Amazing Sailing Stories

In his childhood Dick Durham explored the creeks and rivers of Essex, Kent and Suffolk in a collection of dinghies and dayboats. When he left school he signed on as mate of the Thames sailing barge Cambria, and served on the last working Thames barge before beginning his writing career on Fleet Street, writing for national newspapers and sailing magazines. He joined Yachting Monthly in 1998 as a feature writer and news editor and has travelled the globe in search of the best sailing stories and adventures. He is well known for his powerful and poetic writing style.

Part One Survival Voyage of Desperation 3 Three Months Adrift in a Rubber Dinghy 7 The True Story of MobyDick 10 Psychopaths in the Fo'c'sle 14 Once is More Than Enough 20 The Greatest Sea Voyage of All Time? 23 Decoy Ship 27 Death Did Not Deter Her 30 Bligh: A Flawed Real Life 'Master and Commander' 33 Drifting Alone Across the Ocean in a Punctured Life-Raft 37 Part Two Calm A Ship Swallowed by a Cave 43 Orchestra from Hell 48 Death at the Helm 51 Sunk by a Leviathan in Thick Fog 54 The Silent Creeks 58 Part Three Storm Fastnet 79: The Killer Storm 65 A Chop-Stick Fortune in the South Seas 68 Fatal Delivery Trip 71 Anchoring a Tall Ship in a Puddle 74 Three Times Capsized Sailing Round Antarctica 78 Part Four Human Error UK Border Patrol of Yesteryear 83 Man Overboard in the Middle of the Pacific 88 Pilot Error Causes Shipwreck and Death 91 Family Day-Trip Becomes Rescue at Sea 95 The Curse of Ill-Gotten Gains 99 Sailing to the Wrong Hemisphere 103 Hanging by a Thread from a Shipwreck 108 Part Five Adventure A Real Life Monster of the Deep 113 Treasure Island 116 No Way Back: By Raft Across the Pacific 119 The Queen's Pirate 122 Shoal Waters Run Deep 125 From Honeymoon to Shipwreck 128 A Bitter-Sweet Taste of the Racing Life 132 Dayboat Capsize, Gales and Dismasting 139 Record of Records 142 Part Six Tragedy The Last Tragic Voyage of Francis Chichester 149 Sailing into Madness 153 After the Wave 160 The Mysterious Voyage of the Mary Celeste 167 The Mysterious Voyage of John Franklin 171 The Raft of the Medusa 176 The Riddle of Erskine Childers 181 Part Seven Rescue Frozen to the Rigging 187 Good Samaritan of the Southern Ocean 191 Mystery Fire at Sea 194 Sea Dark, Sky Crying 198 The Four Rescues of a Solo Atlantic Yachtsman 205 Part Eight Deliverance The Exploding Whale 213 Downhill Racer 216 The First Man to Sail Round the World Alone 219 Not Quite the Fastest Ship 223 The First Man to Sail Round the World Non-Stop and Alone 226 Deliverance Trip 229 The Ship that Sailed Herself 232 Round the World in 1000 Breakages 235 DIY Ocean Racer 240 The Dead Lay in Her Wake 246 The Terror of a Lee-Shore 252 The Smallest Boat to Sail Round the World 254 Bibliography 259