Books about the Pacific
I had such fun writing Tall Ship Tales, and people seem to appreciate the background that went into it. A lot of my "research" was just googling around, but here are some actual books that I actually read. I recommend them all, especially the first and the last.
The expedition of the St Jean-Baptiste to the Pacific 1769-1770. From the Journals of Jean de Surville and Guillaume Labé, translated and edited by John Dunmore, 1981.
Loads of material on scurvy, getting lost, stowaways, desertion, pigs, wild celery, etc. De Surville's journal goes "What an interesting place! Maybe the natives will be helpful if we kidnap a few of them..." Labé is: "No-one told me where we were going. This is a bad idea. I'd have organised things very differently if they'd asked my opinion. But they didn't. I wash my hands of it." Funnier than Monty Python until you remember these are real people dying by the dozen.
We, the Tikopia. A Sociological Study of Kinship in Primitive Polynesia, Raymond Firth, 1936
I swear Jack copied his hairstyle from Pa Fenuatara, heir to the cheiftainship of Kafika. And the sashes.
Marquesan Societies: Inequality and Political Transformation in Eastern Polynesia, Nicholas Thomas, 1990
Not sure I nicked much from this, except words from the glossary.
Argonauts of the Western Pacific: an Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea, Bronislaw Malinowski, 1922.
Pubic leaves and canoes. Illustrated!
We, the Navigators: The Ancient Art of Landfinding in the Pacific, David Lewis, 1972
Just stuffed with info about canoes, sails, sailing techniques, navigation.
The expedition of the St Jean-Baptiste to the Pacific 1769-1770. From the Journals of Jean de Surville and Guillaume Labé, translated and edited by John Dunmore, 1981.
Loads of material on scurvy, getting lost, stowaways, desertion, pigs, wild celery, etc. De Surville's journal goes "What an interesting place! Maybe the natives will be helpful if we kidnap a few of them..." Labé is: "No-one told me where we were going. This is a bad idea. I'd have organised things very differently if they'd asked my opinion. But they didn't. I wash my hands of it." Funnier than Monty Python until you remember these are real people dying by the dozen.
We, the Tikopia. A Sociological Study of Kinship in Primitive Polynesia, Raymond Firth, 1936
I swear Jack copied his hairstyle from Pa Fenuatara, heir to the cheiftainship of Kafika. And the sashes.
Marquesan Societies: Inequality and Political Transformation in Eastern Polynesia, Nicholas Thomas, 1990
Not sure I nicked much from this, except words from the glossary.
Argonauts of the Western Pacific: an Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea, Bronislaw Malinowski, 1922.
Pubic leaves and canoes. Illustrated!
We, the Navigators: The Ancient Art of Landfinding in the Pacific, David Lewis, 1972
Just stuffed with info about canoes, sails, sailing techniques, navigation.