The Naked Shore of the North Sea

by Tom Blass

Like the Celtic and Nordic gods of the countries surrounding it, the North Sea has battered and bewildered, produced and provided, damaged and destroyed in equal measure. Its inclement weather and perilous tides have made it a playground and a proving ground, a nursery and a grave, an object of veneration and a mighty adversary. A sea like no other, it has shaped our modern world and yet remained the same ancient beast known to the earliest inhabitants of its shores. In North Sea , journalist Tom Blass trawls the bottom and skims the waves of the North Sea, searching for all that glistens, enraptures, enrages, and appalls. He sets out to meet the men and women who have devoted their lives to uncovering its secrets, from marine biologists studying the North Sea's submerged landscapes to the world's leading expert on Doggerland. Traveling by tram, ferry, and twelve-seater aircraft around the eclectic borderlands, Blass interviews local fishermen, ornithologists, and bomb-disposal experts, capturing the wild, war-torn history of the North Sea, as well as the ways in which humanity has ecologically transformed it through overfishing and the race for energy. North Sea scatters light into the sea's cold and murky depths, exploring its wonders and its relationship with humanity--from drug gangs to the Schleswig Holstein question to the sea's new role as a headline-grabbing environmental battleground.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Travel, Scotland, British Literature, European History, Nature

320 pages, Hardcover

First published March 29, 2016

About the author

With a background in anthropology, law and and political geography, Tom Blass works as a journalist and editor specialising in issues relating to business, law, human rights and foreign policy.

He is editor of World Export Controls Review (WorldECR) which he co-founded with his colleague Mark Cusick in 2011. WorldECR provides timely and analytical content relating to sanctions and exports for lawyers, compliance personnel and governments.

Tom has worked with and written for a broad span of organisations and publications including The American Lawyer, the International Bar Association, the Bureau of National Affairs, The Banker Magazine, the New Statesman, and the BBC.

Reviews

[Fiona · Rating 2 out of 5]

I admire the premise of this book. The author explores towns and areas bordering the North Sea that are less well known to most of us and those that have diminished in popularity or importance over the years. The North Sea has no romanticism attached to it, in the way that the Mediterranean does for example, and so it’s admirable that the author decided to explore its possibilities.

The first chapter is a whirlwind tour through the history of the North Sea, the timeline of which I found a little hard to follow. The following chapters visit the Thames Marshes and the Belgian / Dutch coast. I hadn’t heard of Spurn Point near Hull and was fascinated to learn more but I began to feel overwhelmed by facts and slightly irritated by the long diversions into the lives of individuals. As we arrived in Whitby, I began to question the book’s balance. Although there is a chapter on Shetland towards the end, and passing mentions of the Fife coastal towns, Scotland is virtually absent and yet the entire east coast of the country looks out onto the North Sea. As I was beginning to resent picking the book up, I decided that life is too short for books I find boring and so it’s heading for the local charity shop pile.

Two stars reflects my low boredom threshold and my lack of enjoyment. There is much to admire in this project but it’s just not for me.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

The North Sea is surrounded by a number of European countries, in particular Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark Norway and the top of France. Geologically it is known as a margin of the Atlantic Ocean, but for those that have inhabited its shores for millennia it feels much larger than a sea. It has carried many important trade routes, and the Vikings traversed it to bring their destruction to parts of northern Europe. The landscapes vary hugely; deep fjords and immense cliffs in the far north, and sand and mudflats in the south. It is part of the European continental shelf, and in certain areas it is not much deeper than 30m and has made safe navigation a hazard for ships.

Journalist Tom Blass has made it his intention to ride the waves and trawl the bottom of this sea to uncover its secrets. Using whatever method of travel he can, he meets the people who live and work in on and by the sea. It employs many different people, from the oilmen in the north working the rigs, marine biologists investigating fish stocks. He meets the man who understands most about Doggerland, the ancient land now covered by water, bomb disposal still making safe ordinance from the Second World War as well as those that fish these waters. It is a cruel sea too; there have been many ships sunk at the mercy of the fierce storms that can rise, they have been many deaths in the oil industry, most notably the Piper Alpha disaster. You are not safe on the shore either, particular weather conditions can give rise to storm surges and as water rushes down towards the Channel it has broken flood defences and caused significant devastation.

