Song of the Sirens [Paperback]

Ernest K. Gann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 18, 2007

Few men have lived a life of such challenge and adventure as Ernest K. Gann. In the best selling Fate is the Hunter, he recounted his many years in a professional flying career. In a similar fashion, Song of the Sirens is the story of the ships he has sailed and owned; of his years as master of a commercial fishing vessel, of ocean crossings and of storms and emergencies encountered at sea. Song of the Sirens steps aboard seventeen of Gann s most beloved vessels. Filled with moments of both high drama and reflective calm, Gann s ode to his seventeen sirens reveals the true romantic within every sailor. Ernest K. Gann was a sailor, a pilot, and above all, a writer.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...rich in detail, colorful characters, and poignant insights." -- Good Old Boat, July/August 2000

Song of the Sirens is a classic. --Newsweek

n this reprint of the original 1968 publication, author Gann recounts his seventeen most beloved sea vessels, from his years as master of a commercial fishing vessel on the Pacific coast to a boat hardly more than a raft with patchwork sails. Part travelogue and part adventure tale, this descriptive memoir is filled with poetic words about sailing on the high seas by a writer perhaps better known for his works about flying, including Fate Is the Hunter, but would be widely enjoyed by those interested in stories of sailing. --Reference and Research Book News, August 2008

About the Author

Ernest K. Gann was a sailor, a professional airline pilot, and above all, a writer. Besides Song of the Sirens, his most famous books are Fate is the Hunter, The High and the Mighty, Island in the Sky, Blaze of Noon and In the Company of Eagles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 318 pages
• Publisher: Sheridan House (September 18, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574092545
• ISBN-13: 978-1574092547
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #845,876 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When The Sirens Sing, April 18, 2004

By 

loblollyboy (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Song of the Sirens (Paperback)

Ernest Gann has written a memoir of what happens when you hear the Sirens singing and follow them. I loved this book as the sea-going counterpart to his marvelous memoir of flight, Fate Is the Hunter; there's the same wrily witty, compassionate observations on the vicissitudes of the sea and those who sail upon it, particularly himself, the same amused humility in the face of the perversities and miracles of chance, whether they be a failing engine at the height of a tempest, intransigent bureaucrats of the Panama Canal, a balsa raft costing less than sixteen dollars which can leave a scientifically designed catamaran in its wake, or a wild voice singing in the Greek Islands. Whether recounting desperation in a great storm off the Oregon coast, or the nostalgic reminiscenses of his earlier sailing boats and shipmates, or the languid monotony of a long tropical ocean passage, or the nature and the workings of what he terms the 'Dock Committee' (which has membership worldwide), even the time he was masterfully conned by a crafty old sailor on the wharves of New York, Gann maintains a close and humorously affectionate eye on the sometimes clear, sometimes problematical, but always interesting relationships between the mundane acts of everyday and the greater universe which lurks behind every common act and thought.

Above all, there is in Sirens, as in all his books whether fic or nonfic, a love of the sea, of boats, of living fully in and of the world and of us frail, fallible and funny humans in it. In Fate Is the Hunter, it is the world of the air and those who fly; in Song of the Sirens, the sea. A wonderful read.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterfully written true adventure., March 17, 2001

By 

Gary Messerli (Sioux Falls, SD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Song of the Sirens (Paperback)

Ernest K. Gann is, quite simply, a great writer. In Song of the Sirens he writes about his adventures aboard the many ships he has owned. His writing skill takes the reader, even a landlubber like me, along with him to experience what it is like to ride out a storm 50 miles off the coast of Oregon in a fishing trawler or to sail across the Atlantic Ocean with an old, rusty, leaky training boat with a suspect engine. The book is slanted more for the boating afficionado. While he does explain some of the technical terms, a lot of them are obviously for someone who knows sailboats. There are no pictures, either. Pictures of the ships (not boats because, as he explains in the book, a boat is carried by a ship)would have been helpful. All in all, though, this book will greatly appeal to Ernest K. Gann fans, those who enjoy adventure stories, and those who enjoy sailing stories.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A witty, gripping account of Gann's adventures at sea., November 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Song Of Sirens (Paperback)

I'm a frequent reader of Gann's aviation fare but I was equally captivated by this account of his adventures at sea. I read this book when I was about 16 years old and was moved by Gann's vivid description of life on the ocean amid both fair weather and foul. Gann's love for the beauty and vagarities of ships and the sea permeates this fine novel.