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La vagabonde des mers
"Les pages qui suivent consistent en des évocations de mon insouciante jeunesse... [?] dès mon plus jeune âge j'ai tâté de radeaux faits de planches et de rondins. Que par la suite, et durant maintes années, j'ai consacré à la voile toutes mes heures de loisir, toutes mes vacances d'été. Des dériveurs, d'abord, et autres coques de noix. Jusqu'au jour où on m'a confié un vrai bateau." Ella Maillart, grande voyageuse à travers les terres d'Asie, amie d'Alain Gerbault, fut la première femme à disputer les jeux Olympiques en épreuves de yachting, à Paris en 1924.
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1942
About the author
Ella Maillart
26 books48 followersElla 'Kini' Maillart (February 20, 1903 – March 27, 1997) was a French-speaking Swiss adventurer and travel writer, as well as a sportswoman. She had been captain of the Swiss Women's ice hockey team and was an international skier. She also competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics as sailor in the Olympic monotype competition.
From the 1930s onward she spent years exploring oriental republics of the USSR, as well as other parts of Asia, and published a rich series of books which, just as her photographs, are today considered valuable historical testimonies. Her early books were written in French but later she began to write in English. Turkestan Solo describes a journey in 1932 in Soviet Turkestan. In 1934, the French daily Le Petit Parisien sent her to Manchuria to report on the situation under the Japanese occupation. It was there that she met Peter Fleming, a well-known writer and correspondent of The Times, with whom she would team up to cross China from Peking to Srinagar (3,500 miles), much of the route being through hostile desert regions and steep Himalayan passes. The journey started in February 1935 and took seven months to complete, involving travel by train, on lorries, on foot, horse and camelback. Their objective was to ascertain what was happening in Sinkiang (then also known as Chinese Turkestan) where a civil war had been going on. Ella Maillart later recorded this trek in her book Forbidden Journey, while Peter Fleming's parallel account is found in his News from Tartary. In 1937 Ella Maillart returned to Asia for Le Petit Parisien to report on Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, while in 1939 she undertook a trip from Geneva to Kabul by car, in the company of the Swiss writer, Annemarie Schwarzenbach. The Cruel Way is the title of Ella Maillart's book about this experience, cut short by the outbreak of the second World War.
She spent the war years in the South of India, learning from different teachers about Advaita Vedanta, one of the schools of Hindu philosophy. On her return to Switzerland in 1945, she lived in Geneva and at Chandolin, a mountain village in the Swiss Alps. She continued to ski until late in life and last returned to Tibet in 1986.
Ella Maillart's manuscripts and documents are kept at the Bibliothèque de Genève (Library of the City of Geneva), her photographic work is deposited at the Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne, and her documentary films (on Afghanistan, Nepal and South India) are part of the collection of La Cinémathèque suisse in Lausanne, Switzerland.
From the 1930s onward she spent years exploring oriental republics of the USSR, as well as other parts of Asia, and published a rich series of books which, just as her photographs, are today considered valuable historical testimonies. Her early books were written in French but later she began to write in English. Turkestan Solo describes a journey in 1932 in Soviet Turkestan. In 1934, the French daily Le Petit Parisien sent her to Manchuria to report on the situation under the Japanese occupation. It was there that she met Peter Fleming, a well-known writer and correspondent of The Times, with whom she would team up to cross China from Peking to Srinagar (3,500 miles), much of the route being through hostile desert regions and steep Himalayan passes. The journey started in February 1935 and took seven months to complete, involving travel by train, on lorries, on foot, horse and camelback. Their objective was to ascertain what was happening in Sinkiang (then also known as Chinese Turkestan) where a civil war had been going on. Ella Maillart later recorded this trek in her book Forbidden Journey, while Peter Fleming's parallel account is found in his News from Tartary. In 1937 Ella Maillart returned to Asia for Le Petit Parisien to report on Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, while in 1939 she undertook a trip from Geneva to Kabul by car, in the company of the Swiss writer, Annemarie Schwarzenbach. The Cruel Way is the title of Ella Maillart's book about this experience, cut short by the outbreak of the second World War.
She spent the war years in the South of India, learning from different teachers about Advaita Vedanta, one of the schools of Hindu philosophy. On her return to Switzerland in 1945, she lived in Geneva and at Chandolin, a mountain village in the Swiss Alps. She continued to ski until late in life and last returned to Tibet in 1986.
Ella Maillart's manuscripts and documents are kept at the Bibliothèque de Genève (Library of the City of Geneva), her photographic work is deposited at the Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne, and her documentary films (on Afghanistan, Nepal and South India) are part of the collection of La Cinémathèque suisse in Lausanne, Switzerland.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 23, 2026
This book by the peerless Ella Maillart was published in 1942, but describes events from much earlier. The writing in this book is excellent, polishing her writing skills on her earlier books. Before she set off alone for Russian Central Asia, Ella spent several years sailing as crew on various yachts between Great Britain, France and the Netherlands, going as far afield as Spain to the south.
