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The Sailor's Classics library introduces a new generation of readers to the best books ever written about small boats under sail
Below the Cape of Good Hope and south of Australia lie the feared latitudes of the "Roaring Forties," where nonstop westerly gales push huge seas, unimpeded, around and around the bottom of the world. It was into this watery hell that, in 1942, Vito Dumas set sail in a 31-foot ketch.
There have been writers who sailed—Wilkie Collins, Joseph Conrad, Robert Louis Stevenson, Hilaire Belloc, Jack London, E.B. White, William Golding, John Barth, Thomas McGuane, Geoffrey Wolff—along with a multitude of sailors who wrote, from Slocum and John Voss to Tristan Jones and the father-son team of Daniel and David Hays. After nearly two hundred years, the literature of small-boat voyaging under sail is enormous, and every publishing season sees more additions to the list.
It is the function of The Sailor’s Classics to recognize and celebrate the relatively small number of truly important books in this library. Some have been chosen because the voyages they describe are themselves of unignorable merit; some because the sheer brilliance of their writing demands their inclusion. Most combine in equal parts serious nautical interest with literary excellence.
As general editor of the series, I am always trying to keep in mind the bookshelves on my own 35-foot ketch. A proper ship’s library isn’t restricted to books with boats in them, of course; I wouldn’t happily set sail for more than a day or two without novels by Dickens, Trollope, Evelyn Waugh, and Saul Bellow, and poetry by Pope, Keats, Tennyson, Hardy, Philip Larkin, and Robert Lowell. The big question is which small-boat voyages can stand up in such exalted literary company? Not very many is the honest answer, and half the function of an editor is to know what he must reject. The books that won’t figure in the series are as important as those that will.
We won’t be publishing quaint curiosities. Period charm does not make a classic, and though I have a soft spot for, say, Nathaniel Bishop’s Four Months in a Sneak Box (1879), and an even softer one for Maurice Griffiths’ The Magic of the Swatchways (1932), they won’t be found in The Sailor’s Classics. Nor will the many salty “yarns” full of the faded yo-ho-ho of generations past. Whimsical accounts of family vacations afloat (the obligatory adventure with the dog and the dinghy...) will be left to gather dust in peace. So will all those melancholy solo voyages in which the writers go to sea in order to discover themselves.
There remain the books whose vigor has not dimmed with the passage of time, whose voice is as alive and meaningful now as it was on their first publication—the books that should be essential reading for every literate sailor. No. 2 in the series is Richard Maury’s The Saga of Cimba, first published in 1939; No. 4 is The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst by Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall, first published in 1971. They are perfect examples of what I mean: one a loving close-up portrait of the sea in all its moods, written by a master mariner with an astonishing literary gift; the other a study, by two journalists, of a man who lost touch with reality during the course of the first singlehanded round-the-world yacht race. Each—in its very different way—is an indispensable book. Each contributes an important thread to the larger pattern in the carpet, which is the great, various, and intricate design of the literature of small-boat sailing.
The Sailor’s Classics will surprise our readers with its richness and complexity. Since Homer’s Odyssey, the voyage has supplied one of the classic forms in literature—both as a grand metaphor for life itself in the long passage from birth to death, and as a sequence of tests and adventures. Equally, the boat (and especially the small boat) has long stood as a symbol of selfhood—a fragile ark bearing the journeying soul to its destination. Hilaire Belloc put the matter beautifully in The Cruise of the Nona:
"The cruising of a boat here and there is very much what happens to the soul of a man in a larger way... We are granted great visions, we suffer intolerable tediums, we come to no end of the business, we are lonely out of sight of England, we make astonishing landfalls—and the whole rigmarole leads us along no whither, and yet is alive with discovery, emotion, adventure, peril and repose." Those five nouns should be emblazoned above The Sailor’s Classics: it is from the interweaving of discovery, emotion, adventure, peril, and repose that the pattern of sailing literature is made, and we shall do our best to honor each and every one in our selection of the best books ever written about life aboard small boats at sea. Jonathan Raban
Series Editor
March 2001
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"One of the classic small-boat voyages of all time."--Jonathan Raban
In June 1942, Vito Dumas set off from Buenos Aires for a trip around the world unlike any previous circumnavigation--eastward over the "impossible route," the Roaring Forties of the Southern Ocean: south of the Cape of Good Hope, south of Australia, and south of Cape Horn. His craft, the Lehg II, a 31-foot ketch named for his mistress, carried only the most makeshift gear and provisions. He refused to carry a sea anchor, a bilge pump, or more than one screwdriver, and he had so few clothes that he had to stuff them with newspaper to keep warm. He also sailed without a radio, since carrying one during wartime might have labeled him a spy.
