Annotations: Delgado, Doubilet, and Drumm

As part of Fall 2008's research project, I have produced an annotated bibliography of 129 nonfiction texts, all associated with aquatic subjects. I read far further in water-related fiction and nonfiction in the last eight months, but I decided on the specific bibliography in relation to teaching my courses, English 1A, English 93, and the prospective elective "Literature and the (Aquatic) Environment." Of course, not all 129 books on my list would suit our courses, but I had to read (or reread) to discover such fitness or lack of fitness. I share my findings for each one itself and for the critical model at work.

Here are the next three books in the bibliography:

Delgado, James P. Adventures of a Sea Hunter: In Search of Famous Shipwrecks. Vancouver: Douglass & McIntyre, 2004.

This book is solid and informative, but finding shipwrecks just seems too technical and less fun than in the days of Mel Fisher. (Reminder: see Daley's Treasure.) I need to reread this book; maybe it's more fun than I recall (since I read it on an airplane to Hawaii, restless with anticipation of the diving ahead).

Doubilet, David. Water Light Time. New York: Phaidon, 2006.

Excellent book of photographs, particularly underwater photographs and just-at-the-surface photographs, much less common (and much less sought after, I guess). I put this book next to the 3-D photos when I want to give someone the best sense of being in the water without spraying them with a hose or tossing them off a dock. In other words, visually effective and engaging.

Drumm, Russell. In the Slick of the Cricket: A Shark Odyssey. New York: Penguin, 1997.

If you have ever seen Jaws, well, you've met the main figure of this book through the crusty, obsessive shark-killing character played by Robert Shaw, though the Frank Mundus of Drumm's book is a bit smoother than the film's Quint. Mundus is the star of the show, though Drumm's descriptions are the key to the book's effectiveness. I have been tempted to use this book in English 93 or 96, both for the obvious attraction of any shark-story and for the portrayal of psychology in action. I felt salty after reading this book, though also a bit depressed. In this world, there are too many shark-killers and too many dead sharks, but that's the subject of a different book.

Postcard: Let's Go Diving!

Postcard: Sunshine and Brine

McClure's Beach, Point Reyes, CA.

I still need to upgrade my camera equipment, but the disposable 35mm seems adequate at the moment. I like the glare, frankly. Looking, I wish I were there now, and isn't that the point of about half the photos ever taken?

Annotations: Richard Henry Dana

Dana, Jr., Richard Henry. Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative. New York: New American Library, 1964.

I should just quote Dan Duane's handling of this fine book in his Caught Inside--this fine book by educated Easterner Dana, college boy turned deckhand--but I won't. Wonderful guidebook through the world of a crewman as Dana ships out from the East Coast all the way down and around Cape Horn, up to California, and back. The chapters regarding California in the 1830's are classics, worthy of attention in a non-fiction English class treating local materials--though by "local" I must be including Santa Barbara and the Southern California coast. (Just as Duane does, I particularly like Dana's education via the Hawaiians' "work ethic": If we have enough money now for food, drink, and fun, why would we work?) California was part of Mexico at the time, and that aspect alone can provide the basis for good discussions into what students understand of California history. (I'm still looking for that Amazonian tribe and its queen that gave California her name.)

My parents believed in educating us even in our choice of comic books, and I first encountered Dana's story at a very young age through Classics Comics. I recall being captivated by the illustrations and dialogue presenting the tossing of cattle hides from clifftop to beach and then shouldering the hot, heavy hides through the surf out to a waiting boat. Why not throw those hides off the cliff instead of carrying them down? That seemed like an amazingly good question to ask, for me, at age 10 or so. (Years later, as an abalone diver on the North Coast, I'd remember this panel from the comic book and toss my own heavy lead weightbelt from the bluff down to the tideline. More recently, I tracked down a copy of that comic book and found those illustrations pretty much as I recollected.) In my 20's, I read Dana's narrative because Melville had read it and been influenced by it, and I kept the book on a shelf for revisiting.

