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Captain's Bookshelf |
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Admiralty NP 249 Thames Estuary
Admiralty NP 233 Dover Strait
Admiralty NP 251 North Sea southern
Admiralty NP 337 Solent
Admiralty NP 257 Approaches to Portland
Admiralty NP 250 English Channel
Western Channel Tidal heights and streams based on HW Cherbourg, by Michael Reeve-Fowkes
Southern North Sea and Eastern Channel Tidal heights and streams based on HW Cherbourg, by Michael Reeve-Fowkes
The Riddle of the Sands, by Erskine Childers. Heroic suspension of disbelief required by the plot (though it got the British Admiralty all excited in the years immediately before WWI), but brilliant descriptions of navigation in shallow waters off the Frisian Islands.
Typhoon, by Joseph Conrad. Classic account of stolid Captain MacWhirr’s handling of his tramp steamer in a tropical storm. Includes 3 other tales.
Das Boot, by Lothar-Günter Buchheim. Gripping account of the U-Boat war by a former U-boat officer, subsequently a hit movie. English translation.
Dark Voyage, by Alan Furst. Classy WWII thriller.
The Cruel Sea, by Nicholas Montsarrat. Conventional plot-line deeply informed by Montsarrat’s WWII service on corvettes. Film starred Jack Hawkins.
Captain Hornblower RN, by CS Forester. Omnibus edition of the eponymous hero in his middle years. Hugely enjoyable series about Nelson’s navy, though apart from Hornblower the characters are as wooden as their quarter-decks.
This Thing of Darkness, by Harry Thompson. Gripping fictional treatment of the voyage of the Beagle and the often stormy relationship between the scientist Charles Darwin and religious fundamentalist Capt Robert Fitzroy.
Master and Commander, by Patrick O’Brian. First in the wonderful twenty-volume sequence of adventures set during the Napoleonic wars and subsequently. Partly based on exploits of the real life Thomas Cochrane.
Classic sea stories from the age of sail and steam.
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Reeds Nautical Almanac 2011. The Rolls-Royce of the genre.
Reeds PBO Small Craft Almanac 2011. Contains most of what the average leisure sailor needs to know.
Reeds Channel Almanac 2011. Covers both sides of the English Channel from Dover to the Scilly Isles and Calais to L'Aberildut.
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Battleship Bismarck, by Burkard von Müllenheim-Rechberg. Definitive story of the sinking of the Bismarck, written by a surviving officer.
The Last Grain Race, by Eric Newby. Classic account of a commercial voyage from Europe to Australia under sail in 1938. By turns hilarious and terrifying.
Fisher’s Face, by Jan Morris. Very readable biography of larger-than-life pre-WWI Admiral “Jacky” Fisher by an admirer.
Racundra’s First Cruise, by Arthur Ransome. Ransome’s first sailing book, written for adults, about cruising in the Baltic.
One Summer’s Grace, by Libby Purves. Entertaining log of a round-Britain family cruise.
Battles, biographies and leisure boating.
Imray C1 Thames Estuary
Imray C12 Eastern English Channel
Imray C25 Harwich to R Humber and Holland
Admiralty SC2675 English Channel.
Imray C10, Western English Channel
These are small-scale charts for passage planning. For more detailed charts see port pages.
Shell Channel Pilot Tom Cunliffe
Cruising Guide to the Netherlands
Brian Navin
East Coast Pilot
Colin Jarman, Dick Holness and Garth Cooper
RYA Day Skipper Practical Course Notes
RYA Yachtmaster Shorebased Notes
RYA Competent Crew
RYA Start Powerboating
Below are the official text-books for Royal Yachting Association courses and exams. There are many other useful books on navigation and seamanship.