[lit-ideas] Re: The Yachtman's Library
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:11:47 EST
Thanks to L. K. Helm for the leads. The quote below on logbook by Boswell is
pretty cute. While talking nautical, I always wanted to find more about this
'so-called' "ancora di speranza" -- it is the anchor of hope, we know. But
there is a technical term in English-speaking sailboats. I once found a
translation of this English book into Italian, where I ran with the phrase but
it
escapes me now. The 'ancora di speranza' is the biggest anchor on a boat. It
has NOTHING to do with the 'speranza di ancora', which is 'hope' as holding an
anchor -- and which you'll see tatooed on most sailor's arms, but not this
armchair one who would be embarrased at the swimming-pool by displaying such a
cliche symbol of nothing.
Geary has a tatoo too.
Cheers,
JL
-- Up the Mississippi, and down.
From wikipedia:
"Crowhurst [born India, died 1969]'s behavior as recorded in his logs
indicates a complex and conflicted psychological state. His commitment to
faking
the trip seemed incomplete and self-defeating, as he reported unrealistically
fast progress that was sure to arouse suspicion. By contrast, he spent many
hours meticulously constructing false log entries—often more difficult to
complete than real entries, due to the celestial navigation research required.
The
last several weeks of his log entries showed increasing irrationality. In
the end, his writings during the voyage—poems, quotations, fake log entries,
and
random thoughts—amounted to more than 25,000 words.
The log books include an attempt to construct a
philosophical reinterpretation of the human condition
that would provide an escape from his impossible situation. The number 243
shows up several times in these writings: he originally planned to finish the
trip in 243 days, recorded a false distance of 243 nautical miles (450 km) in
one day's sailing (which if valid would have been a record day's run at the
time), and may have ended his life on the 243rd day (July 1) of his voyage.
His last log entry was on June 29, 1969; it is assumed that he then jumped
overboard and drowned. Three log books (two navigational logs and a radio log)
were left on his boat in order to communicate his philosophical ideas and to
reveal his actual navigational course during the voyage."
Fascinating.
For Moitessier, wikipedia provides some quotes:
"You do not ask a seagull why it needs to disappear from time to time toward
the open sea. It goes, that's all."
-- and then R. Paul will ask, 'What is it like to be a seagull?'.
"I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth." [He was born in Viet
Nam]
"My real log is written in the sea and sky; the sails talking with the rain
and the stars amid the sounds of the sea, the silences full of secret things
between my boat and me, like the times I spent as a child listening to the
forest talk." (from "The Long Way").
Poetic. I suppose someone translated his Vietnamese-French prose?
While at it: entry for log, short for logbook
Short for LOG-BOOK. A journal into which the contents of the log-board or
log-slate are daily transcribed, together with any other circumstance
deserving
notice.
1679 SIR J. MOORE Syst. Math. (1681) I. 271
A Book called a Traverse Book or Log-Book.
1753 CHAMBERS Cycl. Supp., Log-book, at sea, a book ruled and columned like
the log-board.
1779 BOSWELL Let. to Johnson 7 Nov., My Chester journal..is truly a log-book
of felicity. 1
813 Theatrical Inquisitor II. 362 It [sc. the voyage] was divested of all
log-book lumber.
1821 BYRON Diary Wks. (1846) 677/1 This additional page of life's log-book.
1889 CLARK RUSSELL Marooned (1890) 146 The mate's log-book was upon the
table.
1825 H. B. GASCOIGNE Nav. Fame 79
Then down he goes his daily Log to write.
1850 SCORESBY Cheever's Whaleman's Adv. vi. (1859) 86
To fix the localities of whales' resorts by the comparison of the logs of a
vast number of whalers.
1883 STEVENSON Treas. Isl. IV. xviii, The captain sat down to his log, and
here is the beginning of the entry.
************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com
Other related posts:
