Seafaring Lore and Legend"A valuable and lively resource. Jeans sorts truth from fiction with a sure hand and does full justice to both."—Peter Stanford, President Emeritus, National Maritime Historical Society “A veritable sourcebook of nautical history, beliefs, and heritage. Every true mariner will get lost in this book.”—Boating Seafaring Lore and Legend is a storehouse of wonders for those who love the sea. From Noah’s Ark to Thor Heyerdahl’s raft, from Atlantis to the Northwest Passage, author Peter Jeans scours the ages and the seven seas for fanciful, inspiring, and bizarre tales of sea monsters, ghost ships, lost continents, castaways, pirates, explorers, superstitions, and customs. Discover the surprising truths behind:
This is a book you can open anywhere to savor for a few minutes or an afternoon. But be careful: it's easy to lose track of time at sea. |
From inside the book
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... known for imaginative flights of fancy (see Captain M'Quhae's Monster, chapter 17). Chapter 17, Sea Monsters, includes some of the more famous (or infamous) monsters and sea serpents that have galvanized the imagination of sailors and ...
... known by seamen as Cape Stiff— or a cyclone in the Pacific or the Indian Ocean is driving you onto a rock-fanged lee shore, you are going to call on every prayer and superstitious belief known to man in the hope of saving your miserable ...
... known to ancient geographers as the fabled island of seven cities, which was to be found somewhere in the Western Ocean (the old name for the Atlantic). It possessed such a salubrious climate and all manner of fruits and other ...
... known to Polynesians as the Land of the Long White Cloud, now called New Zealand, its rugged geography and many islands being the result of all that cutting and slashing by Maui's brothers. OCEANUS. “For all at last return to the sea—to ...
... known to the Etruscans as Nethunus), and hence the sea itself, it being very uncommon to refer to the ocean as Poseidon. The representations of both gods are similar, each being depicted as a somewhat older man of stately appearance ...
Contents
1 | |
13 | |
30 | |
3 Legendary Voyages | 43 |
4 Sea Quests of Old | 64 |
5 Maritime History | 85 |
6 Nautical Custom | 95 |
7 Life at Sea | 104 |
12 Navigable Waters | 206 |
13 Castaways and Survivors | 214 |
14 At Odds with the Law | 227 |
15 Sea Fancies | 246 |
16 Myth and Mystery | 254 |
17 Sea Monsters | 276 |
18 Wraiths of the Sea | 295 |
19 Superstition and Belief | 304 |
8 The Captain and His Ship | 134 |
9 A Murmuring of Men | 161 |
10 Big Ships and Battles | 176 |
11 Death and Disaster | 192 |
Sources and Notes | 329 |
Select Bibliography | 350 |
Index | 362 |