- Berry, Don
- Magic Harbor
: A non-fiction memoir of life with the “water rats”, a fringe society of water people living on their boats in Eagle Harbor, Washington.- Binning, Arthur J.
- Survivors, 1994: The saga of the WW II U-Boat U-188. This is a remarkable true account of survival at sea against all the odds.
- Bishop, Nathaniel H.
-
Voyage of the Paper Canoe 1878: “A Geographical Journey of 2500
Miles From Quebec to the Gulf Of Mexico, During the Years 1874-5”
- Four Months in a Sneak-Box, 1879: “A Boat Voyage of 2600 Miles Down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and Along the Gulf Of Mexico.”
- Bowditch, Nathaniel 1773-1838
- The American Practical Navigator, 1995 Edition
- Chapman, Frederik Hendrik af 1721-1808
- Architectura Navalis Mercatoria, 1765: The famous treatise on ship and boat design. With many, many plates of drawings.
- Childers, Robert Erskine 1870-1922
- The Riddle of the Sands, 1903: Pre WW I yachtsmen find German military preparations. One of the Best. The classic adventure of cruising along the sand banks of the North Sea. Compare to Maurice Griffith's non-fiction books about the same areas. See also biography The Riddle of Erskine Childers, by Andrew Boyle, 1977.
- Coleridge, Samuel Taylor 1857-1924
- The The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
- Conrad, Joseph (Josef Teodor Nalecz Korzeniowski) 1857-1924
-
The Nigger of the Narcissus: a tale of the
forecastle, 1897:
Conrad's first sea story; a sailing ship voyage from Bombay to London with a
dying black seaman aboard. (Link is to an ftp version)
- The Heart of Darkness, 1899: Marlow tells of his voyage in command of a steamboat far up the Congo River to relieve the mad ivory trader Kurz. Adapted to fit the Vietnam War and filmed by Francis. F. Coppola as Apocalypse Now in 1979. “The Horror! The Horror!”
- Curmi, John
- Wind, Waves and Ignorance, 2001: The real-life story of the Curmi family who, with no experience of sailing, navigating, meteorology or seamanship of any kind, purchased a 40' steel ketch, moved aboard, went cruising and started trying to figure it all out as they went along. Their travels took them throughout the eastern US, the Bahamas and the Caribbean.
- Dana, Richard Henry 1815-1882
- Two Years Before the Mast, 1841: Autobiographical account of Dana's voyage as seaman in the brig Pilgrim to California for cowhides in the 1830s and his return in the ship Alert. A classic.
- Davis, John
- Seamans Secrets, 1657: Wherein is Taught the three kindes of Sayling, Horizontal, Paradoxal, and Sayling upon a Great Circle. Also an Horizontle Tyde-Table for the easie finding of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Tydes, with a Regiment newly Calculated for the finding of the Declination of the Sun, and many other most necessary Rules and Instruments not hereforte set by any.
- Falconer, William 1732-1739
- An Universal Dictionary of the Marine, 1780
- Falkner, John Meade 1858-1932
- Moonfleet, ?: Fifteen-year-old orphan gets caught with smugglers in Moonfleet, England, which leads to complications impelling him into a search for the cursed Mohune treasure. For 19th century young readers -- or 20th century adults that don't need sex to enjoy a plotline. Young readers today would probably find it too difficult.
- Fenger, Frederic A.
- Alone in the Caribbean, 1917: The yarn of a cruise in the Lesser Antilles in the sailing canoe Yakaboo.
- Forest Products Laboratory
- Wood as an Engineering Material, 1999: The wood handbook.
- Frazer, Perry D.
- Canoe Cruising and Camping, 1897: A how-to book.
- Garren, Marty
- San Juans Navigator: A Pleasure Boater's Guide to the San Juan Islands of Washington State, 199?: PDF format
- Greene, Eric & Associates
- Marine Composites, 199?: A textbook on building boats with fiber reinforced plastics (FRP).
- Hodgson, William Hope 1875-1918
- The Ghost Pirates, 1920: A ghost story set aboard the doomed ship Mortzestus as it flees a phantom vessel (sailing upside-down below the waves!) that pursues them at night.
- Holm, Don
- The Circumnavigators: Small Boat Voyagers of Modern Times, 1974
- Hurley, Edward N.
- The Bridge to France, 1927: The story of the the United States Shipping Board told by its WW I chairman.
- Knight, E. F.
-
The Cruise of the Alerte: in Search of Treasure, 1928:
A voyage to the South Atlantic island of Trinidad in search of plunder from the
Peruvian revolution.
- The Falcon on the Baltic, 1928: A coasting voyage from Hammersmith to Copenhagen in a three-ton yacht.
- Sailing, 1928: A how-to handbook.
- The Falcon on the Baltic, 1928: A coasting voyage from Hammersmith to Copenhagen in a three-ton yacht.
- London, Jack 1876-1916
- Lutus, Paul
- Confessions of a Long-Distance Sailor, 1991: “In 1988, I sailed away from the West Coast of the United States in a 31-foot sailboat. This is my story -- my account of a 3 1/2-year around the world solo sail.”
- McGrady, John F.
- Sailing the Dream, 1998 (Cruising story about an escape to the South Pacific from the Northwest in a 30' boat)
- MacGregor, John
- A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe on Rivers and Lakes of Europe, 1892
- McKinley, Paul (Chief warrant radio Technician, USN, 1937-1946)
- Cruiser Scout: Recollections of the war in the Pacific: The pre-war navy and WW II in the Pacific through the eyes of a radio operator/observer in scout aircraft operating from cruisers.
- Mann, Edward C.
- Shadow Wind: Seagoing murder mystery adventure in the days of sail. (Costs $4.95)
- Marryat, Frederick 1792-1848 (Marryat was a British naval officer during the Napoleonic wars, starting his career on board Lord Cochrane's ship. Lord Cochrane was the colorful officer whose exploits were later an inspiration to Forester and O'Brian. Some of the first novels written about the sea war against Napoleon, and some of the few written by a man actually present.)
- Masterman Ready; or, The Wreck of the Pacific, 1841: For young readers.
- Melville, Herman 1819-1891
- Billy Budd, Foretopman, 1924 (written 1891)
- Mooney, Jack and Sandy
- Cruising Dreams: Realizing your dream about sailboat cruising, 1999: With poems by Paul Mooney.
- Neidé, Dr. Charles A.
- The Canoe Aurora: A Cruise From the Adirondacks to the Gulf, 1885: Cruising yarn by the secretary of the American Canoe Association.
- Paine, Lincoln
- Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia , 1997
- Phillips, Alan
- Dinghy Cruising with Phillips, 1981: An experienced dinghy cruiser shares the pleasures and shows how to avoid the problems of open boat sailing, for a day, a week or more.
- Platt, Robert L.
- Longboaters, 1995: Childrens story Illustrated by the author.
- Poe, Edgar Allan 1809-1849
- Sabatini, Rafael 1875-1950
- Captain Blood, 1922: For treating a wounded nobleman who participated in the Monmouth rebellion, Dr. Peter Blood is condemned and sold as a slave in the Carribean. Taking advantage of a Spanish raid on the island on which he is held, Blood captures the Spaniard's ship, and embarks on the carreer of a buccaneer. Good fun.
- Scheer, Admiral Reinhard 1863-1928
- Germany's High Sea Fleet in the World War, 1920
- Slocum, Joshua 1844-1910?
-
The Voyage of the Liberdade, 1890
- Voyage of the Destroyer from New York to Brazil, 1894
- Sailing Alone Around the World, 1900
- Voyage of the Destroyer from New York to Brazil, 1894
- Smyth, H. Warington
- Mast & Sail in Europe & Asia, 1906
- Stephens, W. P.
- Canoe and Boatbuilding for Amateurs, 1889
- Stevenson, Robert Louis 1850-1894
- An Inland
Voyage, 1877: An account of the author's journey through Europe in
a double-paddle canoe.
- A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa, 1892: Nonfiction about the Anglo-US-German naval confrontation at Samoa in the 1880s and the hurricane of 1889.
- System Three
- The Epoxy Book, 199? Freed PDF format guide to using epoxies.
- Tiphys (pseud.)
- Practical Canoeing: A treatise on the management & handling of canoes, 1881
- United States Army
-
Army Watercraft Safety:
US Army Field Manual FM 55-502
- Harbor Craft Crewman's Handbook: US Army Field Manual FM 55-501-2
- Introduction to Marine Electricity: US Army Field Manual FM 55-509-1
- Rigging Techniques, Procedures, and Applications: US Army Field Manual FM 5-125
- Harbor Craft Crewman's Handbook: US Army Field Manual FM 55-501-2
- Verne, Jules 1828-1905
- Whelan, Tim
- Adventures in the Charlottes, 1998, 1999: Account of a voyage from Seattle to the Queen Charlotte Islands in northwestern British Columbia.
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