Rough Water: Stories of Survival from the Sea

by Clint Willis (Editor)

Hear the riveting stories of men and women battling the elements, and often each other, to stay alive, confronting savage storms, rogue waves, mountainous icebergs, sharks, starvation, and their own fear and suffering. From Sebastian Junger's The Whale Hunger to Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny, this program is a unique collection of the finest writing on what drives men and women to the sea, and what they face when they get there.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Survival, Adventure, Biography, Short Stories, Nautical

360 pages, Paperback

First published December 27, 1998

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are short stories about survival at sea. Anything to do with the ocean and I'm in...it's a fascination for me.

[Father Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series of short stories could only loosely be termed "stories of survival" as they do range beyond mere endurance. Junger's contribution is a story of "survival" in the sense of the survival of a way of life, rather than of an individual person on the sea. That said, if the reader isn't dead set on a set of survival stories strictly understood, this volume presents an interesting variety of stories. My favorites in this set are the description of the loss of the Titanic from a passenger's point of view, and of course, Patrick O'Brian's narrative of the Battle of the Nile and the accompanying description by a sailor present on the H.M.S. Macedonia in its battle with the U.S.S. United States at the beginning of the War of 1812.
I listened to the audiobook version and found the narrators a little overdone on the narratives of men stuck on the open sea in their life rafts or yachts, but still very enjoyable.

[Hubbleboy Rhuad · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great escape. Incredible stories of courage, solitude and survival through the ages. Great selections from books and articles exposing the reader to experiences and perspectives not typically familiar with land fairing people. I’m adding this one to my home library.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the first 3 stories which I enjoyed, skipped the rest for one reason or another.

[Allison Kirchner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great idea, but a bit disappointing in the execution. Some of the excerpts would have been better with more context, and some got a bit mired down in technical details. Each of the selections represents an important story or historical event, and I did find myself researching the topics to find out more about them. An anthology of short stories and magazine articles about "rough water," each presented in its complete form, would have been a more compelling "listen" (audio CD) for me.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Close to 4 stars. These short excerpts made me long for the full stories. I also remembered how much I used to love reading ships’ logs.

[Patrick Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was awesome, stories about the sea, my favorite.
Whalers, war, the Titanic, survival at sea
These stories will stay with me. I look forward to rereading this

[Marlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bits and pieces of longer stories about the sea. I'm always amazed at the ability for humans to persevere beyond what should be their end.

[Rob Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some fun stories in here, but the collected works format leaves a lot to be desired. Having read a few of the underlying books/stories, each is stronger in its full format.

[Nate Henderson]

Rough Water Review
By Nate Henderson

Rough Water by Clint Willis, is a thrill for anyone who is interested in nonfiction about survival against the sea. This exciting book is a collection of sixteen different stories about people who refuse to give in to the wrath of the sea, no matter how hopeless they seem. From being adrift in a tiny lifeboat with no rescue in sight to hopelessly dis masted in the Antarctic sea, this book gives a wide variety of stories so each chapter is a refreshing new setting. Most of the stories are narrated by either the Captain or a strong willed survivor, so you get a true taste of what it would really be like praying to God that you will survive another day.
The book Rough Water is a great read and I would suggest it to anyone that is interested in boats or just a good survival story. When I read this book I was unsure on some of the nautical terms but it is always good to add to your vocabulary. While reading this book I learned some valuable tips for survival for example drinking salt water can make you delusional and even more thirsty than you were before. My favorite story in this book was about a man named Steve Callahan who’s sloop sank off the Canary Islands and was left adrift in a five-and-a-half-foot inflatable life raft. Callahan Survived for 76 days by distilling water and eating fish he caught with his home made speargun.
I would rate Rough Water a four out of five because although it was a good read and I loved the stories, I think the author makes it a little bit hard for people without the knowledge of boats to fully understand. The biggest reason that I would rate this book a four out of five is because it taught me a lot about survival as well as keeping me interested in the storyline. Rough Water really makes me think about how any normal day out on a sail could turn into a life or death situation where if I didn’t have the right skills to survive in hostile conditions I could potentially die at the hand of the unforgiving sea.

