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| I sometimes post shortened versions of
these book reviews at Amazon.com. One day I
received an unusual email from a John Beattie in the U.K.
Seems he'd read my review of Rescue in the Pacific at Amazon.com. I had forgotten that I'd even
posted one there. He wrote to say that if I liked that
book I might like a book he'd written that had been
recently published in the US called The Breath of
Angels. It's hard to resist a personal invitation
from the author, though I suspected (wrongly) at the time it was a bulk email --
perhaps some kind of service Amazon offers to authors. So I ordered the
book. The book is primarily about the trials and tribulations of Beattie's attempt to fulfill a childhood dream of sailing around the world. The naive imaginings of fantastic adventure and glorious vistas are very quickly overwhelmed by the practical realities of actually attempting such a feat. In his rush to stay on an optimistic schedule, necessary sea trials for new equipment are bypassed. Even simple preparations like laying in an adequate supply of cigarette tobacco are overlooked. But more importantly, he forgets to check the weather and almost immediately encounters gale force winds. This wouldn't be so bad if only the seal around the propeller shaft wasn't leaking. Such begins Beattie's round-the-world adventure that ends up being foreshortened to an around-the-Atlantic circuit. His poor fortune continues through a series of mechanical failures. The effect of these are further compounded by inexperienced and irritating crew members. Beattie's plan was to pick up temporary crew as he sailed along, each signing up for a portion of the trip as his schedule allowed. While he attempted to find compatible personalities he wasn't always successful. Being stuck on a boat for several weeks with someone you don't get along with may not be pleasant but it does make for interesting reading. The climax of the book is Beattie's accidental discovery of a small drifting vessel, 300 miles from the nearest land. One man is barely alive, and another had recently died and his body tossed overboard. Beattie rescues the survivor and takes him to Antigua where he is promptly arrested on suspicion of murdering his companion. This is such a powerful moment in the story that the account of the saga ends here after telling of Beattie's visit to the man's home in Grenada eight months later. The trip from Antigua to Beattie's home in Ireland is summarized in a four-paragraph postscript, with enough detail to make it clear that it could have filled another very interesting book. From a Christian perspective there is also more that could be told here of Beattie's spiritual pilgrimage. He encounters a sailor in one port who invites him to a Bible study and gives him a New Testament. Unfortunately, the testimony of his lifestyle (sleeping with the girlfriend of the man on whose boat he's living while the man is away) overwhelms his verbal testimony. Later it turns out that the rescued man returns to Grenada and returns to the Baptist church of his childhood and renews his relationship with God. He invites Beattie to attend church with him during his visit to Grenada. Probably not everyone enjoys these tales of the sea as much as I do. This one is more inviting than some of the others because it is not overly filled with sailing terminology and the human interest issues are more the meat of the story than the details of sailing technique and weather conditions. |
The Breath of Angels