Overview

The true and remarkable life of Richard Willis (Will) Jackson, an intrepid seaman from one of the leading shipbuilding families in 19th century Maine, whose exploits and adventures in the oceans of the world would rival characters straight out of the lives and imaginations of Joseph Conrad and Jack London. Will Jackson survived a harrowing shipwreck in the Marshall Islands, being washed overboard rounding Cape Horn and running down Alaskan glaciers over a tragically shortened life that ended in a most bizarre and pedestrian incident on the eve of realizing his life’s ambition: appointment as master of a ship. After nine months of sometimes perilous life among natives in the South Sea islands in 1884, captured in chapters of a book he helped write, Jackson served on a series of large ships and coastal schooners – all based in the post-Gold Rush boomtown of San Francisco – that took him up and down the west coast from Alaska to Mexico and to the four corners of the earth. His faithful letters to his family in Maine and a diary offer a compelling portrait of an extraordinary young man of character and independent spirit, intellect and curiosity, no small ambition and that most admirable of traits, an abiding sense of humor.

Full Product Details

9781493060818

Table of Contents

Reviews

"Due to their treacherous, hidden reefs, the Pacific's Marshall Islands are the site of many a shipwreck. In 1883, the three-masted sailing ship Rainier ferried a shipment of kerosene to Japan, taking the eastward route via Cape Horn. En route, the cargo ship struck one of those reefs in then-poorly-charted waters and sank. One crewmember, novice seaman Will Jackson from Maine, ended up stranded on Ujae atoll. (He managed to be away from the atoll when a ship appeared and rescued the other survivors). He eventually got safely off the atoll and returned to his hometown and family, but couldn't resist the lure of the ocean. He sailed the U.S.'s East Coast and the Caribbean. Later in his career, he even survived being swept overboard and then redeposited on deck by a second wave. To the great benefit of historians, Jackson wrote many letters home and kept a diary. The authors, Jackson's descendants, follow his travels, leaving readers with a sense of awe. Fans of sea-adventure stories will find plenty to intrigue and entertain.-- ""Booklist"""

Due to their treacherous, hidden reefs, the Pacific's Marshall Islands are the site of many a shipwreck. In 1883, the three-masted sailing ship Rainier ferried a shipment of kerosene to Japan, taking the eastward route via Cape Horn. En route, the cargo ship struck one of those reefs in then-poorly-charted waters and sank. One crewmember, novice seaman Will Jackson from Maine, ended up stranded on Ujae atoll. (He managed to be away from the atoll when a ship appeared and rescued the other survivors). He eventually got safely off the atoll and returned to his hometown and family, but couldn't resist the lure of the ocean. He sailed the U.S.'s East Coast and the Caribbean. Later in his career, he even survived being swept overboard and then redeposited on deck by a second wave. To the great benefit of historians, Jackson wrote many letters home and kept a diary. The authors, Jackson's descendants, follow his travels, leaving readers with a sense of awe. Fans of sea-adventure stories will find plenty to intrigue and entertain.-- Booklist

Due to their treacherous, hidden reefs, the Pacific's Marshall Islands are the site of many a shipwreck. In 1883, the three-masted sailing ship Rainier ferried a shipment of kerosene to Japan, taking the eastward route via Cape Horn. En route, the cargo ship struck one of those reefs in then-poorly-charted waters and sank. One crewmember, novice seaman Will Jackson from Maine, ended up stranded on Ujae atoll. (He managed to be away from the atoll when a ship appeared and rescued the other survivors). He eventually got safely off the atoll and returned to his hometown and family, but couldn't resist the lure of the ocean. He sailed the U.S.'s East Coast and the Caribbean. Later in his career, he even survived being swept overboard and then redeposited on deck by a second wave. To the great benefit of historians, Jackson wrote many letters home and kept a diary. The authors, Jackson's descendants, follow his travels, leaving readers with a sense of awe. Fans of sea-adventure stories will find plenty to intrigue and entertain. -- ""Booklist""

Author Information

Frederic B. Hill, a former foreign correspondent for The Baltimore Sun in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, is author of Ships, Swindlers and Scalded Hogs, the Rise and Fall of the Crooker Shipyard in Bath, Maine (Down East Books, 2016). Alexander J. Hill is a consultant in the financial technology field.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available