Overview

The inspiration for the Broadway musical Swept Away: ""An exciting, historically accurate depiction of a disastrous 19th-century sea journey."" --Publishers Weekly In the late 1800s, the Essex coast of England was known for producing the toughest, most skilled seamen. Tom Dudley was one of them. Though a well-known and respected figure among the local yacht-racing community, he had little experience of deep-sea sailing. Still, Tom agreed to sail more than ten thousand miles to deliver a yacht to its new owner in Sydney, Australia. Almost immediately, the twenty-year-old Mignonette starts taking on water--a harbinger for events to come. Tom stops for repairs at Southampton, where his crew abandons him. After recruiting three new men--including a teenage boy who lies about his age--Tom sets off, filled with optimism and dreams of new opportunities in a new land. But then a savage storm sinks the Mignonette, leaving Tom and his crew in a thirteen-foot-long dinghy a thousand miles from land. In a shark-filled sea, with no water and little food, the men face a horrific fate--and must sacrifice their very humanity to survive . . . Four men set out on the Mignonette, but only three will make it back alive. ""The nightmarish events of the shipwreck are reported with real power."" --The New York Times Book Review ""Makes astonishing reading . . . extraordinary."" --The Times Literary Supplement ""A gripping tale of four sailors adrift at sea . . . Gruesome and completely fascinating."" --Kirkus Reviews ""A terrific story . . . a riveting read."" --The Spectator

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9781504096898

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Neil Hanson is the author of acclaimed narrative nonfiction titles, including The Custom of the Sea, The Great Fire of London, The Confident Hope of a Miracle, First Blitz, Monk Eastman: The Gangster Who Became a War Hero, and Unknown Soldiers. He has been compared to Siegfried Sassoon [and] Robert Graves,"" and critics have hailed his works as ""brilliant,"" and ""gripping."" Music from Grammy-nominated The Avett Brothers's album Mignonette later inspired the Broadway play, Swept Away, both of which are based on Hanson's book The Custom of the Sea.

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