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27 books
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6 voters
Nautical Books
Showing 1-50 of 7,678
Master and Commander (Aubrey & Maturin, #1)
by (shelved 187 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.07 — 63,741 ratings — published 1969
Moby-Dick or, The Whale (Paperback)
by (shelved 157 times as nautical)
avg rating 3.57 — 617,602 ratings — published 1851
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (Paperback)
by (shelved 144 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.17 — 119,306 ratings — published 2000
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (Hardcover)
by (shelved 111 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.17 — 211,783 ratings — published 2023
Treasure Island (Hardcover)
by (shelved 109 times as nautical)
avg rating 3.85 — 542,104 ratings — published 1882
Mr. Midshipman Hornblower (Hardcover)
by (shelved 99 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.18 — 19,370 ratings — published 1950
Post Captain (Aubrey & Maturin, #2)
by (shelved 91 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.26 — 25,346 ratings — published 1972
H.M.S. Surprise (Aubrey & Maturin, #3)
by (shelved 85 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.42 — 21,504 ratings — published 1973
The Old Man and the Sea (Hardcover)
by (shelved 84 times as nautical)
avg rating 3.81 — 1,318,871 ratings — published 1952
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (Hardcover)
by (shelved 79 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.46 — 167,008 ratings — published 1959
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Hardcover)
by (shelved 70 times as nautical)
avg rating 3.89 — 277,348 ratings — published 1869
The Mauritius Command (Aubrey & Maturin, #4)
by (shelved 69 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.35 — 18,468 ratings — published 1977
Two Years Before the Mast: A Sailor's Life at Sea (Paperback)
by (shelved 66 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.03 — 14,634 ratings — published 1840
The Fortune of War (Aubrey & Maturin, #6)
by (shelved 61 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.41 — 15,223 ratings — published 1979
Desolation Island (Aubrey & Maturin, #5)
by (shelved 60 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.41 — 16,418 ratings — published 1978
The Surgeon's Mate (Aubrey & Maturin, #7)
by (shelved 57 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.40 — 14,201 ratings — published 1980
The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea (Paperback)
by (shelved 57 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.12 — 119,223 ratings — published 1997
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (Hardcover)
by (shelved 53 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.13 — 162,285 ratings — published 2015
The Ionian Mission (Aubrey & Maturin, #8)
by (shelved 53 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.32 — 12,107 ratings — published 1981
The Sea Wolf (Paperback)
by (shelved 50 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.06 — 33,647 ratings — published 1904
Lieutenant Hornblower (Hornblower Saga: Chronological Order, #2)
by (shelved 50 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.32 — 13,601 ratings — published 1952
The Far Side of the World (Aubrey & Maturin, #10)
by (shelved 49 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.45 — 13,751 ratings — published 1984
The Letter of Marque (Aubrey & Maturin, #12)
by (shelved 49 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.50 — 12,078 ratings — published 1988
Treason's Harbour (Aubrey & Maturin, #9)
by (shelved 48 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.38 — 12,772 ratings — published 1983
The Thirteen-Gun Salute (Aubrey & Maturin, #13)
by (shelved 45 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.40 — 10,360 ratings — published 1989
Sailing Alone around the World (Paperback)
by (shelved 43 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.15 — 11,224 ratings — published 1899
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time (Hardcover)
by (shelved 42 times as nautical)
avg rating 3.99 — 76,526 ratings — published 1995
Life of Pi (Paperback)
by (shelved 41 times as nautical)
avg rating 3.94 — 1,757,125 ratings — published 2001
Beat to Quarters (Hornblower Saga: Chronological Order, # 6 )
by (shelved 41 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.29 — 12,318 ratings — published 1937
The Reverse of the Medal (Aubrey & Maturin, #11)
by (shelved 41 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.43 — 11,076 ratings — published 1986
The Terror (Hardcover)
by (shelved 40 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.09 — 74,408 ratings — published 2007
The Wine-Dark Sea (Aubrey & Maturin, #16)
by (shelved 40 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.40 — 9,609 ratings — published 1993
