The Australian Age has run a very warm review of Bligh, Master Mariner by Australian yachtsman, journo, and maritime historian Rob Mundle.
It concludes:
Mundle's Bligh is a meticulously researched biography that benefits from its author's seafaring experience and ability to write with bracing vitality of the trials faced during the age of exploration. If it does, at points, sail close to the wind of corrective hagiography, it remains a book that will gladden the heart of anyone with an interest in maritime history.
Definitely on my must-read list, so expect my own review in due course. Meantime, you can read an interview with the author on the Booktopia blog.
2 comments:
Haven't yet read what looks like this estimable book on Bligh, but there is an earlier biography of a seafarer by another seafarer: Captain Cook, the Seamen's Seaman: a Study of the Great Discoverer by Alan Villiers, Penguin 1967.
One of my favorite books! A bit adoring of James Cook, but a wonderful depiction of his fine seamanship. Oddly enough, when I read about Mundle's Bligh, the Villiers book on Cook came at once to my mind, as well. I suspect that the style and treatment will be similar, making excellent reading.
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