Sea Fever: The True Adventures That Inspired our Greatest Maritime Authors, from Conrad to Masefield, Melville and Hemingway

This volume is a welcome companion to journalist and maritime historian Jefferson's previous Clipper Ships and the Golden Age of Sail, tying together classical stories on how seafaring and ocean adventure influenced authors and storytellers such as Joseph Conrad, James Fenimore Cooper, Ernest Hemingway, Robert Louis Stevenson, and several others. Jefferson takes a work from each of these authors and infuses it with a historical perspective that adds to the impact of the original narrative. The reader becomes involved in the development of the tale and assumes the role of participant-observer as the background of the adventure is detailed by Jefferson. Included are well-written and captivating chronicles of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, Melville's Moby-Dick, Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and Stevenson's Treasure Island. This book is similar to Lincoln Paine's The Sea and Civilization and Brian Lavery's Ship in detailing a knowledge of seafaring history.