Who's your favorite greatest?? - Page 6

sailaway21 · #51 04-30-2008

I've always had Bligh in the highest pantheon. I should say that I regard Bligh as a navigator and that I rank that classification significantly above sailor. Many could have sailed 3600 miles in an open 26' boat, few could have fetched up on Timor with any amount of navigational tools let alone what Bligh was limited to.

Here's one that I've always admired since I first became aware of her when I was 18 years old. She assumed the role of master on her second voyage and brought her ship not only around the Horn but safely into San Francisco. The hospital on the grounds of the US Merchant Marine Academy, at King's Point, NY, is named in her honour. I'd of sailed with Mary Patten any time.
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supergrade · #52 04-30-2008

hmmm.....I need to look up Webb Chiles......and Mary Patten.......

jrd22 · #53 04-30-2008

#1. Captain Cook- because he went practically everywhere I want to go, before they were on the charts.
#2. Christopher Columbus- for sheer nerve and guts
#3. George Vancouver- I live in the area he explored and surveyed- it's fun to visit the same places he stopped

John

hertfordnc · #54 05-01-2008

Who was the guy who wrote "Adrift; 176 days at sea"

Was he a great sailor or just very good at surviving his own bad sailing?

TrueBlue · #55 05-01-2008

Don't know, but reminds me of a book I read a couple years ago - Desperate Voyage. The author and subject sailor, John Caldwell, sailed a tiny boat across the Pacific from South America - just after WWII, to be with his wife in Australia.

It's an amazing and horrifying true tale of his voyage, plagued by countless errors, misjudgement and disasters. Absolutely incredible what this man endured - more amazing was his determination to succeed, which paid off in the end, in spite of his losses.

sgkuhner · #56 05-01-2008

I hate to tell you but a lot of "Desperate Voyage" was fabricated. We met Johnny Caldwell in the early 70s when we were on our circumnavigation and he had mentioned that when he submitted his manuscript to the publisher, the publisher said that it was a good story; but, it need more adventure. So John made up a lot of the tragedies etc and then it was published. Actually he did have many adventures but no real life threatening ones. And I won't dispute the fact that he was a great sailor.

supergrade · #57 05-01-2008

I think the "Adrift" guy was Steve Callahan....he designed and built the boat that was ( I think) hit by a whale and sunk....he was sailing home from a race and was hit and sunk.

VASailor10 · #58 05-01-2008

Sir Robin!

-Spencer

Valiente · #59 05-01-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by T34C

You call St. Brendan a "usual suspect"????

Try this one out Webb Chiles -Your homework is to find out who he was. (It involves circumnavigating in an 18ft, yawl rigged, open, Drascombe Lugger.)

Chiles is a hell of a good writer. I will never forget his article of when his boat sunk beneath him off, I believe, the coast of Florida and he was just bobbing in the warm ocean...

Come to think of it, the guy has a habit of getting his decks wet.

soul searcher · #60 05-01-2008

I put all of the early explorers above the rest just for the fact that they went were no one had previosly gone.
The man that had the biggest impact on me though not a sailor in the strick scence was Jacques Yves Cousteau.
fictionaly I like Ahab the best.