Blass visits places that I have never actually heard of before, like Heligoland & Föhr, tiny islands of the German coast, where each island seems to have its own language. He experiences the full anger of an Atlantic storm when he visits Shetland and eats ice cream whilst standing on the beaches of bleak northern resorts. He has written a reasonably interesting book on this sea that has shaped so much of British and European history, it is full of fascinating facts and details, and he manages to bring alive the human story too adding extra depth to his travels. But as fascinating as it is learning about these places, it doesn’t quite do it for me as it often feels a little like a newspaper article at times. 3.5 stars overall.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw this book and just had to read it, the North sea is not that far away from me and I know practically nothing about it or the places located on it's shores. The book had loads of information about the places and people around a few parts of the sea, most of those places I hadn't heard of. But huge chunks seem to have been missed out, Norway barely got a mention and neither did the sea itself. No interesting stats about length of coastline, it's depth, lighthouses and the writer only seemed to spend a very short time riding the waves. Plenty was still included though, oil rigs, fishermen, The Principality of Sealand, artists who have painted the ocean and those that live in areas currently losing the land to the water. I've certainly learnt loads.

The writing lets the book down though, I enjoy reading these types of books because the author always has a love about what they are writing, it doesn't feel like that here. Things have a sterile feel to them as if it is a magazine article that the author has been asked to research and write about. I might have it all wrong, it is a tough thing to write about, the people he meets are secretive, there are big language barriers he doesn't always manage to get past and the sea itself is a grim old place.

I would recommend this book if you want to know more about the areas around Holland and Germany where folk live right on the edge of being washed away, that was probably the best part of the book. There might be better books out there but this is a worthy place to start.

Blog review is here> https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...

[Bfisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminded me somewhat of Paul Theroux's travel books, but without the snarkiness that is often present. Like Theroux, some of the best parts discuss the cultural history of the areas he visits, as in the discussion of the Skagen art movement, and Theodor Storm's The Rider On The White Horse (Der Schimmelreiter) when describing his visit to the Frisian Islands and the Halligen.

The book is not an exhaustive coverage of the fringes of the North Sea; merely a tasting of a few areas that history has passed by. It left me wanting more.

[Lelietje · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, Bill Brysonesque stories about various places around the North Sea. The author travelled to islands and small coastal towns in England, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Denmark, meets the people and weaves their stories and his own personal experiences into the history of these places. The common denominator is the North Sea in all its wildness.

[Jeroen Nijs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ik heb veel geleerd van dit boek. Dat er nog terpen zijn op de Halligen, en dat ze regelmatig hun nut bewijzen. Dat Helgoland na de Tweede Wereldoorlog opgeblazen werd en nu bevolkt wordt door roddelzieke eilanders en buitenstaanders. Dat Borkum zich in de jaren dertig van de vorige eeuw trots en vrijwillig uitriep tot jodenvrije badplaats, en daar het Borkum Lied bij zong. Dat je bij Skagen met één been in de Noordzee kunt staan, en met het andere in de Oostzee, en dat pasgetrouwde stelletjes dat doen. Dat Shetlanders zich meer Engels dan Schots voelen. Hoe de moderne visserij werkt.

Enige minpuntje is de wat slordige Nederlandse vertaling.

[Dead John Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love books like this, in essence non-fiction but written from a very personal perspective. As the title suggests it is all about the North Sea, that non-entity that surrounds England, that greeny-grey sea that everyone looks forward to seeing and is thoroughly disappointed when they have. It is a disappointment of a sea and a let down, almost the antithesis of a sea. It should really have another word that denotes the vacuum of the thing itself.

But to the book. I can only admire Tom Blass because he does actually manage to put some flesh on the absence of bones and some colour to the anonymity of it. A traverse around the shores and backwards and forwards in time and by this method you do get an impression of the thing. If you liked any of the Simon Winchester books you'll like this too but Tom Blass comes across more like a Johnny Morris and less like a public school boy.

