The Boat Who Wouldn't Float [Hardcover]

Farley Mowat (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1970

It seemed like a good idea. Tired of everyday life ashore, Farley Mowat would find a sturdy boat in Newfoundland and roam the salt sea over, free as a bird. What he found was the worst boat in the world, and she nearly drove him mad. The Happy Adventure, despite all that Farley and his Newfoundland helpers could do, leaked like a sieve. Her engine only worked when she felt like it. Typically, on her maiden voyage, with the engine stuck in reverse, she backed out of the harbour under full sail. And she sank, regularly.

How Farley and a varied crew, including the intrepid lady who married him, coaxed the boat from Newfoundland to Lake Ontario is a marvellous story. The encounters with sharks, rum-runners, rum and a host of unforgettable characters on land and sea make this a very funny book for readers of all ages.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Great, good humor... Very funny and often touching  tribute to a love affair that saner, duller souls  would no doubt christen Farley's Folly." --  The New York Times  

"Sheer delight." --Best Sellers --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

Happy Adventure was a schooner with one fatal flaw. It leaked like a sieve. So why would anyone repeatedly expose himself and his friends to the elements of the North Atlantic in a treacherous, stubborn, uncomfortable, unfloatable boat which at last count, has sunk eight times? Any explanation of this appalling narative seems outrageously unlikely. But the story is true. All too true. And it's decidedly the funniest story yet from Farley Mowat, whose books have sold over a million and a half copies in this country alone.

"Great, good humor... Very funny and often touching tribute to a love affair that saner, duller souls would no doubt christen Farley's Folly." -- The New York Times

"Sheer delight." --Best Sellers --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 241 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Little Brown; 1st edition (June 1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316586501
• ISBN-13: 978-0316586504
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #247,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #94 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Nature Travel > Ecotourism

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Tale of Perserverance and Folly, July 18, 2004

By 

John R. Linnell (New Gloucester, ME United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Boat Who Wouldn't Float (Mass Market Paperback)

Farley Mowat is nothing if not persistent. After purchasing the Newfoundland schooner from Hell, badly misnamed as Happy Adventure, he finds he has a boat that leaks constantly, has a compass that doesn't know where magnetic north is, hates to head West, has an engine that works when it feels like it and that is just for starters. Much of the time sailing is in the fog, both real and self imposed. Most sane men would have turned this boat into kindling, but Mowat sailors on, one harrowing experience after another with an assortment of mates and in the process tells us a funny and true story of his adventures as only he can. Written over thirty years ago, the story has lost none of its charm and interest.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This one is NOT just for children - read it yourself!, March 16, 2001

By 

K. Corn "reviewer" (midwest, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Boat Who Wouldn't Float (Mass Market Paperback)

Farley Mowat is the kind of writer whose words flow across the page as easily as breathing - and what a delight those words are! I've never sailed, I'm not a boat lover and yet I could not put down this true tale of one man's adventures getting a primitive vessel into seaworthy shape. Several pages had me laughing out loud, especially Mowat's account of drinking Screech, an alcoholic beverage of near deadly strength.While this book is classified as a "children's" book, I think it is far more suitable for adults, who may appreciate some of the humor here with an adult's perspective. Then again, if you have a reluctant reader, I can't think of a better book to keep him or her reading. I guess this book is actually for the WHOLE family.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tremendous sea yarn by one of Canadas best writers, May 30, 2000

By 

Owen Hughes (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Boat Who Wouldn't Float (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a tremendous sea yarn told by an old salt with many years of sailing under his belt. Farley Mowat is not well known as a sailor perhaps, but as someone who has skippered his way along the Newfoundland coast and survived, he must be reasonably authentic. Like many inland-born Canadians, Mowat had not sailed a small boat at sea before arriving in Newfoundland after the war. However, he had done a lot of sailing on Lake Superior in his boyhood and youth, on a yacht his father owned and sailed for many years. And sailing appears to have been in his blood.

The tale of how he acquires this particular boat, then sails along the coast for the summer and finally brings it up the St-Lawrence Seaway all the way to Montreal, will please any lover of maritime fare. Among his many books, Mowat wrote a number of autobiographical ones, some of which are lighter in tone. "The Boat Who Wouldn't Float" is delightfully easy to read and, along with "The Dog Who Wouldn't Be"(the story of Mowat's childhood), gives interesting insights into the life of one of Canada's foremost writers.