Terrible things happening at sea

[ApocalypseNowt]

My latest type of book to read is historical accounts of terrible things happening at sea. So far I've read:

In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
The Wager by David Grann
In the Kingdom of the Ice by Hampton Sides

All brilliant and very readable. First one is probably my favourite and was the inspiration for Moby Dick.

I'd appreciate any recommendations for books that fit this brief. Thank you!

Madhouse At The End of the Earth by Julian Sancton.

and (slightly fictionalised) The Terror by Dan Simmons

Shackleton's Boat Journey by Frank Worsley is very readable and gasp inducing!

It's not historical, but A Mile Down by David Vann is funny and cringe inducing. Both non fiction.

Icebound: shipwrecked at the edge of the world by Andrea Pitzer
Erebus: the story of a ship by Michael Palin

Thanks for these. I've read The Terror (also loved the TV adaptation) but I'll definitely have a look at all the others.

Readable and gasp inducing is exactly what I'm after!

The Custom of the Sea by Neil Hanson. Explores the true story of The Mignonette when it was considered 'custom' to eat the weaker members when drifting in a lifeboat.

Also liked Barrow's Boys about explorers, often Arctic ones.

I‘m with you on this - love reading this kind of thing! In addition to the ones mentioned above, there’s:
The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard - a first hand account of an ill-fated South Pole expedition in 1910.

Also The Ship Beneath the Ice by Mensun Bound which tells of the attempts to locate the wreck of the Endurance.

Then of course there’s the Kon-Tiki expedition which is still a great read. And branching out a bit, you might be interested in Tim Severin’s series of recreated historical voyages - in recreated historical vessels. The Brendan Voyage, where he navigates from Ireland to North America in a leather boat, is particularly fascinating !

Yes, I was going to suggest Tim Severin. Start with The Brendan Voyage.

Fiction — Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor. A famine ship travelling between Ireland and NY.

I’ve just finished reading The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton for my Book Club which probably fits your brief. I hated it but that’s another story! I believe it is very popular although I suspect it will divide our Book Club. Worth having a look at though.

Merchant Adventurers by James Evans is about Richard Chancellor’s expedition to sail north via the Arctic to Russia and then travel to the court of Ivan the Terrible. It’s a few years since I’ve read it, but I remember enjoying it very much.

The Perfect Storm (non fiction). It was made into a good film with George Clooney but the actual facts of what happened are a good read

Ooh @AlohaRose what a coincidence! I have just finished reading The Accomplice - a fictional account of the same event - for my book club. I read an article by Stuart Turton for some context and now wish I'd read his book instead !

Rites of Passage, Close Quarters and Fire Down Below by William Golding, about the awful claustrophobic voyage to Australia.

This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson - not terrible things happening at see, but not a huge bundle of laughs either

We, The Drowned. By Carsten Jensen. He’s a Danish writer, translated in English. Epic, historical, generation spanning story of the inhabitants of a small fishing village on a tiny island off the Danish coast, from 1800s through to the mid 20th century. It’s just magnificent, one of the best books I’ve read this year. Maybe it’s because he’s Danish but the prose is so spare and precise, devastatingly sad and funny and thought provoking. All those stories of terrible, terrible things happening at sea, to a wonderful cast of characters, mostly the men but also how it impacts the women. Definitely one I’ll read again, all 650 pages!

Maurice and Marilyn - a true story of an inexperienced but eccentric man who drags his wife into a round the world yacht voyage.

Oh and I don’t if of you like literary horror but Dark Matter by Michelle Paver is definitely terrible things happening very close to and on the sea 😱 one of the scariest fascinating books I’ve read, I couldn’t look away 🫣

The Night Ship by Jess Kidd. Fictionalised account of a mysterious real life event.

I also love this kind of topic! I really enjoyed Sons of the Waves: The Common Seaman in the Heroic Age of Sail by Stephen Taylor. I’m also a massive fan of true tales of shipwrecks and the Caliban Shore about the wreck and fate of the Grosvenor castaways also by Stephen Taylor had me hooked. Skeletons on the Zahara by Dean King made me quite emotional, what those castaways went through.

From this thread I've now read Madhouse at the End of the Earth, and I've almost finished Erebus.

I also read Alone on the Ice and Last Man Off.

All excellent reads!

Now trawling the thread again for another stack :)

Oh I’m glad you liked Madhouse @ApocalypseNowt

Fastnet, Force 10 by John Rousmaniere

This is very interesting book, if you want a series of short true stories about things going wrong at sea there are a couple of books called Total Loss (the latest one has some new stories) in which yachties tell their stories of how they lost their yachts due to a variety of reasons.

I would also recommend The last grain race by Eric Newby - he sailed on board Moshulu, one of the last square riggers to race back from Australia in the 1930’s. She doesn’t sink but Newby does have a great knack for describing his fellow sailors and there is a great description of a force 11 storm in the roaring forties.

Agree! Scary, fascinating brilliant story. I loved this book
Totally recommended

I've ordered myself a new Kindle as my (very) old one is no longer supported. Amazon sent me a 20% off voucher which also gives me £15 credit to spend on book downloads! So I've made a list...as soon as it arrives that credit will be spent :)

Thank you to everyone for the recommendations

In Hazard by Richard Hughes is a great novel based on the true story of a ship caught in an Atlantic hurricane.

Sink The Bismarck! by CS Forester is a very gripping account of the pursuit of a German battleship in WW2.

If you want to include the horrors of war under terrible things happening at sea then The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Montserrat is quite good, but Sharks And Little Fish by Wolfgang Ott is much better. It is absolutely brutal though.