Sheridan Books

A great window into the beginning of the nautical life of one of the most famous single-handed sailors ever. Told with a dose of humor, just the opposite of some of the sailing books you'll pick up, where the author is intent on seeming courageous and important with the first sentence. The sea is the star in this book, and Moitessier just wants to be close to it.

If not, read this, then read "The Long Way"- "Reefs" is an excellent prologue. Here is a younger Moitessier, who has no idea yet about a round-the-globe race, or does he? He has many theories of sailing, and only a little philosophy. For those who have read The Long Way, you can see the birth of Moitessier's most famous boat, the Joshua on the horizon, and with it the beginnings of Moitessier's sailing maturity. Touching, sad and funny, this book. Moitessier was not only an excellent sailor, he was an excellent story-teller.

Got it for my son, who has taken up sailing and loves it. He loves knowing the origin of so many phrases. The tone is lighthearted and fun, easy to read. I have to admit I've paged thru it myself a few times and found it enjoyable as well.

Bill Beavis and Richard McCloskey's "Salty Dog Talk: The Nautical Origins of Everyday Expressions" is a short, entertaining but informative "dictionary" of everyday expressions with nautical origins.

The roughly 200 terms and expressions can be grouped into three types: common words we all know have nautical origins (e.g., scuttlebutt, groggy); common words most of us don't know have nautical connections, often because they have obscure nautical origins (e.g., blazers, "black book," son of a gun, filibuster); and words with a nautical etymology (floating, hammocks, mayonnaise, rostrum, quarantine). Surprisingly, even though the authors give the etymology of many primarily nautical words, they do not include entries for "starboard" and "port/larboard."

The entries are short, not sourced, and are often amusing and light-hearted (especially when the terms border on or have truly "salty" and crude variations). Although a bit over-priced, this book is good for what is tries to do and would be a welcome addition to any sailor's or amateur etymologist's/linguist's library, or for anyone else with any interest in these subjects.

Charles W. Read was an inept student, he graduated last in his class at Annapolis in 1860 just before he re-signed his commission in the US Navy. What he showed (just like US Grant and a lot of other military minds) was that some people do best by doing, not studying. Having lost his steam ram in a battle on the Mississippi River near Vicksburg. He is called to work on a "Raider" out of Mobile Bay.

Once on the open ocean "Florida" sailed into the Caribbean where they attacked Union commerce and merchant marine. Taking a captured ship "Tacony" with one howitzer and some fake (Quaker) wood guns, Read proceeds to damage over twenty ships on his way up to Portland Maine where they are caught but only after they steal a US Revenue Cutter and blow it up. The story is a lot like that of the "Shenandoah" which had two books about it published in 2005; more interesting from an historical point of view but not that thrilling. (How exciting can it be to read about the capture and burning of fishing Schooners?)

Although a life-long Civil War buff I had never heard of this attempt by a young Confederate Naval officer to take the war to the seas off New England. Lt. Charles A. Read had previously served on the ironclad "Arkansas" and the commerce raider "Florida" and had seen a lot of hard fighting - which he seemed to relish. In February, of 1863, the "Florida" captured a Union merchant vessel and Read was given permission to take over and convert this captured ship into another commerce raider. Read promptly sailed to the North and with only one small cannon on board began to wreak havoc on the New England fishing industry. The Northern states then began beseeching Washington for more protection - threatening to divert resources from the bloackade of Southern ports. Shipping insurance rates started rising, too.

Shaw skillfully interweaves the two sides of the story - the motives and actions of the protagonist, Read, and his antagonist, Union Secretary of Navy Gideon Welles. The author may have a Northern bias but it does not ruin the story. There are many good accounts of Civil War naval actions - we can add this one to the list.

This book was OK for basic spinnaker sailing but not great. Definitely not worth the $70+ dollars I paid for it as it should have been $10

The information in this book is greatly augmented by the pictures and drawings. There is discussion on both mast head and fractional boats and the difference in handling the chutes. And information on 'end for end' and 'dip pole' spinnaker poles and how each is operated.
My biggest question is who wrote the book??? Come on 'bent air' writting a book on sail trim.

Excellent resource for Europe, The Mediterranean Sea, and the Pacific Coast.
I would have preferred Roman alphabet or a Roman phoenic respelling of the Greek and Turkish languages so that I could pronounce the expressions and words at least roughly.

