Customer Reviews

The Mind of the Sailor: An Exploration of the Human Stories Behind Adventures and Misadventures at Sea

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This short book addresses the psychological aspects of ocean voyaging. Individual chapters draw conclusions about such subjects as a skipper's leadership and the dynamics of groups confined to small spaces for long periods of time. The book intersperses essays with three famous cases of failure: the Bligh mutinies, the Apollonia murders, and the suicide of Donald Crowhurst. The authors give particular emphasis to single-handed sailing. Each chapter ends with references that can be used for further reading. This book is useful as far as it goes, but could have covered a much wider sampling of psychology at sea. The authors are very British in their outlook, saying little about non-European sailors. Except for the Bligh mutinies, the book focuses almost exclusively on the post World War Two period. One wishes that the book had addressed more voyages from the great ages of exploration.

More voyages have been brought to an abrupt end by friction among the crew than by any other problem. In spite of that, there are hundreds of books dealing with every single aspect of sailing, but, as far as I know, this is the only book that deals exclusively with that most sophisticated and delicate piece of machinery: the human mind. With a lifetime of clinical psychiatry and many years of sailing behind him, Peter Noble is in an ideal position to probe deep into the mind of the sailor and find out what makes a yacht skipper tick. Tension between captain and crew has been with us every since man first went to sea and the book draws on some famous examples in the history of seafaring to help us understand this perennial problem. All potential sources of tension are explored, from crew compatibility to watchkeeping. Having participated in, and observed, the sailing scene for many years, the author has a rich stock of valuable advice on how to run a happy ship. Peter Noble's contribution is complemented by co-author Ros Hogbin who deals with the psychological aspects of life afloat, and draws on her practical experience gained during a voyage around the world.