My husband's birthday is coming up and I would like to get him a few new books. He is really into non fiction books about the ocean, specifically adventures or disasters. He is currently reading {{Tragedy at Honda}} and really liking it.
He's also read a few books about the Shackleton expedition and most of the more common books of this type (David Grann, Nathaniel Philbrick, The Perfect Storm, etc). I'm really looking for more obscure titles as he was particularly happy to read about the Honda disaster as he hadn't ever even heard about it.
If the books involve disparate people coming together to rescue, recover or save people or ships even better.
Edited to add Not sure I did that bot thing correctly so I'm adding the description from Amazon below .
Known to seafarers as the Devil's Jaw, Point Honda has lured ships to its dangerous rocks on California's coast for centuries, but its worst disaster occurred on 8 September 1923. That night nine U.S. Navy destroyers ran into Honda's fog-wrapped reefs. Part of Destroyer Squadron 11, the ships were making a fast run from San Francisco to their homeport of San Diego as fog closed around them. The captain of the flagship Delphy ordered a change of course, but due to navigational errors and unusual currents caused by an earthquake in Japan the previous week, she ran aground. Eight destroyers followed her. Only Pearl Harbor in 1941 would do more damage. In dramatic hour-by-hour detail, the authors recreate what happened, including the heroic efforts to rescue men and ships. In addition to presenting a full picture of the tragedy, they cover the subsequent investigations, which became a media sensation. The authors suggest that the cause of the tragedy lay in the interpretation of the differences that exist between the classic concepts of naval regulations and the stark realism of the unwritten code of destroyer doctrine to follow the leader. Admiral Nimitz's introduction sets the scene for this action-filled account of America's greatest peacetime naval tragedy in history, first published in 1960.
by fourpinkwishes
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Dead Wake by Erik Larson- about the last crossing of the Lusitania.
I recently read The Gales of November about the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. It’s a new book and quite good.
I recently read The Gales of November about the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. It’s a new book and quite good.
Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailor.
The Sea Captains Wife has a lot of history regarding merchant shipping in the 1850’s, New England (specially Maine) sea captains and discusses navigation as well.
[removed]
The Great Halifax Explosion by John U Bacon
· *The Destruction of Convoy PQ.17* by David Irving.
· *The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy’s Finest Hour* by James D. Hornfischer.
· *Inferno: The Epic Life and Death Struggle of the U.S.S. Franklin in World War II* by Joseph Springer.
· *Hell from the Heavens: The Epic Story of the U.S.S. Laffey and World War II’s Greatest Kamikaze Attack* by John Wukovits.
· *Requiem for Battleship Yamato* by Ensign Yoshida Mitsuru, *Yamato* IJN.
· *The End of the Beginning: From the Siege of Malta to the Allied Victory at El Alamein* by Tim Clayton and Phil Craig.
· *Battle of the Java Sea* by F. C. Van Oosten.
· *Out of the Smoke: The Story of a Sail* [Battle of Sunda Strait] by Ray Parkin, Chief Petty Officer, H.M.A.S. *Perth*, Royal Australian Navy (fictionalized memoir).
· *Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR’s Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of Her Survivors* by James D. Hornfischer.
· *The Raft: The Courageous Struggle of Three Naval Airmen Against the Sea* by Robert Trumbull.
· *Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway* by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully.
· *Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle* by Richard Frank.
· *Savo: The Incredible Naval Debacle Off Guadalcanal* by Richard F. Newcomb.
· *In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex* [1820] by Nathaniel Philbrick.
· *A Night to Remember* [the R.M.S. *Titanic*: 1912] by Walter Lord.
· *The Last Voyage of the Lusitania* [1915] by A. A. Hoehling and Mary Hoehling.
Some of my more recent reads. And there are more.
*Endurance, Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage*, Alfred Lansing
*The Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica’s Journey Into the Dark Antarctic Night*, Julian Sancton
*The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook*, Hampton Sides
None of these probably obscure, though
A few I can offer…
The boat that wouldn’t float by Farley Mowat
Great Seas Under: The perilous Rescue Mission of a N.A. Salvage Tug by Farley Mowat
Ten Hours Until Dawn: The statue Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do by Michael J Tougias
November’s Fury: The Deadly Great Lakes Hurricane of 1913 by Michael Schumacher
Wreck of the Carl D: A True Story of Loss, Survival and Rescue at Sea by Michael Schumacher
Sole Survivor by Dennis Hale was alright if you can find it cheap. I got more from reading the Coast Guard report than from the book though.
Ten Hours until Dawn I could not put down and highly recommend.
The Perfect Storm
The Wide Wide Sea – Imperial Ambition, First Contact, and the Fateful Final Voyage of James Cook
*Into the Raging Sea*
I am currently reading Beneath Dark Waters: The Legacy of the Empress of Ireland Shipwreck, by Eve Lazarus. I’ve always been interested in it because it happened near my hometown (Rimouski, in Eastern Québec). It kinda flew under the radar in terms of historical recognition since it happened shortly after Titanic and around the time WW1 started (1914), but it’s a riveting story. The author has done incredible research and also writes in a very engaging way. I can’t recommend it enough!
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The Wager by David Grann about a Royal Navy ship and a mutiny on it in the 18th century. NY Times best seller and at some point, a movie.
One of the wildest tales in maritime history is that of the Dutch sailing ship the Batavia, which grounded off the Western coast of Australia in 1629 – it’s not for the faint of heart! Peter Fitzsimmon has written a book about it, although I know of the story through podcasts/audio documentaries.
In Harm’s Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors – Doug Stanton
It hits hard on so many levels.
Ship Ablaze! – E O’Donnell – Paddlesteamer taking a Church group up the Hudson suffers a disastrous fire in view of the quays of New York. If the Titanic caused major change in lifeboats accessibility. This accident did the same for life jackets, the ones on board hadn’t been inspected for years and became death jackets.
Enemy of All Mankind by Steven Johnson. It starts out with the history of piracy and proceeds to tell about a particular pirate, Henry Every, and the Mughal Empire.
BLind Man’s Bluff about the history of submarine warfare in the US. Fascinating and talks about sunken subs.
Batavia’s Graveyard
“90% of everything: inside shipping, the invisible Industry that puts clothes on your back, gas in your car, and food on your plate” by Rose George.