The Nutmeg of Consolation (Aubrey & Maturin, #14)
by (shelved 40 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.42 — 10,526 ratings — published 1991
Hornblower and the Hotspur (Hornblower Saga: Chronological Order, #3)
by (shelved 39 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.32 — 12,067 ratings — published 1962
Hornblower and the Atropos (Hornblower Saga: Chronological Order, #5)
by (shelved 39 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.25 — 9,976 ratings — published 1953
The Commodore (Aubrey & Maturin, #17)
by (shelved 38 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.43 — 9,624 ratings — published 1994
Ship of the Line (Hornblower Saga: Chronological Order, #7)
by (shelved 38 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.32 — 8,773 ratings — published 1938
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette (Hardcover)
by (shelved 36 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.30 — 25,940 ratings — published 2014
Flying Colours (Hornblower Saga: Chronological Order, #8)
by (shelved 36 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.35 — 8,638 ratings — published 1938
The Yellow Admiral (Aubrey & Maturin, #18)
by (shelved 36 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.37 — 9,426 ratings — published 1996
Lord Hornblower (Hornblower Saga: Chronological Order, #10)
by (shelved 36 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.12 — 7,613 ratings — published 1946
The Odyssey (Paperback)
by (shelved 35 times as nautical)
avg rating 3.83 — 1,197,809 ratings — published -800
The Truelove (Aubrey & Maturin, #15)
by (shelved 35 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.36 — 10,112 ratings — published 1991
Commodore Hornblower (Hardcover)
by (shelved 35 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.26 — 8,513 ratings — published 1945
The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook (Hardcover)
by (shelved 34 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.47 — 21,091 ratings — published 2024
Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe (Paperback)
by (shelved 34 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.19 — 19,118 ratings — published 2003
Ship of Magic (Liveship Traders, #1)
by (shelved 34 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.24 — 105,597 ratings — published 1998
Blue at the Mizzen (Aubrey & Maturin, #20)
by (shelved 34 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.41 — 8,586 ratings — published 1999
Robinson Crusoe (Hardcover)
by (shelved 33 times as nautical)
avg rating 3.68 — 332,236 ratings — published 1719
Bloody Jack (Bloody Jack, #1)
by (shelved 33 times as nautical)
avg rating 4.11 — 27,762 ratings — published 2002
“Why, the devil, do you see,' said Jack, 'is the seam between the deck-planking and the timbers, and we call it the devil, because it is the /devil/ for the caulkers to come at: in full we say, the devil to pay and no pitch hot; and what we mean is, that there is something hell-fire difficult to be done - must be done - and nothing to do it with. It is a figure.”
― The Mauritius Command
― The Mauritius Command
“As madcap whitecaps hammered at the hulls,
the bowsprits breasting saw-toothed waves
now high and mighty, now abject, the Sun
looked down and watched the boats—so bantam, meek,
and of no consequence—become engulfed
by stormclouds smothering the sallow sea.
A norther hurled its curses at the fleet
as in return garboards and sheerstrakes groaned
amidst the helter-skelter of loud shouts.
With drenched and veiny arms the tillers clenched
the quarter rudders, trying to prevent
the roaring ocean, frothing at the mouth,
from swallowing the ships they’d sworn to guide
while thinking: Who, in the last instance, can
withstand its infinite, digestive force?
Anon this beast became a lesser cause
for fear, supplanted by the high-pitched shrieks
of something neither man nor animal
that lurked beyond them in the ebon drear,
its contour barely visible by turns
when intermittent bolts transpierced the sky.
(Canaäd, XV 271-91)”
―
the bowsprits breasting saw-toothed waves
now high and mighty, now abject, the Sun
looked down and watched the boats—so bantam, meek,
and of no consequence—become engulfed
by stormclouds smothering the sallow sea.
A norther hurled its curses at the fleet
as in return garboards and sheerstrakes groaned
amidst the helter-skelter of loud shouts.
With drenched and veiny arms the tillers clenched
the quarter rudders, trying to prevent
the roaring ocean, frothing at the mouth,
from swallowing the ships they’d sworn to guide
while thinking: Who, in the last instance, can
withstand its infinite, digestive force?
Anon this beast became a lesser cause
for fear, supplanted by the high-pitched shrieks
of something neither man nor animal
that lurked beyond them in the ebon drear,
its contour barely visible by turns
when intermittent bolts transpierced the sky.
(Canaäd, XV 271-91)”
―