[Frederick Bingham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an anthology of 16 stories about danger and the sea. Most of them are true, but two are fictional. There is the famous story about Captain Queeg and the Caine Mutiny, a section written by a deputy of Earnest Shackleton, a story about a battle between english and dutch frigates in the southern ocean, two or three stories about people shipwrecked on rafts for a long time, John McPhee's discussion of the shipping industry, and many other fascinating tales. The book goes a bit heavy on the nautical jargon, which is why there is a glossary in the back. For anyone who has ever been at sea, this book is a must read. The author has done an excellent job of picking out interesting and varied material.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a compilation of exciting excerpts from other books. I ended up adding a bunch of the books sited herein to my reading list because I enjoyed their sections so much. While I really enjoyed reading this, I would prefer to just read the whole stories, rather than just these little pieces. Still it gives you a chance to evaluate these other stories, pick the ones you like and ignore the others without investing too much time. The excerpt from The Caine Mutiny is the best, and I remember enjoying the movie with Humphrey Bogart too. However, as the actual book is long and the excerpt is the climax scene, I don't I will read the whole book. Maybe one day.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very weird editing by Clint Willis. A series of selections from other writers but Mr. Willis kept each story at about 20-25 pages regardless of the need to finish the segment. A survival at sea tale which merely deails seral days of the struggle at sea but never finishes with any indication of the final outcome. The Titanic survivors story was a good one but many of the others lacked completion which I found irritating.

Clint Willis is definitley off my future reads list!

[-nickt.- · Rating 3 out of 5]

overall good book if you're into this sort of thing. It's amazing that reading about people getting frost bite while antarctic gales knock their boats down, leaving them stranded off the coast of antarctica, thinking they're gonna die can make me want to go out sailing. so it is however. most of these stories are true but there are a few pieces of fiction thrown in.

[Linda Hanson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a compilation of sea stories. However, if it was a really good story, there wasn't enough of it and if it wasn't so good, well you still had it. Some of the selections left you wanting to know what happened. The best purpose might be to give you a taste to see if you want to read the whole thing.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A variety of short stories depicting ship sinkings, ship survivors left behind on a raft or rubber boat, and stories of a ship slowly being battered to death- along with the heroic stories of their survivors. The book ends with the reality that ships sink and sailors die in all oceans and in all seasons.

[Ray Savarda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the other books in this series, a selection of excerpts from other longer books on the topic. But that lets him pick some of the best parts, without having to read the whole book.
I didn't think this was as strong as the other two books of his I've read, but worth the read.

[Jrobertus · Rating 2 out of 5]

an aquatic version of 'wild' - true stories and short fiction about survival at sea. a good read.

[Carrie Rolph · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty much the usual collection -- a few were good, the rest were mediocre ranging on bad. My favorite ended up being the excerpt from Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost At Sea.

[Kk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great series of real adventure stories

[Kimeticsolutions · Rating 5 out of 5]

true personal account while at sea..dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries to present..

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

Titanic, 1812, Trafalgar, and more, for every gale increase decrease foot boat, whaling stations.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great stories

[jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some harrowing stories of survival. As readers know, the narrator can make or break the listening experience, and some of these narrators 'broke' it.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Whale Hunters from this collection.

[Ainsley Stow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed, not complete stories, rather partial from the full story in another book. When I read a survival story, I want to know how rescue came about.

[Shanna_redwind · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories were good. Some of them were a bit boring. Altogether, it was an enjoyable read.

[Dennis Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this series of books, it usually leads me to read the book that the excerpt is from. Clint Willis does a fantastic job at editing this series. Haven't read one that has disappointed yet.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

good traveling companion