An account of Conrad's sea-going experiences over 20 years, evoked by particular ships and their captains, winds, storms, oceans, continents and islands, cities, nautical terms and heroism.

Herman Melville's Great American Novel about life and honor, men and whales. Herman Melville's story of a Great White Whale has survived time and change, has even survived the end of the whaling industry itself, because it is the greatest American novel ever written. More than just a whale-hunt, Moby Dick is a meditation on nature, loyalty, and vengeance, a nautical story that defines what manhood means, that explores the sea with a sympathetic eye, and that counts the price of hatred.

Avast there all you Patrick O'Brian fans! Here is a personal narrative of the seaman's life in the age of sail: 1815-1882, and a classic of nautical literature. Dana was a Harvard student recovering from the measles when he decided it would be more interesting to do so at sea as a common sailor. In 1834 he joined a two-year voyage rounding Cape Horn to deliver cargo to California. All the color and detail of daily life at sea as well as descriptions of various ports. Rousing!

Twixt Land and Sea (1912) contains the short stories 'A Smile of Fortune', 'The Secret Sharer', and 'Freya of the Seven Isles' - three tales with a nautical background.

In spring of 1881 John Muir set out on the ship 'Corwin' for a journey of 15,000 nautical miles from San Francisco into the Arctic sea. The purpose of the voyage was to search for three ships that had been lost in the area, and to verify the local fleet's compliance with international seal and otter hunting regulations. Muir went along because of his fascination with glaciers. He was also drawn by the call of one of the world's last unexplored coastlines. This turned out to be Muir's last great foray into the wilderness, as he became a settled farmer afterwards.