I have been cruising in many different areas around this beautiful globe and I find this dictionary to be one of the few available on the market. The book is divided up in to catagories such as the hull, deck, navigation, commands, refrigeration, engine etc., although I am fluent in French and German, this book aids me immensely to navigate through the seaman's language in 10 different toungues. Sailor's terminology can be rather intimdating to some people in their own language, let alone in another foreign language. I you are planning a cruise around the Caribbean, Mediterranean, South America or Africa buy this dictionary. The only negative part about this book, is that it contains no middle eastern or far eastern languages such as Arabic, Persian, Thai, Chinese, Fiji or Indonesian. If they would have added these languages to the book, it would have been too combursome to use hold the dictionary.

"44 Dublin Made Me", was the first book written Peter Sheridan. Mr. Sheridan is also a noted playwright, and director of such films as, "My Left Foot" and "The Boxer". When I commented on his first work I felt it settled itself between the sadness that often accompanies Irish Memoirs with the traditional healthy dose of humor. This second book, "47 Roses", is not devoid of humor, but the topic that is shared is almost incompatible with humor, and certainly overwhelms the few lighter moments that are described.

The number in the title not only describes the flowers that play a role in the book, but much more significantly the number of years a woman from England remained devoted to a man she could never marry. It was not only that the author's father was married that kept them apart, but also, and to a lesser extent, differences that unfortunately remain so prominent between Ireland and England. Intolerance was much stronger in the first half on the 20th Century, so the idea of an English Protestant and an Irish Catholic as husband and wife was dicey, especially for an Irishman whose family history was prominent in the more extreme groups of Ireland. To balance the difficulties, the English side of the family included a former member of The Black And Tans, who will remain notorious for much of Ireland no matter how many years may pass.

Anna was the wife in Ireland and Doris was the woman in England. Both of these women had a claim on the affections of this man Peter, and he clearly had feelings that ran very deep for both of them. For 30 years Doris was a part of the author's family, through visits and even watching the children when Anna and Peter vacationed. The ultimatum that finally separated Peter and Doris was to last 17 years until his death, and then it would continue with the son trying to piece together the mystery of this extremely unusual relationship that spanned the Irish Sea.

The feelings of both women and their actions are at times hard to fathom. Why would Doris wait for a man for 47 years, going so far as to convert to Catholicism so as to not be separated after they left their life on this world? This same woman who would come to lay flowers at Peter's grave without having seen him for the better part of 2 decades, and upon arriving in Dublin would walk 10 miles at the age of 75 to pay her respects. This same woman who had one child requested that Peter give her away at her wedding and at the same time invited Anna to attend. The questions and suspicions this request raised, the answers offered, presumptions confirmed or denied.

This is an interesting story to read, it is also devoid of the clichés that would reasonably be expected. The author seems to be in the greatest pain, not because of what may or may not have happened, but due to his feelings about his conduct as he tries to piece together 47 years of family mystery.

This is a remarkably personal story, and because it is, often is almost uncomfortable to read. I don't know whether the story could have been related in a different manner, and my perception may be different from others.

Este libro es una recopilación de hechos, por medio de artículos periodisticos (publicados en La Jornada, Proceso, y Letras Libres) del conflicto generado en 1999 con respecto de las cuotas en la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico (UNAM), a raíz de la propuesta del entonces rector Barnés. Sheridan se tomó la molestia de incorporar además artículos previos al conflicto de las cuotas (tambien aparecidos en Vuelta), en donde habla de la compleja problemática de la UNAM, derivada, según el, del gigantismo universitario, la "UNAMegalomanía" como bien tuvo a definir Gabriel Zaid, el centralismo gubernamental, la burocratización universitaria, y más recientemente, de sus infinitos usos políticos, por parte de partidos políticos (PRI, PAN, el antiguo Partido Comunista, el PRD), sindicatos (AAPAUNAM, STUNAM), y asociaciones o grupos estudiantiles, y cualquier combinación de estos tres. Sheridan nos habla desde su punto de vista de académico, de quien no tiene ningún provecho que sacarle a lo que escribe, que no persigue su placita en un instituto (pues la ha conseguido por sus propios méritos), ni mucho menos como director de alguna dependencia universitaria o gubernamental, o una diputación, senaduría o gubernatura alguna. Habla como un maestro (malpagado, amargado tal vez) más de la facultad de Filosofía y Letras.

Para quienes tuvimos que seguir a la distancia, paso a paso, el conflicto suscitado en 1999, leer a Sheridan fue siempre una invitación a la paciencia, al sentido común (el menos común de los sentidos), al buen uso de la lógica. No es de olvidarse "el gesto de Lizette", cuando una estudiante universitaria le da una bandera roja a Barnés diciendole que si la abre, entonces habrá huelga, y que si no la abre, también, como tampoco los llamados a diálogo de los miembros del CGH...con la boca vendada. Y un sinnúmero de situaciones absurdas, violentas, y destructoras de la universidad nacional.

Habrá quien se moleste de su evidente sorna, su manera tan sarcástica de referirse a sus interlocutores, aunque más que a ellos, a sus acciones. Sheridan parte de la premisa fundamental que dice que la mejor defensa que se puede hacer de una universidad es la que se hace a través de la academia (la única que de manera consciente y ordenada puede cambiar la realidad), aunque suene a perogrullada, pero no resulta serlo, a la vista de los que sucede a diario en la UNAM.

No solamente incluye sus artículos, que en ocasiones devienen en verdaderos soliloquios (del hombre irritado que ve desde una loma como los mercenarios políticos de uno y otro signo acaban con lo cultivado, lo que lleva tiempo, constancia y amor por la camiseta universitaria), sino también incluye algunos desencuentros epistolares, aunque no todos, y al final transcribe una entrevista que se le hizo con motivo de la [siempre aplazada] reforma universitaria por venir (hoy en junio 2002). Esta es tal vez la parte mas interesante del libro, pues el mismo autor se enfrenta a su mundo idealizado, a esa universidad presidida por académicos de méritos y nadie más que éstos, sin sindicato de haraganes o lamezuelas, sin tiendas UNAM, con institutos independientes y eficientes, y facultades con bajo indice de deserción, y se da cuenta de su propia impotencia para cambiar radicalmente el panorama universitario unamita y mexicano en general, asume su inocencia, pero valerosamente, defiende sus propias verdades. Al lector le queda la duda entre creerle o no a Sheridan, discutir como buen universitario, o dejar que la UNAM, o cualquier otra universidad pública latinoamericana, por falta de memoria, o de sentido común, sea nuevamente víctima de la politización excesiva.

Finalmente, creo que el gran valor de este libro fue el de ir a contracorriente de la noción de que los ensayos periodísticos son como rayas en el agua.

I loved this book. It is very well written, sometimes almost quiant, having been tranlated from French. And even though the topic is basically technical in nature, the book includes many personal anecdotes as well as historical passages from ancient books. It is unfortunate that most of the technical information is uselessly out of date -- anchors, depth sounders, chart plotters, etc. have made amazing progress in the past 25 years. It is hard to recommend this book to someone just learning about anchoring (the intended audience), but I enjoyed the book very much and learned from it too, and definitely recommend it for the exposure to the author's extensive first-hand experience and for the historical perspective it provides (both a quarter center ago when it was written and 100-200 years ago in the Age of Sail).


CONTENTS

Part 1 ANCHORING EQUIPMENT

Anchors: Types - Choosing an anchor
Anchor chains and warps: Length, strenght, joints - Secondary ground-tackle - Stowage of anchoring gear
Anchor trials: Setting up - Presentation and analysis of results
The forces acting on anchor and cable: Windage - Current - Wave forces
Anchoring equipment: Bow fittings - Anchor lights - Depth sounding equipment

Part 2 ANCHORING TECHNIQUES

The search for shelter: Problems - Preparation
Manoeuvres of anchoring: Anchoring under sail - Use of a buoy
Anchoring in strong winds: Length of scope - The fork moor - Doubled anchors - Backing an anchor - Taking a line ashore
Special cases: Emergency anchoring - Narrow waters - Use of the dinghy - Tidal waters
Stories
Weighing anchor: Preparation - Under power - Under sail
Drying out: How - Where - When
Permanent moorings: Equipment - Layout - Sinking the mooring
Conversion Charts

After reading the many cooking tips and recipes, I fell in lovewith this book. The results were exactly like my first generationgrandmothers cooking long ago. If you want authentic this is the book to follow.

Relaxing read and a good source of information to those considering sailing through the canals of Europe.