Folklore and the Sea

by Horace P. Beck

A superb account of the traditions and legends of the people who live by the sea; their beliefs and superstitions about boatbuilding, the weather, creatures real and legendary, the ghosts and saints and demons that surround and influence their lives.

Genres: Folklore, Nonfiction, History, Witchcraft, Mythology, Nautical, Fairy Tales

484 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Horace Beck, a former professor of American Literature at Middlebury College, has been gathering the sea's folklore for 70 years in Europe, North America, and the West Indies. This collection of legends, songs, superstitions, and stories, both true and apocryphal includes spectral ships, mermaids and mermen, pirates, sea language, sea monsters, navigation and weather lore, names on sea and shore, and much more. Library Journal called Folklore and the Sea "a browser's delight as well as a researcher's gold mine."

Reviews

[Eddie B.]

استمرت رحلتي مع هذا الكتاب الكبير لأكثر من سنة ونصف. فلكلور وبحر. متعة لا أستطيع وصفها. لكنني احتفظتُ بهذه الورقة كي أستطيع العودة إلى زيارة أكثر الأجزاء إمتاعًا.

[Stephen]

Let us mourn the newly out of print status of this book. All books should be this good. 'Folklore and the Sea', my friend, I will love you until the day I die. They changed your cover from something beautiful to something generic, and now they have done to you the wickedest betrayal. May you haunt us like the sailors of the sea floor and their wives at the cliffs.

A surprisingly academic look at legends and seagoing subjects, from the subject of what kind of woods go into boat building around the world and speculations as to why one area might use a certain type of wood, (in Ireland, knees are made of apple wood because it keeps the feary folk away) to seamonsters and why so many locals have similar creatures. Who knew that seals were enchanted people wearing a magical skin that allowed them to live underwater? Focuses mostly on Celtic and Northeast Americas, and is written engagingly. Plus, has cute little goofy photos of the author and his grandchildren and crazy old Irish sailors whom he's met.

Exhaustingly researched, charmingly written, this book is hours upon hours of joy ranging from the sea's slogs to it's academia. Beck never lets his writing get dry, and his own love for the sea bubbles through the murk. This book wasn't what I thought it was going to be, but oh so much better!

[Susan]

Massive. Even jumping around from chapter to chapter, this will take forever to slog through. Fabulous. I love good research.

[Connie Wold]

Huge book. Lots of information. If you like the sea you would like this book.

[Ken]

I removed the start and end dates from this reading because, like folklore itself, the beginnings and endings of this book are not so easily identified. It’s a treasure trove rather than a treasure, a horde of valuables that only a lifetime of immersion could produce.

This is a book for anyone interested in strange information, well shared. I ordered it at random, looking for something to supplement my own writings’ research, and have spent the past three years picking pages at random or starting at a new chapter afresh. I have yet to be disappointed in the result.

I read somewhere that it has since gone out of print, which is at once a shame and an inevitable phase of such a book. It passes into a type of history of its own, to be shared by those who’d been fortunate enough to get their hands on it while it lived.

Top marks to Mr. Horace Beck.

[Lynn Edwards]

This book is long, but well worth going through. Try an audible version to get the stories people tell, sprinkled through it, better set into all the various stories spread out through it. I enjoyed it thoroughly as an audible version.

[Amanda]

Aside from the occasional moment when the author made a point and said "well that's that," and I didn't get what that was, (I suppose I need to be more clever), I adored this book and read it cover to cover. The only chapter I had to make myself read was the "songs" portion. Every bit of legend, lore, myth, and humor (the author is quite funny), I ate up with a spoon. I read this book for research but found it to be one of the most enjoyable pieces of non-fiction (aside from all the wonderful fictitious stories included) that I've ever read.

[Alicia Wright]

This book is a must for anyone interested in folklore, be it of the sea or not. It was fascinating throughout. Even the most mundane-sounding chapter was full of wonderful stories.

I enjoyed it the whole way through and learned a great deal.

I don't have a single criticism - Highly recommended!

[سحر محمود]

كتاب رائع ومميز يتكلم عن الثقافة الشعبية للبحارة والمجاورين للبحر فى أوروبا وكل ما يتعلق بها