Travel & Voyages

Temptress Returns – Edward Allcard – First Ed 1952

Published by Putnam, London a first edition 1952. Octavo, 304 pages plus rear chart, end paper maps, illustrations and diagrams and technical information at the end. Chip to dust jacket spine top and a little aging … still a very good copy now, like all our books, protected in removable Brodart. A super and scarce sought after account.

Edward Allcard’s important account of his “single-handed” Atlantic crossing west to east. In completing it he was the first person to have done it both ways alone.

The popular press also had a field day and the “singlehanded-ness” is in inverted comma’s because as he found a stowaway leaving the Azores … the Portuguese beauty … Otilia Maria de Mesquita Frayao. Tough times at sea.

Allcard first across both ways … One of the top ten post war sailing classics

$70.00

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Sea Change – Alone Across the Atlantic – Peter Nichols

Published by Viking a first edition 1997. Octavo, 238 pages. Very good if not fine condition. An entertaining and informative read.

A different sailing book. There are no pictures or maps here. Maybe therefore it is not surprising that the writing I special. Peter Nichols has sailed with his wife. Sadly, they separated after a west to east Atlantic crossing. This book reflects on his single-handed return voyage in the 27-foot engineless “Toad” which had a habit of springing leaks.

Interspersed throughout are references to classic sailing accounts … Chichester, Blyth, Moitessier, Knox-Johnston, Ridgway et al.

Interesting for an experienced maritime reader most useful of an introductee.

Nichols a personal challenge – knowledgeable author.

$25.00

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My Old Man and the Sea [Cape Horn] – David and Daniel Hays

Published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, North Carolina a first edition 1995. Unusually printed in Australia by the Australian Print Group.

Slim Octavo, nice production with a number of special charts and diagrams of the boat design etc .. no photographs … must have forgotten the camera. Very good if not fine condition.

A very nicely put together record of a father and sons voyage from New London, Connecticut through the Panama, down around the Horn and home. Oh … and with the Galapagos and Easter Island on the way.

David and Daniel Hayes not only sailed together but they built together the 25 foot Sparrow which was to look after them all the way.

A very good account and some excellent technical content.

Strap yourself in for the Horn with Hays and Hays

$25.00

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A Fighting Chance – How We Rowed the Atlantic in 92 Days – John Ridgway and Chay Blyth

Published by Paul Hamlyn, London 1967 a second impression. Octavo, 255 pages, illustrated and with end paper maps. Very good condition.

Captain John Ridgway and a very young looking Sergeant Chay Blyth row across the Atlantic west to east from Cape Cod to the Aran Isles of the coast of Ireland.

At the very end they were threatened against rocky cliffs. Paratrooper training helped them through.

Interesting book structure with each taking a chapter in turn having completed detailed logs of the voyage. Nice technical content at the rear

Rowing across the Atlantic a breeze for Ridgway and Blyth

$25.00

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Alone Against the Atlantic – Garry Spiess

First UK edition published by Souvenir Press, London in 1982.

Octavo, 224 pages nicely illustrated especially images of the build. End paper maps, nice technical appendices make the book complete. Very good near fine copy, quite an attractive two tone blue cloth covered board binding with lovely gilt image of the little vessel .. all hidden by a perfect dust jacket.

Gerry Spiess was a schoolteacher in Minnesota … his dream was to sail across the Atlantic in the smallest boat practical. So he started making it in his garage out of recycled plywood and the likes. The Yankee girls was ten feet long ad half as wide. He built it , sailed it and made it from Chesapeake bay to Falmouth. Wow and what a voyage. Juts look at the images of the boat!

Spiess inspires – get some packing crates today!

$30.00

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Call of the Sea – France and Christian Guillain

Published by Victor Gollancz, London 1976 a first English edition having been published in France in 1974. Translated by Caroline Hillier who captures the emotion well. Octavo, 272 pages well illustrated. A very good near fine copy.

This is the first English translation of a French best seller. France and Christian Guillain set off for Tahiti from the Mediterranean with a baby of just a e weeks. This is a very joyful account despite the unusual calamities that befell them along the way. Stranded in the mouth of the Ebro, sea monsters of the Cocos the dreariness of the doldrums. Nice family photographs .. so French.

French couple take their young family on the voyage of anyone’s lifetime and more …

$25.00

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Temptress Returns – Edward Allcard – First Ed 1952

Sea Change – Alone Across the Atlantic – Peter Nichols

My Old Man and the Sea [Cape Horn] – David and Daniel Hays

A Fighting Chance – How We Rowed the Atlantic in 92 Days – John Ridgway and Chay Blyth

Alone Against the Atlantic – Garry Spiess

Call of the Sea – France and Christian Guillain

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