Her first start was answering an advertisement for a cabin boy in a newspaper, and given a chance proves she had come capability (having sailed before in the Mediterranean, and represented Switzerland in sailing at the 1924 Summer Olympics. Relationships formed on this barge form a spine of people Maillart sails with on various yachts throughout this period.
Maillart is determined, and backed up with ability. She takes over when the more experienced sailors are found out of their depth. She instinctively knows when something is not right, and when something needs to be changed. Respected by all those who sail with her, and looked at in wonder by those seeing her arriving in a new harbour.
While the book is very heavy in sailing jargon, and technical descriptions underpin all of her description , I nevertheless found it easy to read and really engaging. I have read a load of sailing books and the jargon still washes over me - I genuinely don't think it takes very much away from the reader who is not imitate with sails, ropes and navigation. Maillart is really an inspirational woman, who lived her life doing whatever it was that she wanted to do, but the years covered by this book are likely some of the more formative. Time and again she considers throwing in her sailing and returning to land to chase a more orthodox career. Continually the answer is that it is not what drives her, that she needs to be moving and active.
Maillart mentions her skiing a number of times here, and while she does not describe it at all, she spends some winters skiing and summers sailing, but in the end she decides that sailing is not career forming, and that she is looking for some exposure to foreign culture, and it is after this time covered in this book that she departs for Russian Central Asia.
I think I have now read all of Ella's books published in English - a disappointing fact. Re-reads would be well justified.
I was going to award this book 5 stars, but I see I have rated most of her others 4 stars. Honestly I have better recollections of them that 4 stars, but that will have to wait for the re-reading. On that basis I feel obliged to place this one at 4 stars too!
Her first start was answering an advertisement for a cabin boy in a newspaper, and given a chance proves she had come capability (having sailed before in the Mediterranean, and represented Switzerland in sailing at the 1924 Summer Olympics. Relationships formed on this barge form a spine of people Maillart sails with on various yachts throughout this period.
Maillart is determined, and backed up with ability. She takes over when the more experienced sailors are found out of their depth. She instinctively knows when something is not right, and when something needs to be changed. Respected by all those who sail with her, and looked at in wonder by those seeing her arriving in a new harbour.
While the book is very heavy in sailing jargon, and technical descriptions underpin all of her description , I nevertheless found it easy to read and really engaging. I have read a load of sailing books and the jargon still washes over me - I genuinely don't think it takes very much away from the reader who is not imitate with sails, ropes and navigation. Maillart is really an inspirational woman, who lived her life doing whatever it was that she wanted to do, but the years covered by this book are likely some of the more formative. Time and again she considers throwing in her sailing and returning to land to chase a more orthodox career. Continually the answer is that it is not what drives her, that she needs to be moving and active.
Maillart mentions her skiing a number of times here, and while she does not describe it at all, she spends some winters skiing and summers sailing, but in the end she decides that sailing is not career forming, and that she is looking for some exposure to foreign culture, and it is after this time covered in this book that she departs for Russian Central Asia.
I think I have now read all of Ella's books published in English - a disappointing fact. Re-reads would be well justified.
I was going to award this book 5 stars, but I see I have rated most of her others 4 stars. Honestly I have better recollections of them that 4 stars, but that will have to wait for the re-reading. On that basis I feel obliged to place this one at 4 stars too!
July 5, 2015
This is not Ella Maillart's first book but details the early part of her life. Before she set out to explore the globe on land, Maillart worked as a language teacher in an English girls' school but longed to follow her passion of sailing. When she unexpectedly was offered a position as a cook and general help on a private yacht, she jumped at the opportunity. Of course, she didn't stay a cook and general assistant for long. She was an experienced sailor already and quickly became a vital member of the deck crew.
I enjoyed reading about Maillart's life before her travels to Asia, but a lot of the descriptions meant nothing to me as I have little knowledge about sailing.
It was great to read tho that for all her gumption and adventurous spirit, Maillart also describes her doubts about working in an environment in the 1920s that was almost exclusively staffed by men.
When reading about her later travels, it is quite easy to forget that what she set out to do really was extraordinary and it is just as easy to presume that she was so full of self-confidence that she did not even consider herself breaking any social norms.
This was not the case. Maillart was quite self-conscious in her youth, but her passion for living life to her own liking was stronger than any parental advice or social restrictions.
It was also refreshing to read about the acceptance she found among fellow sailors and fishermen during those early adventures.
I enjoyed reading about Maillart's life before her travels to Asia, but a lot of the descriptions meant nothing to me as I have little knowledge about sailing.
It was great to read tho that for all her gumption and adventurous spirit, Maillart also describes her doubts about working in an environment in the 1920s that was almost exclusively staffed by men.
When reading about her later travels, it is quite easy to forget that what she set out to do really was extraordinary and it is just as easy to presume that she was so full of self-confidence that she did not even consider herself breaking any social norms.
This was not the case. Maillart was quite self-conscious in her youth, but her passion for living life to her own liking was stronger than any parental advice or social restrictions.
It was also refreshing to read about the acceptance she found among fellow sailors and fishermen during those early adventures.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews