by Kurt D. Voss All proceeds from this pictorial history benefit the ELISSA preservation fund.
Published by Arcadia Publishing and Galveston Historical Foundation $21.99. 128 pages, 200 photographs Autographed copies available at (409) 763-1877, or online at:
w w w. t s m - e l i s s a . o r g Anne T. Converse Photography
Neith, 1996, Cover photograph
Wood, Wind and Water
A Story of the Opera House Cup Race of Nantucket Photographs by Anne T. Converse Text by Carolyn M. Ford Live vicariously through the pictures and tales of classic wooden yacht owners who lovingly restore and race these gems of the sea. “An outstanding presentation deserves ongoing recommendation for both art and nautical collections.” 10”x12” Hardbound book; 132 pages, 85 full page color photographs; Price $45.00 For more information contact: Anne T. Converse Phone: 508-728-6210 anne@annetconverse.com www.annetconverse.com
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adventurous and earnest past… In our increasingly digital and virtual world, we seem to crave, more than ever, some contact with something solid, something fashioned by hand from oak beams and iron spikes, something that could last so long at the bottom of the sea, and be thrown up, as if in rebuke, to our wondering eyes.” The author’s reflections offer insights on how to make the most of one’s relationship with the coast: “The beach refuses to be a preview. Nature does not offer itself to one who would slip it in between trivial events, between gluttony and lust. It will not hold counsel with us when we are already going someplace else as we arrive.” And: “The beach is not a place for reassurance or affirmation, but for revelation and correction. It is the easy juxtaposition of beauty and violation that strikes us, that draws us to these narrow strands.” Throughout the book, metaphors for major topics of our lives—mortality, life’s purpose (or lack thereof), enduring change, and finding satisfaction in life—are drawn from the rhythms of the landscape and the ephemeral nature of the coast. “How lucky are we who live in proximity to a landscape that has such easy powers to lift us out of our narrow lives and self-made blinders, and to seduce us into seeing who we really are.” This part of the world has been written about countless times before, most notably by Thoreau and Beston. Readers of their works will appreciate the fresh eyes, modern perspective, and insight of noted writer and natural historian Robert Finch. He has explored this coast in great depth and reveals a fascinating universe far beyond the sterile sand and water that many people only see from parking lots and beach towels. Even experienced beachcombers and native Cape Codders, perhaps especially these readers, will find in this book an invitation to reshape what the coast means to them and why it is vital to stay connected to it. Christopher P. Hamilton Provincetown, Massachusetts Paradise in Chains: The Bounty Mutiny and the Founding of Australia by Diana Preston (Bloomsbury, New York, 2017, 352pp, illus, notes, biblio, index, isbn 9781-63286-610-3; $30hc) On the surface, one might be inclined to think that the settlement of Australia as
a prison colony and the mutiny by Fletcher Christian in HMAV Bounty might not be connected other than by being chronologically and geographically contemporaneous; both happened in the latter part of the eighteenth century and both happened in the Pacific Ocean. And both, at some point, involved a lengthy, difficult, and dangerous journey in an open boat. Ms. Preston, an excellent writer and a most thorough researcher, would disagree. Paradise in Chains, her newest offering, makes the claim that the two events are indeed related, and her extremely well-researched book switches back and forth between the two with sometimes head-spinning speed. Perhaps the fact that William Bligh (yes, that one, of Bounty fame) became governor of Australia in the 19th century could be considered the connecting link in the chain, but in my opinion, that is tenuous at best. The escape from Botany Bay by transported convicts in an open boat that more or less coincided with the open-boat voyages of both Bligh and Captain Edward Edwards (HMS Pandora) perhaps adds a further link, but, again a link insufficient to tie the settlement of Australia with the mutiny in Bounty. The foregoing notwithstanding, this book is one of the best-researched and besttold stories of both events: the settlement of Australia and the mutiny of Bounty’s crew. If any criticism could be offered, it might be that Ms. Preston offers too much detail—some of it unnecessarily salacious— on the Bounty story. Either accounting, Australia or the mutiny, would make a fine story in and of itself; I think combining them detracts from the impact of either. Her detailed accounting of previous exploration in the Pacific, mostly by James Cook, could have been handled in a more abbreviated style. It was interesting, but not as germane as the author would like her reader to believe. Since a goodly portion of the Bounty story takes place at sea on ships of the Royal Navy, I might have thought Ms. Preston could have more completely familiarized herself with naval ranks (1st lieutenant is a position on a ship, not a rank). These are relatively minor complaints, which detract only slightly from the enjoyment of these two stories. To her credit, she does not make Bligh out to be the oft-depicted stereotypical tyrant who constantly whipped his men. SEA HISTORY 162, SPRING 2018