Sailing Books, Videos, Bookstores, Publishers, Online Texts, etc

"Now then, Pooh," said Christopher Robin, "Where's your boat?"
"I ought to say," explained Pooh as they walked down to the shore of the island, "that it isn't just an ordinary sort of boat. Sometimes it's a Boat, and sometimes it's more of an Accident. It all depends."
"Depends on what?"
"On whether I'm on the top of it or underneath it."

- Winnie-The-Pooh by A. A. Milne

Books and Videos

John's Nautical Literature Page: A repository of Joseph McWilliams' Nautical Non-Fiction Adventure List and John Kohnen's huge Nautical Fiction List. These great lists provide readings for when you can't be on the water (or surfing the internet). These are also posted regularly to netnews.
The Arthur Ransome Society Home Page: Info about the Arthur Ransome Society (author of Swallows and Amazons and other books).
Joshua Slocum Society International: An international association of sailors and non-sailors of similar interests in sea history, the Joshua Slocum story, the adventures of small boat sailors and heroism at sea.
The C.S. Forester Society
Patrick O'Brian: Info about Patrick O'Brian from W.W. Norton with this announcement. [You probably know him as the biographer of Joseph Banks and some lessor known sailing adventures].
Peter Blake Adventurer: Part of the Peter Blake site.
Nigel Calder: Information on books by Nigel Calder.
Auxiliary Sail Vessel Operations: by Andy Chase. Yep.
Watermark Publishing: Cruising Guides by Claiborne S. Young - Covering the Waters of the Southeastern USA
The Bent Bulkhead Cartoons for the Sailor by Chris Stoyan: Liveaboard Cartoonist Chris Stoyan has studied Sailors for Years. Drop in for a LAUGH!
Ports and Pilots: Ports and Pilots is a children's video to be broadcast on Public Television, as part of The Maritime Adventure Series.

Bookstores and Video Sources

The Armchair Sailor - Newport, RI.: A resource for over 35,000 sea books, videos, software and chart titles since 1979 --with shipping to both professional and pleasure mariners all over the world.
Armchair Sailor Seattle: The Armchair Sailor in Seattle, Washington
Bluewater Books & Charts Online
Boat Books Ltd: Boat Books Ltd is a specialist nautical bookshop in New Zealand with books on Boating, New Zealand, Nautical, Marine, Charts, Software, Cruising, Yachting, Navigation, Travel, Sailing.
Columbia Trading Company: Deals in new, out-of-print and rare nautical books and artifacts.
Magic Lamp Boating Videos: Instructional videos on all aspects of Boating, Sailing, Coastal Piloting, Celestial Navigation, Cruising, Racing and other nautical subjects.
The Nautical Mind: The Nautical Mind is a walk-in nautical bookstore located on Toronto's waterfront since 1980.
Paradise Cay Publications: Publisher of the adventure books "On The Boulevard Of Galleons" by Wallace B. Farrell and Sandra Burns, and "Taking Terrapin Home" by Mathew Wilson. They also publish the "Nautical Almanac, Commercial Edition", as well as a variety of other titles.
Red Sky at Night: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada store that specializes in all things to do with the sea. The site includes a nautical book catalogue.
Seawothy Books: Nautical books and videos for sale. Each book has a book photo and complete description.
Tall Ships Books: Specializing in new and used, fiction and nonfiction nautical books from the Age of Fighting Sail, WW1 and WW2, and up to present day.
Selection of Educational Sailing Videos: A source for purchasing some sailing videos.

Publishers

Atlantis Technical Services: A Scotland based marine and technical publishing company specialising in ISM Code, SOLAS and all other types of marine & off-shore technical and operational documentation.
Fernhurst Nautical Books
International Marine: International Marine has been publishing the best books about boats since 1970.
Seaworthy Publications, Inc.: A publisher of nautical books located in Wisconsin, mostly known for their cruising guides and as the new publisher of the classic Hal Roth titles on circumnavigation.

Online Sailing Texts

Electronic Nautical Books

Fiction and Non-Fiction Available on the Internet.

Project Gutenberg

"Two good books a month," is their motto, I believe. [I understand it is now like 16 books a month - life is good!]. They have Melville's classic Moby Dick online. The opening lines still resonate with me 140 years later. Avast. Is that the Rachel? No, its the Herman Melville Internet Society. Or you could read the 32 page version (for the young and/or impatient) adapted and illustrated by Allan Drummond published by Farrar, Strauss, & Giroux.

Naval Documents from Internet Wiretap

Looks like various bits from: DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN NAVAL FIGHTING SHIPS, James L. Mooney, ed., Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy

Books

Richard Henry Dana: Two Years Before the Mast
Herman Melville: Billy Budd
Herman Melville: Moby Dick
Robert W Service: The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses - including The Cremation of Sam Mcgee!

Tales from Jack G. Ganssle

How can you resist stories with tag lines like: "Go West! The author entered the 1992 OSTAR - a singlehanded race across the Atlantic - and loses the boat in mid-ocean. Other than that it was a great trip."

One Woman - One Ocean

This is the ongoing story of Anne Lise Guy, the Australian Yachtswoman who sailed solo from Australia, to South Georgia Island, via the Antarctic Peninsular in 1993/94 in her yacht, Wildflower. This web site will provide an ongoing plot of her current return course from Cape Town, South Africa, to Australia from late January to April 1996.

Excerpt from "From Keel to Truck"

Excerpts from Captain Passch's dictionary in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Used in Marc Van Campenhoudt's Ph.D. thesis.

Sailing the Dream

the chronicles of SV Querencia, which hailed from Seattle.

Online Books FAQ and Online Books from CMU

Here is a more complete pointer to books that are online. If you notice other sailing related ones, let me know, so I can update my list!

Alan Hartley's maritime reading slips

Sailing contributions to the Oxford English Dictionary. Outrageous!

International Collision Regulations (Colregs)

The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea 1972 as amended, published on the www in a linked hypertext format, by The Trustees of the Rivers Wye and Lugg Navigation.

I'm always open to adding resources to my list, so if you know of other items, give me a holler: mbrmbr@acm.org

Form last updated: Sat Feb 16, 2002