Adventure On The High Seas

Spent last night catching up on Deadliest Catch one of my favorite Discovery Channel shows. I think this show combines my love of the open ocean and of course my beloved Northwest (though to be honest Alaska is a tad more North and West then where I grew up).  It is a show that hearkens back to the days when men risked there lives to keep their families fed, almost something straight out of a book!  All of this made me think of my favorite books that feature a ship and/or the high seas.

 The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle is one of my favorite favorite favorite books.  I remember first picking it up when I was around nine years old and have read it several times since.  The book is written in a recollection/diary format and recalls the events that led 13 year old high born Charlotte Doyle to be tried and accused of murder.  Charlotte is a school girl on her way home when the crew of the ship she is on mutinies.  She ends up siding with the crew and learning how to become a sailor.  When she gets home her family refuses to believe what happened, choosing to ignore it and force Charlotte back to being "civilized" in the end she runs away back to her ship.  This book is chock full of sailing info presented in a way even a nine year old girl can understand.  I credit this book with jump starting my love of the open ocean.  Now go read it!



  The Bloody Jack Adventure series is a great set of books about an outrages girl named Mary Faber who goes under the name of Jack to stow away on a ship in 18th century England.  This series follows her as she moves from ship to shore and back again.  Her many adventure (not all of her own making) and the trouble she inevitably gets into (usually her own fault).  This is a great series if you are looking for a spunky heroine with more humor and sass (and ridiculous scrapes) then most.




  Capt. Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth is the first in a series about the youth of the boy who will become the infamous Captain Hook of Peter Pan fame.  This book is awesome for several reasons. One: I love it when the stories of villains are told. Two: It is a swashbuckling high seas adventure.  Three:  It's a really great story that is both original and stays true to who Captain Hook will become.  I would really recommend this books to almost everyone!



 The Liveship Traders trilogy is a great adventure story for the adult crowed.  This set of books is a bit more mature and complex then the other books on this list, but the story is absolutely amazing.  The series follows a family who owns a Liveship...that is a sentient ship who talks!  It is way to complex to sum up in just a paragraph, but if you like fantasy, ship stories, and don't mind a little thinking while you read I would highly suggest you get these books.


  The Voyage of The Dawn Treader one of the books in my beloved Chronicles of Narnia series.  Ok so maybe this is the book that got me hooked on a good high seas adventure.  This is still 20+ years later one of my absolute, go to, totally in love with, favorite books in the whole entire universe.  It has EVERYTHING you could want in a great adventure, an amazing boat, princes and princesses, other worlds, dragons, pirates, sea serpants, evil spells, good magicians, an epic quest and you still get a quick not to sappy love story in there...sigh the perfect adventure.




What is your favorite high sea adventure?  What would you name your ship?  How do you make a book water proof? (sorry for the wonking formatting...stupid page is being difficult)