By Sidney Howard
Published by Rupert Hart-Davies 1951, First edition 1933. When Essex yachtsman Sidney Howard set off from a creek in Benfleet he had never even crossed the English Channel. This passage in Pacific Moon, a 38ft gaff cutter took him 12,000 miles to the South Seas and by the time he got there he’d taught himself celestial navigation and many other hard-learned lessons of seamanship en route. He had truly earned the captain’s hat, collar and tie that he affected to wear when going ashore, as so many sailors of the 1920s and 30s did. Available on Amazon/eBay.