Travel & Voyages

Britannia: Rowing alone across the Atlantic. – John Fairfax – First Edition 1971

The record of an adventure. First edition published by Kimber, London in 1971. Octavo, 221 pages well illustrated with designs of the boat, endpaper maps. Very good condition albeit the dust jacket has some ageing and clear tape over closed tears. A valuable book in a number of quarters.

John Fairfax was broke when he decided he wanted to row across the Atlantic. Despite this he managed to get his rowing boat built to specification. He practiced on the Serpentine in Hyde Park. It took him 180 days to get from the Canary Islands to Miami a remarkable achievement.

He received congratulation from many including, in a lengthy “salute” from Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin of Apollo 11.

Rowing Across the Atlantic – well give it a go!

$40.00

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Atlantic Cruise in Wanderer III – Eric Hiscock – 1968

Published by Oxford University Press 1968, Octavo, 159 pages with 80 colour photographs and 7 charts by the author and his voyaging wife.

A first edition 1968 of Eric Hiscock’s Fourth book of sailing adventures … this time in the North Atlantic after having completed two circumnavigations.

The new Wanderer (no III) a 30-foot yacht taking in Western France, Spain, Portugal across to the Windward Islands and the Bahamas. Then up north to Bar Harbour, Maine and reversing back hugging the New England Coast and all the way down to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Hiscock North Atlantic two year cruise

$25.00

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The Journey of Burke and Wills – Max Colwell

Published by Paul Hamlyn, Sydney in 1971 a first edition. Quarto, 152 pages a very good if not fine copy.

A surprisingly good book on the Burke and Wills expedition. A large format heavily illustrated almost coffee table book style … but it’s the images and the nuances that make this book different and a good fill in regarding the personalities and interactions of all involved. We particularly like the letter written after Landell’s resignation … “sheer cowardice”

Burke and Wills another perspective

$30.00

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Triumph and Tribulation – H.W. (Bill) Tilman

Published by the Nautical Press a first edition 1977. Octavo, 153 pages, nicely illustrated and with charts.

Tilman heading north to the icy waters of Spitzbergen. He managed to sail right around the island of Vestspitzbergen coming within 600 miles of the North Pole. Then off to Greenland and Disko Bay. An extraordinary adventure well documented.

The author H.W. (Bill) Tilman (1898-1977) war hero, mountaineer and sailor extraordinaire. Major Tilman first served in the Royal Artillery on the Western Front gaining the Military Cross. Between the wars he grew coffee in East Africa and road bicycle 3,000 miles across Africa, climbed Kilimanjaro and the Mountains of the Moon. He turned to mountain climbing and more than once teamed up with Eric Shipton. In 1936 he conquered Nanda Devi which at that time was the highest mountain climbed. In WWII he re-joined the Royal Artillery in North Africa and the Middle East. He parachuted into Albania and worked by the resistance. Afterwards he was given a diplomatic position in Burma where he returned to climbing. On return to the UK with age coming on he took to sailing as a means of reaching unclimbed mountains. At the age of 80 he crewed on an expedition to climb in the Antarctic and lost his life at sea in the South Atlantic. The expedition vessel, a converted tug, leaving Rio but never making it to the Falkland Islands.

Tilman out in the cold again! Superb sailing in dangerous waters

$30.00

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Ice With Everything – H.W. (Bill) Tilman – First Edition 1974

Published by the Nautical Publishing Company, Lymington, Hampshire a first edition 1974. Octavo, 142 pages with good illustrations, charts and endpaper maps. Interesting Appendix … “the Author’s Boats and Voyages”. Very good if not fine condition

The record of three related voyages by hero and adventurer Bill Tilman. His ambition to make it into Scoresby Sound the world largest fjord on the east coast of Greenland. The fjord is bounded by Greenland’s highest mountain. He didn’t quite make it … but what was achieved was remarkable.

The author H.W. (Bill) Tilman (1898-1977) war hero, mountaineer and sailor extraordinaire. Major Tilman first served in the Royal Artillery on the Western Front gaining the Military Cross. Between the wars he grew coffee in East Africa and road bicycle 3,000 miles across Africa, climbed Kilimanjaro and the Mountains of the Moon. He turned to mountain climbing and more than once teamed up with Eric Shipton. In 1936 he conquered Nanda Devi which at that time was the highest mountain climbed. In WWII he re-joined the Royal Artillery in North Africa and the Middle East. He parachuted into Albania and worked by the resistance. Afterwards he was given a diplomatic position in Burma where he returned to climbing. On return to the UK with age coming on he took to sailing as a means of reaching unclimbed mountains. At the age of 80 he crewed on an expedition to climb in the Antarctic and lost his life at sea in the South Atlantic. The expedition vessel, a converted tug, leaving Rio but never making it to the Falkland Islands.

Tilman what an adventure what a life!

$30.00

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The Blind Horn’s Hate (Cape Horn & the Utmost South) – Richard Hough

Published by Hutchinson’s, London in 1971 a first edition. Octavo, 336 pages, packed with illustrations and charts and with endpaper maps. Vary good condition, top edge stained green as issued. Good dust jacket.

Richard Hough’s book does more than any other to educate the reader on maritime history and the geography of the complex channels of Tierra del Fuego. Drake, Magellan etc as you would expect but also Anson, Byron etc and the loss of the Wager and the mutinous circumstances following … a Voyager classic. And the Darwin and the fate of the natives.

The title references Rudyard Kipling’s … The Long Trail … “It’s north you may run to the rime-ringed sun, or south to the blind horn’s hate …”

Avoid the Horn and through the Channels

$25.00

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Britannia: Rowing alone across the Atlantic. – John Fairfax – First Edition 1971

Atlantic Cruise in Wanderer III – Eric Hiscock – 1968

The Journey of Burke and Wills – Max Colwell

Triumph and Tribulation – H.W. (Bill) Tilman

Ice With Everything – H.W. (Bill) Tilman – First Edition 1974

The Blind Horn’s Hate (Cape Horn & the Utmost South) – Richard Hough

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