South Sea Vagabonds: A New Zealand Classic Adventure of the Sea the Mariner's Library [Paperback]

John Wray (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Grafton Books (November 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0246133791
• ISBN-13: 978-0246133793
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #490,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #54 in Books > Travel > Australia & South Pacific > New Zealand

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another one of my favourites, April 10, 2002

By 

Cameron (Hobart, Tasmania AUSTRALIA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: South Sea Vagabonds: A New Zealand Classic Adventure of the Sea the Mariner's Library (Paperback)

John Wray is one of those characters who doesn't fit the urban workaday lifestyle of most of us. His daydreaming about the sea and wind in his hair led him to get the sack from his office job, which was a good thing really. He made use of the time on his hands to build himself a cruising yacht. But he had no money. Not letting a small thing like lack of resources get in the way, he scrounged the materials and built his boat. The first half of the book is taken up with the fascinating details of acquiring the materials and building on a shoestring budget. An interesting and funny chronicle - especially if you're interested in building boats. The rest of the book focuses on his adventures with the boat after he gets it in the water. A pretty-much run of the mill travelogue of the South Pacific, but written with humour and the interesting prose of a hands-on blue water sailor. You can't help liking the man. The book was written in the 1930's. I hope it made him enough money to enjoy a long and happy life at sea.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you love the sea this is an all time classic, April 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: South Sea Vagabonds: A New Zealand Classic Adventure of the Sea the Mariner's Library (Paperback)

I read this book whist sitting on a yacht in the southern ocean...which is not the best place to read it. Jonny Wray does not write exceptional prose but if you are not sitting in the South Pacific when you read South Sea Vagabonds you will spend years hankering for the place.

If ever a book needed to come into print in the 1990's this is it. Freedom in 200 pages..... ........If you can find it

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suberb read, August 28, 2011

By 

Sam - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: South Sea Vagabonds: A New Zealand Classic Adventure of the Sea the Mariner's Library (Paperback)

Amazing book. Very well written and interesting. In fact this was such a good book that I read it in two sittings! Very funny, and stranger than fiction. Good illustration of how the world has changed since that time as well.

Could not say a bad word about this book, apart from I want more!