Best Nautical Books for the Merchant Mariner

[cmakin]

Knotship, my first SIU ship was the Sealift Pacific, out of Houston 1991. 30 days, 3 engine room fires, general alarm worked once. Also sailed SL Atlantic out of Portland shipyard. We had 4 paintbrushes!! Sailed 21 days, needed 20 to upgrade to 'B' seniority.

Oh, man, I remember the Sealift ships. I did a lot of work on them when I was with ABS. Very glad that I didn't have to sail on one. The Sleazy Slindo was my favorite nickname for a ship of all time.

[EbbTide]

New Book by Capt. Max Hardberger, author of Freighter Captain, available April 6th. through GCaptain link to Amazon.

Seized: A Sea Captain's Adventures Battling Scoundrels and Pirates While Recovering Stolen Ships in the World's Most Troubled Waters

Seized throws open the hatch on the shadowy world of maritime shipping, where third-world governments place exorbitant liens against ships, pirates seize commercial vessels with impunity, crooks and con artists reign supreme on the docks and in the shipyards—and hapless owners have to rely on sea captain Max Hardberger to recapture their ships and win justice on the high seas.
Seized takes readers behind the scenes of the multibillion dollar maritime industry, as he recounts his efforts to retrieve freighters and other vessels from New Orleans to the Caribbean, from East Germany to Vladivostak, Russia, and from Greece to Guatemala. He resorts to everything from disco dancing to women of the night to distract the shipyard guards, from bribes to voodoo doctors to divert attention and buy the time he needs to sail a ship out of a foreign port without clearance. Seized is adventure nonfiction at its best.

[10talents]

New Book by Capt. Max Hardberger, author of Freighter Captain, available April 6th. through GCaptain link to Amazon.

Seized: A Sea Captain's Adventures Battling Scoundrels and Pirates While Recovering Stolen Ships in the World's Most Troubled Waters

Seized throws open the hatch on the shadowy world of maritime shipping, where third-world governments place exorbitant liens against ships, pirates seize commercial vessels with impunity, crooks and con artists reign supreme on the docks and in the shipyards—and hapless owners have to rely on sea captain Max Hardberger to recapture their ships and win justice on the high seas.
Seized takes readers behind the scenes of the multibillion dollar maritime industry, as he recounts his efforts to retrieve freighters and other vessels from New Orleans to the Caribbean, from East Germany to Vladivostak, Russia, and from Greece to Guatemala. He resorts to everything from disco dancing to women of the night to distract the shipyard guards, from bribes to voodoo doctors to divert attention and buy the time he needs to sail a ship out of a foreign port without clearance. Seized is adventure nonfiction at its best.

Is this what freelance captain Steve Foster doing in his spare time? SkyCowboy spoke of his adventures. Seriously though sounds like a good read and looking forward to it.

[RWB]

My new novel THE CORYDON SNOW is about an EC2 (Liberty Ship) 15 month Pacific cruise in WWII.
The book celebrates the bravery of the Merchant Marine and Navy Armed Guard in that war
You may want to check out my publisher. http://www.wings-pres.com or my own website,
http://www.richardwhittenbarnes.com

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[RWB]

You may wish to check out my new novel THE CORYDON SNOW, about an EC2 Liberty Ship assigned to a dangerous voyage that lasts 15 months in WWII Pacific theater.
It's a novel, but meticulously researched with respect to time and events of the day. Occurrences are based on actual interviews with Merchant Mariners and US Navy Armed Guard veterans.
It is available from Amazon.

[Kingrobby]

The Terror by Dan Simmons, an interesting historical/fiction book about a failed attempt to seek the Northwest Passage.
The Wave by Susan Casey, "in pursuit of rogues, freaks, and giants of the oceans" basically a book about ridiculous waves and people who have encountered them. (also The Devil's Teeth)
In the Heart of The Sea, the tragedy of the Whale ship Essex, by Nathaniel Philbrick, a great historical book about a whale ship that sank and the men that survived, the basis for Moby Dick
Lost at Sea by Patrick Dillion, about the crab boats Americus & Altair sinking
Leviathan by David L. Golemon, a fiction book about a 1800 era submarine, very fun read.
Breverton's Nautical Curiosities by Terry Breverton, a book about the origins of nautical sayings and such, not a read as much as a dictionary. interesting though.

[water]

The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard is a well researched history of the development of piracy in the Caribbean, and a fun read. It gives the reader a good understanding of why the Bahamas became home to a number of pirates in the 18th century.

