“The idea for this book came to me while crossing the Atlantic…by the long, easy southern route. So many weeks at sea had left me plenty of time to appreciate the changing color of the water, the beauty of the night sky…the flights of migrating birds, and to find myself prey to a growing, irresistible urge to turn off the GPS and pick up the sextant…”
Bely’s minimal onboard library barely touched on the curiosity questions that came to him. Once home (in France), he began research the diverse subjects explored here and he knew he “could not be alone in my curiosity.” Thus this illuminating book, which one can open at any page and become surprised, sparked by one’s own aroused inquisitiveness, especially about the intimate essence of the natural world.
We can loop through question number 1: How did the seas first form? through number 211: For onboard reading, what are the greatest books about sailing and the sea? (More about this gem later…) – or flick through the seemingly waterproof pages (I tested them, spilling drops of wine on test pages, watching them roll off as I mopped up the mess without marring a page). Surely a plus addition to one’s reading shelf aboard when sailing a-tilt.
Bely’s eclectic choices of research – the answers remarkably clear, especially with some subjects worthy of book-length discussion – will jump out at the reader who mentally thinks…”yes, I have always wondered about this.” Such as No. 133: What were half-hull models used for? – a reminder with the word “were” that modern technology has meant, in some areas of creativity, a loss of a particular artistic sensibility. “Today,” Bely writes, “the lines of the hull are balanced and smoothed out by a computer, and being able to visualize the results on the screen means that models are no longer needed. But who wants to caress a computer screen…”
For nearly two decades I moored my liveaboard boat about one mile from the looming many-chimneyed Webb Institute (Glen Cove, N.Y.) I’d walk into the main lobby with half-hull models of the famous sailing craft designed by William Webb were on all four walls, an art gallery exhibit if ever there was one. They glistened on mahogany walls in breathtaking splendor, articulate reminders of the near-mythic age of sail they represented.
Bely’s questions are divided into categories. The Sea, Life In the Sea, The Sky, Wind and Weather, Ships, Navigation, Yachting, Life Aboard. Have you ever wondered if there is a difference between an ocean and a sea (No. 4)? Or – if you are considering long-term cruising – what explains the almost total absence of tides in Tahiti? (No. 27)?
What about the age of a fish you have just caught (No. 65)? When Was the Rudder Invented (No. 106)? When Did Sailors Adopt Hammocks for Sleeping (No. 109)? And the lengthy answer – enough to whet the appetite for full biographies – to No. 132: which are the greatest names in naval architecture? And the intriguing questions that apparently came to Bely somewhere on a silent sea, many of historical reference: Why is Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) also called “Zulu Time”? (No. 167) Why do so many of the Stars Used to Navigate have Arab names? (164) (This last just one glimpse into the rigorous investigations of navigators of ancient times.) As for the somniferous habits of dolphins and other cetaceans, check out No. 53.
Breeze through the yachting section, Navigation, to Life Aboard: Why Does Soap Work So Poorly in Sea Water (No. 203)? And Why do Sailors Wear “bell-bottom” trousers (No. 209)? and to onboard reading, No. 211.
Everyone, Bely notes, will have their own preferences, but he lists tales he feels should be on any extended sailing adventurist’s list, 60 books, mostly nonfiction, that cover the globe and centuries of the lure of the vast seas. A separate bibliography also lists about 40 selections on specific subjects. One must find space. There will be much time, nights in the cabin alit with a flashlight during a watch (as I have done) lost in tales of other lives, other times, other ruminations, other reflections that are water borne – as opposed to the ties of a land-based life.
Besides a love for the sea, the sport of playing with wind and waves, “the human animal,” Bely writes, “is also curious by nature.” Whether cruising for a weekend – or whatever period of time – surely give “Dolphins” a place on the shelves of your floating library.
Hannah Merker reviews books in Bristol, Maine