Sextant: A Young Man’s Daring Sea Voyage and the Men Who Mapped the World’s Oceans
By David Barrie
William Morrow/Harper Collins, New York
2014
340 pages
Author David Barrie’s fascination with the marine sextant began at the age of 9 after watching the movie version of Mutiny on the Bounty where Fletcher Christian rushes to save it from the burning ship.
What was so special about this mysterious instrument and why was it so critical to survival at sea? Barrie shows us in his new homage to this most important tool in the art of navigation.
Part personal narrative of his trans-Atlantic passage as a 19-year-old learning to use the instrument on a 35-foot sailboat, and part history, science, and math, Sextant is a most readable book.
Best of all it is told by a practiced seaman and lifelong mariner with a penchant for relevant detail and adventure.
