The saga of Cimba / Richard Maury, with drawings by the author ; introduction by Jonathan Raban.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Maury, Richard.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Maury, Richard--Travel.

Maury, Richard.

Travel.

Cimba (Schooner).

Voyages and travels.

Genre:

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

xxiv, 230 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Camden, Me. : International Marine/McGraw-Hill, [2001]

Summary:

In November 1933, 23-year-old Richard Maury set sail from Connecticut in Cimba, a 35-foot Nova Scotia schooner, leaving behind the icy grasp of a Depressionera New England winter. With one other crewman he shaped a course for the South Seas, where there were still islands so remote as to be reached only by perilous voyages across vast stretches of empty ocean. At that time such voyages were rarely undertaken in small boats, but Maury was determined to have the adventure while it could still be had.

Finely wrought, with elegant clarity, The Saga of Cimba is a magical book. In Jonathan Raban's words, "It is precisely because the voyage was so fraught with difficulty and tragedy, and Maury had to work so hard to reconcile the disasters that befell him with his steadfast love of the sea, that the book rings true. The joy is real, but it is wrested from the teeth of experience by a writer of quite extraordinary skill, cunning, and determination." Maury found the South Seas of his dreams, but in doing so he had to weather three storms, serious illness, the deaths of two friends, and finally, the loss of his beloved Cimba on the reefs of Fiji.

First published in 1939 and out of print for nearly three decades, The Saga of Cimba has been compared with the works of Dana, Conrad, and Saint-Exupery. Maury's exquisite depictions of the sea's almost unbearable beauty and annihilating fury are unforgettable. Truly, as Raban says, the startling brilliance of The Saga of Cimba qualifies it as one of the most important books ever written about the sea.

Contents:

1 Towards the Sea 1

2 The Gale and the Lee Shore 11

3 Departure 21

4 Winter, North Atlantic 26

5 The Capsizing 37

6 Under Bare Poles 43

7 On to Grand Turk 58

8 The Caribbean and Break-Up Port 69

9 Hacking to Windward 80

10 A Galapagan Mystery 91

11 A Rendezvous at the World's End 100

12 The Downhill Run 109

13 In French Oceania 130

14 Tahiti, Port of Refuge 143

15 An Ocean Race

The Islands under the Wind 160

16 Ocean, Sunlight, and Shadow 179

17 Through the Koro Sea 199

18 The Wreck of the Cimba 207

19 In a Fijian Harbour 221.

Notes:

Originally published: New York : Harcourt, Brace, and Co., c1939.

ISBN:

0071372253

OCLC:

45015596