 15 years and is an avid boater and car enthusiast. HOMETOWN: Winston-Salem, NC
Summary
Contains more than seventy accounts of adventures in small boats. This book offers a collection of sea adventures in which small, unlikely crafts completed voyages against great odds. It features seafarers and feats of seamanship including Ed Gillet's kite-powered transpacific kayak voyage and Ben Lecomte's swim across an ocean for love.