He was the first to complete the 20,000-mile voyage singlehanded, the first solo sailor to round Cape Horn and survive, and the first to sail around the world with only three landfalls (in South Africa, New Zealand, and Chile). But what sets this story apart is Dumas's powerful prose, recording elation and depression, hardship and relaxation, and, above all, his unrelenting determination in the face of adversity. The terror of sailing through massive storms without respite from the helm alternates with periods of relative calm when he reflects on the enchanting nature of the sea. His trio of landfalls--sojourns he called "calm waters where my spirit could rest"--add yet another distinction to this beautiful tale. Alone Through the Roaring Forties is also a tribute to Lehg II, Dumas's beloved boat. He calls her his "shipmate," and "faithful companion," "an ideal floating house of extraordinary strength and endurance," and had complete faith in her abilities and performance.
First published in 1960, Alone Through the Roaring Forties is a classic tale of skilled navigation, seamanship, and great adventure, but it also demonstrates, as Dumas intended, the possibilities of global peace and friendship in a world at war. As Jonathan Raban writes in his introduction, "Dumas chose to see his circumnavigation as a test of his ordinary humanity. There are hurricane-force winds here, and hazardous waves, but . . . it is his reverence for the small things that gives Alone Through the Roaring Forties its distinction as a classic."
"One of the greatest voyages ever made by a solo sailor. Dumas's three-stop solo circumnavigation of the world, at latitudes infamous for their extended gales and appallingly high seas, was accomplished in a cruising ketch, less than 32 feet in length, without self-steering gear, in the middle of a major war. . . . It is his reverence for the small things that gives Alone Through the Roaring Forties its distinction as a classic. This most harrowing of voyages is presented by its author as a story of Everyman on a modest sea pilgrimage. . . . Other solo circumnavigators have made the world seem dauntingly larger by their harrowing exploits; Dumas makes it seem smaller."--from the introduction by Jonathan Raban
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eternal Vito,
By Susana (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Alone through the Roaring Forties (The Sailor's Classics #5) (Sailor's Classics Series) (Hardcover)
An Argentine legend of the sea, deeply loved by all south american sailors. This book tells of his second voyage on board Legh II against the roaring forties alone, and all the things he had to endure. Bernard Moitissier used to keep this book under his pillow and referred to it many times. A must read for everyone, specially for overseas cruisers
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Definitely a classic,
By A Customer
This review is from: Alone through the Roaring Forties (The Sailor's Classics #5) (Sailor's Classics Series) (Hardcover)
This is currently my favorite book I have ever read about sailing around the world. It's entertaining, informatative, and most important, I felt like I was right there riding with him on the boat. It struck me as a very honest account without a lot of making things sound more impressive than they actually are. He talks a bit about getting sick on board, but he accepts that as just part of the challenge. He also talks about getting a tiny bit careless after going so far around the world, and getting put ashore in what must have appeared to be a "novice" mistake. At that point, he was ANYTHING but a novice. It's just the kind of thing that might happen to any one of us, which is exactly what makes this book so appealing to me. If you want to escape from your land-locked life for a few hours with a good book, consider this one strongly. The chapters are generally fairly short, and the pages turn quickly, because he really draws you in with his writing style. His description of his experience with the waves in the South Pacific still has me spellbound. I will read this book again and again over the years.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Certainly a classic of Solo Sailing Stories,
By Jim Morrison (Hansville, WA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Alone Through the Roaring Forties (Paperback)
This story is as spectacular as it is unique. Who else would even consider this adventure now, not to mention then? No one. The story of the adventure of sailing in such conditions is well worth reading. As an added value Vito just seems to have a great capacity for making friends and telling the story. His capacity to endure is remarkable, but also his skills and seamanship are truly outstanding. Even in this modern world of computers and electronic navigational aids there is much to be learned about boats and seamanship from a person who sailed a 32' boat in the worst of conditions, and did it smartly, without all those modern aids. I recommend this book for the wonderful story it tells about the sea and the person. Certainly a classic of solo sailing stories.
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