P.S. In the Classics Comics version, the Hawaiians are edited out and replaced with Mexicans; I guess a comic book wouldn't have enough room to explain how Hawaiians were to be found working in Mexico's California. Still, the culture clash of work-driven 'Mericans and laid-back "natives" remains almost intact. Recall: Dana wanted to highlight the racism and cultural incomprehension that is so reprehensible.

Annotations: Robert Daley's TREASURE

Daley, Robert. Treasure. New York: Random, 1977.

If you have any interest in treasure-hunting and lost Spanish galleons, this gripping tale of Mel Fisher's long, often quixotic quest to find the Atocha and all the gold and silver that sailed inside her is the book for you. Mel Fisher's offbeat can-do attitude ranges from being inspiring to being terrifying; he puts himself and family members at great risk, financially and physically. The chapter detailing the unfortunate and accidental, though possibly preventable deaths of his eldest son, daughter-in-law, and crew members is very moving. I have read and reread this book for sheer engagement ("enjoyment" doesn't seem the right word) many times.

There are other versions of this story out there. I've looked at them, but Daley's narrative is the one for me.

Annotations: Lynne Cox, Swimmer

Cox, Lynne. Grayson. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2006.

I underestimated this book when it first came out, annoyed and distracted by the childishness (I thought) of the cover; also, I had thought the book a fictional fantasy of human-cetacean bonding. In fact, Grayson is a true account, well described, of the 17-year-old Cox's encounter with a seemingly lost baby whale during one of her usual training swims at Seal Beach, California, and of her efforts to swim with the whale, leading it away from the beach and the possibility of a fatal grounding, and to find the whale's mother . . . all while swimming. No boat, no jetski, no kayak, no surfboard, no airplane, no helicopter--and no wetsuit. Cox swims and swims and swims with the baby gray whale. As she describes all that water-time, we get vividly rendered scenes of swimming amidst schools of anchovies, with grunion, with tuna, with bat rays, with dolphins, and whales. Yes, the mother whale arrives to collect her errant offspring, and Cox heads for shore after about three hours in those rather chilly waters off Seal Beach. A well-told tale: I am glad that I have now read it, and I will give copies to family and friends as presents in the future.

This book could be a good English 90 or 92 text.

---. Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer. New York: Harcourt, 2005.

I discovered Cox's aquatic autobiography late in 2008, though I don't know how I had overlooked it before that. I love stories of open water swimming and of the strength of body, mind and spirit that such a pursuit demands. Jenifer Levin's novel Water Dancer has been a favorite novel on this topic for the last 25 or so years of my life--and I still love and prefer that novel to this book--but Swimming to Antarctica has the definite advantage of being non-fiction, of being a set of true tales. (I say "advantage" because students often prefer the non-fiction, the documentary, over stories that are merely made up. Fiction has its own advantages.) Cox is a very determined individual, more positive thinking than anyone I know, and with the life experiences and adversity to back up her positive modeling.

I recommend this book, and I started recommending it before I even finished it, as I read through that first chapter. I am now recalling the chapter in which Lynne Cox sets a record for crossing the English Channel at age 16, and I am wanting to know more; I want to reread now. Where's my copy of Swimming to Antarctica?

(Isn't that the best response to any book?)

Quick Fiction: What He Missed

David kept coming back to it. Did Julia miss him? What did she miss about him, if anything? He'd claimed he didn't want any calls, but he kept checking messages. What did he miss? Her bright eyes and smile, of course. Sweet, soft kisses, juicy curves, cinnamon skin, and . . . her hair. Black river, black storm. Thick, dark flowing. Pulling, twisting, losing himself in it just and he--and she, surely--loved. Is that really what he missed? Mostly, he missed the selfishness, the easy and simple selfishness. Doing what he wanted, doing what she wanted. Now, nothing was simple; nothing was easy. He missed Julia, but he also missed his life before Julia, when he wasn't so selfish, when he wasn't so neglectful of his own home.