[RWB]

The Corydon Snow
A WWII novel of a Liberty Ship in the Pacific
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[Captain Bill]

I am the author of Sharkman of Cortez, my memoir about being a commercial shark fisherman in the 60--80's in Southwest Florida. Here is the Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Sharkman-Corte...6323922&sr=1-1

Captain Bill

[Tashtego]

I did my last OS time aboard the China Sea and then got my AB ticket and continued aboard her for two years. Ahh, the China Sea, lovingly known as The China Sea Syndrome to her crew. But I'd give my eyeteeth to have a job that tramps like we did on that old girl... Never knew what was coming next, and somehow, the adventure never seemed to end. Now I drive a bus for a container line; no adventure, no humor, and 'we'll french-fry your balls if you don't keep the budget.'

[SaltySailor]

These are some of the books from my collection:

One of the best books about the Merchant Marine and the convoys from WW-2, surprised I haven't seen it yet:

Dark Sea Running

George Morrill

Pub 1959

Another good collection of sea tales

Rough Passage

Dana G Prescott

Pub. 1958

Twillight of sailing ships:

Kicking Canvas

Capt. A.A. Bestic

Published 1957

SAVED!-The Story of the Andrea Doria

William Hoffer

Published 1979

Disaster at Sea-Collection of sea disaster stories

Otto Mielke (German author, originally published in German)

1958

Dangerous Waters-Modern Piracy and Terror on the High Seas

John S. Burnett

2002

American Merchant Seaman's Manual

Cornell Maritime Press

Weather for the Mariner

Naval Institute Press

1977

[captlaura]

i loved "ten hours until dawn" by michael tougias. he has a few nautical based books www.michaeltougias.com

[suburbredneck]

White Jacket,reburn,moby dick-meville
The wreck of the Medusa-unknown
two years before the mast-dana
the last ship-unknown
on the beach-nevil shutte???
20000 leagues under the sea-Verne
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex -Nathaniel Philbrick (moby dick based on this) also read this one during breaks in bluewatermaritime school for o/s training,etc. instructor saw me reading it and think it won me over for him!

[K.S.]

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is a true story about a WWII bombardier who survives floating across the pacific in a life raft, only to be captured and taken prisoner by the Japanese.

Sent from my iPad using gCaptain

[c.captain]

Mentioned very early in this thread but bears to be repeated...ANYTHING AT ALL BY CAPTAIN ALAN VILLIERS! Any mariner who wants to understand what the men who have preceeded them went through to be seafarers must read his works. Seamen in deepsea square rigged ships where able to do the unbelievable in conditions that us today cannot conceive of suffereing though. My respect for those men is boundless.


.

[Capt. Phoenix]

That was back before osha, lawsuits, and all that "safety" bullshit...

[suburbredneck]

Meville's Redburn and White Jacket are good reads on tall ships both privately and in service, i did enjoy(white jacket) a segement on Masters-at-Arms and how the crew loathed the man and position to the point of how the MAA had to be quick on his feet due to 40lb shot being dropped from above onto him! Another segment oh how they where passing around south america and everyone was freezing to death and the doctor ordered the captian to "enliven the men". the captian then orders "all hands.....SKYLARK". then a whole slew of craziness happens,men by force put on oars and ran around deck, a man seized up aganist his will and run up in the rigging, and with the sway of the ship gets whipped all over the place aloft (to the point of going parrell with the sea level)....this again was when the navy did allow sailors to drink(i dont blame em i wouldnt want to drink the water either). also two years before the mast is also another good one!

[Power Play]

Ten hours till dawn, Unto the Sea Shall Set them free (Marine electric), Simple Courage, and In peril are all fine selections that are captivating reads. Each has some very informative information in post incident discussion. Highly suggest for new and old mariners to gain respect for those who have perished and almost so at sea.

[cmakin]

That was back before osha, lawsuits, and all that "safety" bullshit...

Last time I checked, OSHA does not apply to seagoing vessels. For now, anyway.

[cmakin]

A recent read is "The Shipping Man", a novel about ship finance and ownership. For what would seem to be a dry, boring subject, the novel is VERY entertaining. It is a great perspective with regard to how ship owners view mariners and their vessels. It is also a reminder that mariners cannot live without the owners and bankers, either. He does a great job with the different characters; many of which I seem to have run across in my varied maritime career. A VERY entertaining read.