Bottoms Up!: Toasts, Tales & Traditions Of Drinking's Long History As A Nautical Pastime [Hardcover]

Robert McKenna (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2005

From the "sun’s over the yardarm" to being "three sheets to the wind," Bottoms Up! is a sandbar hopping voyage through the centuries of toasts, quotes, slogans and sayings that mark drinking’s age-old relationship with sailors and the sea. Robert McKenna has spent years collecting hundreds of nautical-related drinking phrases and utterances. Here he distills them, stirs them with fun facts, and offers them up with amusing anecdotes to celebrate in high style this grandest of all maritime traditions.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Garnished with fun facts and amusing anecdotes, Bottoms Up! is the ideal gift for Father's Day and to usher in the summer season in grand maritime tradition. Sprinkled with fun illustrations, it is perfect to take along on your next cruise.

About the Author

Robert McKenna has spent his lifetime observing coastal and nautical life. A former Coast Guard officer, maritime reporter, and columnist, he is a book editor and the author of The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy, a lexicon of our seagoing culture. Married with two daughters, he lives in Noank, Connecticut where he writes, sails, fishes, teaches, coaches, experiments with seafood recipes, and mixes a salubrious Margarita.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Flat Hammock Pr (May 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0975869922
• ISBN-13: 978-0975869925
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,092,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For the Host, with the Toast, that pleases the Most!, July 12, 2005

By 

Captain Cocktail (South Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bottoms Up!: Toasts, Tales & Traditions Of Drinking's Long History As A Nautical Pastime (Hardcover)

What a fun book! I ordered one for my father (it arrived right away despite what the shipping information said). He's an old salt who swallowed the anchor long ago. Like many other boaters, he enjoys the occasional cocktail, and it was great to see him raise his glass and hear him bellow out in laughter. I ordered a bunch more for my all my friends with boats (so that they'll keep inviting me aboard).

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-have guide for every sailor and nautical enthusiast!, June 6, 2005

By 

J. J. Lynch "Lee Rail" (underway off the Eastern Seaboard U.S.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bottoms Up!: Toasts, Tales & Traditions Of Drinking's Long History As A Nautical Pastime (Hardcover)

Get your copy, stuff it lovingly into a drybag, place in the saloon (or your bar ashore), and refer to it as often as possible (meaning, while raising a pint or uncorking a good rainwater Madeira with friends). You know Mr. McKenna has covered all the bases in this thoroughly enjoyable book, when (to my relief), he recounted the famous christening toast by Judge Smails in Caddyshack. Still the funniest nautical toast that I can recall. Great tidbits of lore, stuff you thought you didn't need to know, but are glad that you do now. This is a coffee table book that you can slip into your blazer pocket to impress the boys at the Yacht Club...or the tiki bar.

3.0 out of 5 stars Novelty book worth some laughs, but little in depth substance, January 1, 2011

By 

mckelly33 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bottoms Up!: Toasts, Tales & Traditions Of Drinking's Long History As A Nautical Pastime (Hardcover)

Bought this book as a gift for my aunt and uncle. Wasn't expected a complete history of boating and drinking, but the book was a bit shorter than expected. There were a few laughs out of it through the first reading, but my guess is that it was never looked at again.