Gardiner, Maine: Tilbury House, Publishers, 2004
384 pages, plus photos
$30
Three scions go to sea and write about it
Sometimes, browsing through the past, you make a breathtaking connection with the present. In my case, it’s a vivid historical parallel with the tsunami that wracked the people and places of the Indian Ocean, Dec. 26, 2004. That news story reverberated with a report from Aug. 26, 1883, when an explosion of the Krakatoa volcano caused an earlier disastrous tsunami in the same ocean. That account comes from Sea Struck, the story of three men who chose to sail the sea in square-rigged ships, more than a century ago.
The Krakatoa incident started with an early morning eruption that could be heard in neighboring countries, followed by “a succession of enormous waves, which completely swept the shores of the strait, utterly destroying Anjer, Telok Batong, and numerous villages, the loss of life being officially estimated at over 36,000 souls. The coasts and islands in the vicinity were buried under a layer of mud and ashes.”
Later, “at five o’clock, our captain opened the cabin door and beckoning to us said, “Come here.” Standing in the darkness he pointed to a little rim of light which seemed far, far on an unknown shore, and whispered, ” `tis a promise of another day.”
Sea Struck is a hefty, high-quality volume with eye-catching photos of graceful vessels in port and under way. The text is alternately dry, funny, stirring. Historian Bill Bunting of Whitefield has spliced the stories of three very privileged, nonviolent young men into a yarn that is instructive and intriguing. Only one of his trio actually faced the hardship of sailing before the mast, but each man recorded personal insights and had his own take on the great age of sail. Bunting has edited and annotated their writing into a shipshape, first-hand story of seafaring in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Bunting — who has done things as diverse as running a bulldozing business — can make prose sing. About Tod Swift he writes: “The Elizabeth Islands lay boldly at the horizon, beckoning the young sailor-to-be. Here Tod enjoyed his first command, a five-foot by 30-inch by 18-inch square-ended, pine-planked punt, outfitted with thole pins, two ash oars, seven fathoms of anchor rode, and an iron grapnel. No millionaire yachtsman can purchase pleasure afloat surpassing that enjoyed by a small child set loose in even a five-foot boat.”
Later on, fresh out of Harvard and well-connected, Swift signed onto a square-rigger as an ordinary seaman, although he wasn’t exactly “ordinary.” The other plucky men featured in Sea Struck, Frank Besse and Carleton Allen, shipped as passengers seeking their separate adventures, which they recount in fascinating detail, humor and youthful enthusiasm.
After completing one voyage and making a favorable impression on the captain, Allen, then 23, was asked to serve as third mate, and he wrote: “Having been influenced by a strong desire to see a bit of the world, I have again decided to take a voyage at sea. I feel it will prove a very profitable experience in many ways as serving to widen my knowledge and experience, as well as my chest.”
Besse records the routine of shipboard life, which had fights and gales and seasickness, but also lighter moments: “We had a number of quite good singers among the crew, and one musician, and during the dog watches the sailors sign and play and dance, and that part of the day passes off quite pleasantly.” And this: “This is my 25th birthday…I shall ever look back upon (the past year) with pleasure.”
Besse and Carleton became bankers, Swift an engineer. Swift sailed his own schooner, TYCHE, up to his death. He retired at 51, so had a lot of years to sail the waters around his Martha’s Vineyard home.
So for all you sailors cooped up in your onshore quarters, here is a book to remind you of what you’re missing, the grit, pain and perils of life on shipboard. Sea Struck makes you ponder the lessons of the sea, and how those lessons follow you, and how the sea calls you back.
Steve Cartwright is a freelance writer and occasional sailor from Waldoboro.