Harbor of Refuge: Being the Recreation of Four Seasons on an Offshore Lighthouse from the Authentic Journal of S. P. Jones, S. N.

by Stephen Jones

In this salty, maritime classic, Stephen Jones describes a youthful year spent at a lighthouse. The passage of four seasons brings hilarious, touching, somber, and terrifying adventures. The tower and its assorted keepers, each in his way, are assaulted by vessels run amok, by boozy and lascivious fishermen, by birds, fogs, fantasies, and the looming specter of a storm. First published in 1981, it is reissued with a new introduction by the author.

357 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Stephen Jones is owner of West Mystic Wooden Boat Company, which repairs and builds wooden boats of all sorts, and author of eight other books, including Turpin, Drifting, Backwaters, and Harbor of Refuge, recently reissued in paperback. In a long career spent with and on boats, he served in the Coast Guard, worked on lobster boats, and sailed a schooner in the West Indies. For the last 30 years he has been on the University of Connecticut's maritime branch faculty, where he has taught courses on literature, the environment, and aspects of the sea.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jones looks back on his first year in the Coast Guard, spent mostly on the Harbor of Refuge lighthouse in Maryland. He learns shortly after his posting that the lighthouse stands on the site of at least one ruined lighthouse. Nobody else is much interested, since even some of his fellow Coast Guardsmen think the light has been automated. Far otherwise, as a series of fascinating characters make their way into the four-man rotation. Jones and his mates also bring the lighthouse--and themselves--through one of the century's worst Atlantic storms. Illustrations by Richard Brown dot the pages. Fair warning: Language and incidents make this a book for adults.