Saga of a Wayward Sailor [Paperback]

Tristan Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 1995

The indefatigable viyager and storyteller Tristan Jones first gained widespread popularity with the publication of his bestselling Saga of a Wayward Sailor in 1979. It chronicles Jones' adventures from 1961 to 1968 aboard his beloved Cresswell, a wooden lifeboat converted to cruising sailboat. Jones survives storms, dismastings, arrest by the Soviet Navy, the smiggling of Edam cheeses and Barbary apes, and being sunk by whales.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Autobiographical sketches from 1961 to 1969, laced with rum, schnapps and strange encounters. They principally record a series of wayward voyages and delivery trips beset by nautical disasters, and the amazing chances which have so far prevented them from ending fatally. At the start it promises to be an adventure yarn for the reader who "always longed to run a trading schooner in the South Seas but became a chartered accountant instead". However, considerable admiration must be extended to an author capable of overcoming so much adversity, and whose homespun philosophy is, in his own words, "of great comfort to those at the end of their tether". It's quite a jolly read. -- Cruising, Winter 1995

Here's a rollicking, rumbustious yarn of small boat seafaring, packed with incidents and characters to make you gasp and stretch your eyes. -- Practical Boat Owner, December 1995

Jones's prose--a unique and arresting blend of the earthy, philosophical and the picaresque--and the sheer scale and tangential offshoots of his adventures, made him a wonderful tonic in the age of irredeemably dull books documenting yet another round-the-world race. --Motorboat & Yachting, December 1995

From the Publisher

7 1.5-hour cassettes --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: Sheridan House (January 25, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0924486791
• ISBN-13: 978-0924486791
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #941,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great adventure from Triston Jones, January 15, 2000

By 

David Biggs (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saga of a Wayward Sailor (Paperback)

A truly amazing and very poignant book. Triston has a great style that places you in his eyes and allows you to feel his emotions. This man has experienced more in his life than most of us could in 10 lifetimes. A great adventure by a great man. A sure hit for the sailor or non-sailor.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Glorious in it's honesty and reality flavored with Love, May 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Saga of a Wayward Sailor (Paperback)

I sought the man, in order to tell him how inspirational his adventures and his books are to me...I am disabled but with Tristan's writings, the adventurous spirit that lives inside of me is alive and 'abled' through the honesty in the telling, the respect for all people as individuals and the frankness regarding the truth of life. Tristan speaks with his heart .. the delights and cruelties of nature and man, are beyond words into the innocent love of the Creator through His Creations. I will never pilot any type of boat (nor would I wish to)nor would I ever sail or desire to. Tristan's books are more than that, more than the challenge to do the same as he. They are about the beauty of Life itself and the value of it. Unfortunatly, Tristan Jones passed away before I 'discovered' his books and I was unable to tell him how his writings, his honest persona awakened my heart. No reader of Tristan's books is disabled. I travel with him and I learn about Life all over again.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A BOOK THAT WAS MY INSPIRATION, October 25, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Saga of a Wayward Sailor (Paperback)

"Saga of a Wayward Sailor" and "The Incredible Voyage," as were most of Tristan Jones' books, were an inspiration that gave me the fortitude to continue building my own boat and then to sail the south Pacific and Asian waters. I paid tribute to Tristan by devoting a chapter to him in my most recent book "At Home In Asia." I was fortunate to have met him later. I was carrying a copy of the book from Singapore where it was printed to Tristan who was living in Phuket at the time. But I was too late. Tristan had died a few days before. Harold Stephens