Travel & Voyages

Starbound (Circumnavigation) – Gordan and Nina Stuermer – 1977

Published by David McKay, New York a first edition 1977. Large octavo, 330 pages with numerous photographic illustrations taken on their voyage. Very good condition.

Gordan and Nina Stuermer decided to give up a “normal” life to sail on the square-sail ketch “Starbound”. The circumnavigated the globe in two and a half years with their teenage son. But not after living on and growing accustomed to the vessel for seven years.

They set of around the world from Annapolis, Maryland in October 1973 … down the Chesapeake Bay and off to Bermuda. Some tips on how to deal with the Panama Canal (should you be lucking enough to need them) and then into the Pacific and the beautiful island nations. Tips on the inside of the Great Barrier Reef and arriving at Dili just in time for a revolution. And further remarkable adventures ensue. Useful appendices for those with ambitious plans including the preserving of meat and other produce onboard.

Circumnavigating … a comprehensive account

$30.00

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By Way of the Wind – Jim Moore

A first edition published by Sheridan House, Dobbs Ferry, New York in 1991. Octavo, 215 pages, illustrated with the authors photographs and with endpaper maps. Very good if not fine condition

Jim Moore and his partner Molly gave up a normal life in Portland Oregon to build their dream boat a 36 foot fibreglass Cascade Sloop to be named Swan. It took them four year to get it all shipshape.

They set off in 1977 across to Hawaii, Christmas Island, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Lord Howe island, New Zealand and then on to Sydney. It was 1989 by the time they sailed round Cape York and on to their second Christmas Island before Mauritius, Cape Town St Helena and up to the West Indies and a stop off in Tampa. Back through the Panama and back to Hawaii and on home.

Entertaining circumnavigation .. including getting stuck on the Mooloolaba sand bar!

$30.00

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Adventure in Depth – Commander William King

Published by Putnam’s, New York 1975, a first edition. Octavo, 250 pages, nicely illustrated and with a chart of the voyage. Very good condition.

Bill King perhaps the greatest Submarine Commander ever, well the only one to survive the whole of WWII. Here, in 1973, he circumnavigates the world in his specially built junk-type rigged “Galway Blazer II. Survives a capsize in the South Atlantic before being hit and damaged by a killer whale near Western Australia. Following the roaring forties route over the Pacific and Round the Horn and the return home.

An unusual book with reminiscences of submarine activity intermingled with the adventures of his circumnavigation.

Incredible voyage and reminiscences from an incredible man

$30.00

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Tai Ki – To the Point of No Return – Kuno Knoble

Published by Little, Brown Boston a first English language edition 1976. Translated by Rita and Robert Kimber from the first German edition the year before. large octavo, 276 pages with many colour photographic illustrations, endpaper maps etc. Chips to top and bottom of dust jacket spine, otherwise a pretty good copy , very clean internally.

Could an ancient Chinese junk have sailed to America? In 1974 Kuno Knobl and seven others built and launched the Tai Ki and set sail across the Pacific.

They didn’t make it all the way as they were beset by a series of difficulties … it was “worm” that caused the most havoc .. with the crew eventually spending nearly all their time plugging holes created by the little devils. A final typhoon crippled the vessel.

Luckily they were rescued by the container-ship Washington Mail and the Tai Kai was abandoned 40 degrees north and south of Alaska.

Tai Ki … almost there but for the worms

$25.00

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117 Days Adrift (In the Pacific) – Maurice & Maralyn Bailey – First Australian Edition 1974

Published by The Australasian Publishing Co, Hornsby a first edition 1974. Large octavo, 192 pages with endpaper maps, further charts and numerous excellent illustrations

This story is up there with Apollo 13.

Maurice and Maralyn Bailey give up their lives as a clerk and a tax officer in the South of England sell their house to live life at sea. They had the Auralyn built to meet their own needs and finally sailed for New Zealand in June 1972.

The made the Atlantic and through the Panama without notable incident. However North East of the Galapagos it all went wrong when they were hit by a whale and the boat began to sink. All attempts to save her were in vain and they had to abandon the Auralyn for their inflatable raft and dinghy. Meagre supplies were recovered.

Along the way we have storms, capsizing, numerous sightings of ship that did not see them … the first on day 8! They captured fresh water but not without difficulty and caught fish and turtles for food. Eventually rescued by a Korean fishing vessel “Weolmi 306” drifting further north having already crossed the main shipping route.

Their remarkable story and their survival among the marine life of Pacific area known as the “Tropical convergence” warranted foreword by Sir peter Scott

Incredible story of survival in the Pacific

$30.00

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Come Aboard – Eric Hiscock – First Edition 1978

Published by Oxford University Press a first edition 1978. Octavo, 237 pages with 43 coloured photographs by the Hiscock’s and seven charts. Very good near fine condition.

In 1976, Eric Hiscock and his wife set off on their third circumnavigation of the world.

They traveled west from New Zealand in the jib-headed ketch Wanderer IV via the Durban to England, the Canaries and a stop off in the West Indies before through the Panama and across the Pacific taking in the Marquesas, Tahiti and Fiji.

Nicely illustrated and with good technical dialogue.

Fine sailing third time all the way

$30.00

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Starbound (Circumnavigation) – Gordan and Nina Stuermer – 1977

By Way of the Wind – Jim Moore

Adventure in Depth – Commander William King

Tai Ki – To the Point of No Return – Kuno Knoble

117 Days Adrift (In the Pacific) – Maurice & Maralyn Bailey – First Australian Edition 1974

Come Aboard – Eric Hiscock – First Edition 1978

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