Well written, and enough factoids to keep your butterfly brain engaged it does have the same kind of languorous motion as the sea itself. Reading it you cannot but feel like you are stuck in Hunstanton or Bridlington, but on an overcast day instead of wet one.

Dipping into the book will be more interesting and rewarding than any dip into the North Sea itself

[Bronwen Griffiths · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating and unusual subject. Tom Blass has researched the edges of the North Sea from the East Coast of the UK, to Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark. We learn about warships, maritime travel, artists' colonies and much more. What captivated me was not just the details and the information, but the shining quality of his writing, as well as the personal details he writes of - people he met on his journeys and his wonder at the immense and unknowable sea.

[Martijn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, personal, human, packed with sources and personal accounts. I loved every chapter. Blass paints a vivid picture of the North Sea, its shores and its inhabitants. Great read! Btw, I read the Dutch translation. The translator, Anje Valk, did a great job capturing the - frequently- poetic and flowing sentences, which I have come to love while reading this book.

[Dr. des. Siobhán · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't get into this book and started skim-reading after one third. I felt like I had missed some great overarching theme that might help me make sense of the various quite interesting chapters full of information but the novel did not grow on me. The pronunciations given for German words also made no sense whatsoever...

[Ted · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coupled with Google Maps, the book takes us to so many rich and varied ports and villages and makes us appreciate an area of the world known but still remote. As varied as the fishes and dialects depicted, the book is so well written. Keep a dictionary close at hand for this reading adventure.

[Nicolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

interresting topic to write about, but it was getting boring after a while.

[Casper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ik hou erg van dit soort boeken. Een schrijver verzint een onderwerp, pluist alles erover uit, reist naar plekken die met het onderwerp te maken hebben en maakt er een verhaal van. Eigenlijk is de enige voorwaarde voor succes dat de schrijver ook enig stilistisch vernuft heeft, én dat het onderwerp in kwestie je aanspreekt natuurlijk. Nou spreekt de Noordzee mij wel aan en met de schrijfkunsten van Tom Blass zit het gelukkig ook wel goed, dus 'Woeste kusten' is mij op het lijf geschreven. Blass moet op een dag gedacht hebben ‘waarom ga ik niet eens alle landen bezoeken die een kustlijn hebben die aan de Noordzee ligt, dan kom ik vanzelf wel wat interessante lui tegen om over te schrijven?’ En passant dist hij op prettig onderkoelde wijze de ene na de andere boeiende geschiedenis over het Noordzeegebied op, zoals bijvoorbeeld Geert Mak en Bill Bryson dat ook zo mooi kunnen. Via België, Nederland, Duitsland, Denemarken en Noorwegen komt Blass tenslotte weer uit bij zijn thuisland Engeland, vele havenplaatsen, eilanden en kusten later. 'Woeste kusten' is daarmee een van de beste boeken die ik dit jaar las...Lees verder

[Eleanor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finding this heavy going - bits are very interesting, but some of the diversions are too long and too wordy. Matter of personal taste !!

I gave up on this book as a daily read - I will dip into it occasionally as the mood takes me.

[Teresa Mills-Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars. Not really a subject matter which interests me. His prose at times seemed like he'd entered a competition to see how many adjectives and adverbs he could give his nouns and verbs. Many times the descriptors seemed nothing more than "fillers" ... neither moving the plot along or even being integral to the plot.

[Michael Dundon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Splendid, descriptive and dream-like

The evocative language in this book is very enjoyable. I felt transported to the places visited by the author. After exploring the bibliography, I plan on reading this book again.

[Joanna]

Thank you 'The Week' newspaper for writing about this book. Being a Brit from the north-east myself, I can't wait to find a copy of this!

[Nigel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A interesting account of communities around the N Sea including parts of the land masses and coastlines about which I knew little.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this, quirky, original and different. Suited my mood after a long holiday

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a beautiful sentences, with flowery language. A perfect joy, whatever the topic. Topic reminded me of my origins in a Dutch fishing town, IJmuiden.