Greatest maritime adventure novels?

[haprdgn]

Besides the obvious Treasure Island, and the various Jules Verne novels, what are some others?

[mona amon]

Moby Dick :)

[Lulim]

The Old Man and the Sea?

[dfloyd]

Many of the novels of Joseph Conrad.

[kiki1982]

The books of CS Forester about Horatio Hornblower? The series seemed quite interesting.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

Victor Hugo - Toilers of the Sea
Jack London - The Sea Wolf
Homer - The Odyssey (perhaps not a novel, but an adventure none the less)

[PeterL]

I agree about the Hornblower series.

[Eryk]

Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick. Non-fiction account of the incident that inspired Moby-Dick.

[mal4mac]

"Rites of Passage" trilogy, Golding

[Whifflingpin]

There are some good yarns by "Sinbad," A. E. Dingle.

John Masefield wrote many maritime stories - "The Bird of Dawning," "In Hazard," "The Taking of the Gry," "Dead Ned" & "Live and Kicking Ned" for example.

Sabatini.

Joshua Slocum's "Sailing alone round the world" is non-fiction, but a brilliant tale well told.

[breathtest]

The narrative of arthur gordon pym of nantucket written by Edgar Allen Poe

[kelby_lake]

Moby Dick :)

Gotta love the undertones at the beginning :P

[John Lark]

Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts by Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of several Ships
(i.e. Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift).

[Janine]

I have one, which is not only a maritime story, but also an early explorer novel. Still it deals a great deal with this incredible and true maritime adventure. The book is:

South: The Endurance Expedition by Ernest Shackleton

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p70/sealace/Antarctica/SouthShackleton.jpg

I found this book very well written and 'human' and entirely captivating. I have also read other books, concerning his involvement with the Scott expedition earlier on; and two others (see one pictured below) devoted entirely to the Endurance Expedition. Both were fascinating accounts of true life adventures in the then, little explored Antarctica.

The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition[b] by Caroline Alexander

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p70/sealace/Antarctica/TheEndurance.jpg

Here is a photo of the ship frozen in the pack-ice. Unbelievable this could be illuminated so beautifully and also survive the flooding of the ship and the incredible journey back to safety and civilization.

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p70/sealace/Antarctica/EnduranceNightEnlarged.jpg

I also read a book from my library called:

[b]Mammoth Book of Adventure Stories ~ various authors/adventurers ~ I believe these books are a series.

I read two if I remember correctly. Many of those also involved maritime adventures. One was Jacque Couteau's account of an underwater cave in a tropical ocean (very interesting), another involved Shackleton's earlier adventure to the North Pole, just after Scott's first adventure there. Of course, much time was spend at sea for both explorers. The Antarctic pack ice and icebergs were of particular interest along with the wildlife.

[bluosean]

The sea tales of James Fenimore Cooper.

[bluosean]

Also not just treasure Island but many of stevensons other books as well.

[MANICHAEAN]

Try going back a generation before the high tech pirate films with Master Depp currently in vogue and you will be surprised at the abundence of what might be termed "Boys own good yarns"
The following come to mind:

"A High Wind In Jamaica" by Richard Hughes published in 1929. Children captured by pirates in the Caribbean, it is a bit more intense than when first considered: an exploration of the nature and limits of innocence.

"Across The Spanish Main" by Harry Collingwood. With a title & author name like that, it is what it appears: A tale of the sea in the days of Queen Bess.

"Captain Blood" by Rafael Sabatini (1875 - 1950). About an admiral of a fleet of pirate ships.

"The Sea Hawk" also by Sabatini. A tale of the Spanish Armada & the pirates of the Barbary Coast.

[The Atheist]

Douglas Reeman - if you like wartime seagoing novels with realism, he's your man.

[kasie]

If you are going to try the Hornblower books, may I suggest that you also try the Aubrey/Maturin books of Patrick O'Brian, set in the same period, the Napoleonic wars. Ignore the film, it was a mish-mash of two books cobbled together, the books themselves are quite another thing - I felt I could have taken a three-master to sea after reading the first one, Master and Commander, the detail was so good.