Rough Water

Sailors confront storms, rough waves, icebergs, sharks, starvation and their own fear and suffering. This collection contains the stories of the men and women who go to sea and battle against the elements to stay alive. It contains prose writings from authors such as Herman Wouk, John McPhee, and Sebastian Junger, and also includes true stories of drama and heroism on the high seas. In the collection, Patrick O'Brien's Jack Aubrey is pursued through the "roaring 40s" by a heavy Dutch frigate, explorer David Lewis contemplates impending death when his boat is demasted by 60-ft waves in the Antarctic Ocean, Steven Callahan struggles to survive 76 days aboard a flimsy infatable life raft, and five young sailors lose their boat and are attacked by sharks. Together, the writers whose work is collected here show why men and women go to sea, and what they find there.