Small-Boat Sailing [Hardcover]

American author Jack Londonbest known for his fiction writing set during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1800swas also an avid sailor. Small-Boat Sailing, was published in 1917 inThe Human Drift, a collection of short stories and essays. London recounts his time at sea, including travels on fishing schooners and coal ships but mostly on small sailboats on San Francisco Bay. His description of the hard work, excitement, and thrill of handling a small boat in trouble on the water will be exhilarating to anyone who's experienced it or only wished they had.

This short work is part of Applewood'sAmerican Rootsseries, tactile mementos of American passions by some of Americas most famous writers. I was not born a sailor, and I will never be one. However, the sea calls me, even though I am afraid of dying a watery death. As a boy, I built a kayak and took it for one short-lived adventure on an inlet on Long Island. I married a natural-born sailor: ready to tackle wind and tide with coolness, clarity, and calm. Jack London speaks to her but also to me. Can we ever be whoever we wish we could be? Are we all sailors, called back to something greater than ourselves? Phil Zuckerman, Publisher