9 h 2 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a writer builds a boat and trusts a largely untrained crew to cross the Pacific?
In The Cruise of the Snark, Jack London turns a dream of sailing around the world into a frank account of adventure and mishap. His wife Charmian joins him aboard the small ketch, along with friends and hired hands. Most know little about the sea. Ahead lie open water, unfamiliar islands, and the daily work of keeping their boat going.
From San Francisco Bay, the voyage leads to Hawaii, the Marquesas, Tahiti, and the Solomon Islands. London describes riding waves at Waikiki, visiting a leper colony, and reaching the valley of Typee, known through Herman Melville. Storms, ruined engines, bad plumbing, and illness test the dream. His casual, funny voice keeps the hardships close and the story moving.
What you’ll discover
- A dream under sail Follow London's wish to build his own boat and write his way around the world.
- An unlikely sailing crew Meet Charmian and companions whose enthusiasm comes with little experience of the sea.
- Hawaii beyond the horizon Share London's delight in Waikiki and his descriptions of riding waves on boards.
- The work behind adventure Discover the hard routines, repairs, and discomforts that sit beside the island discoveries.
- Humor when plans fail Enjoy a storyteller who reports ignorance and mishaps as frankly as moments of wonder.
Who will love it
For readers who love true tales of the sea, lively travel writing, and a narrator who tells his own mishaps with a grin. Friends of the South Pacific, of small boats, and of Jack London himself will feel at home.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Why sail around the world at all
- A boat that costs four times too much
- Anyone can teach themselves navigation
- Crowds of volunteers and a first landfall
- Learning to ride the waves at Waikiki
- Molokai and the House of the Sun
- Sixty days across a lonely ocean
- Typee and the Nature Man of Tahiti
- Generous islanders and a navigator at last
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The Cruise of the Snark
by Jack London · 1911
Jack London sails a leaky ketch called the Snark into the South Seas, and his wife Charmian comes along.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What would make a man spend thirty thousand dollars on a boat that leaks from the first day? Jack London did exactly that.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Why sail around the world at all
London says the answer is two words: I like. Philosophy, he argues, is often just a man explaining his own liking. What he likes most is personal achievement that he can feel with his own hands.
He gives a scene from his youth. At seventeen he took the wheel of a schooner in a typhoon off Japan and held her for forty minutes while twenty-two men ate below. Many of those men were dead within a year, yet his pride stayed whole. He compares himself to a diver who leaps from a springboard, choosing danger over the safe bank.
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What is The Cruise of the Snark about?
It is Jack London's true account of sailing his own small ketch from San Francisco across the Pacific, through Hawaii, the Marquesas, Tahiti and the Solomon Islands, with his wife Charmian and a small crew.
Why did Jack London name his boat the Snark?
He says they could not think of any other name, and he adds that nobody should read anything mysterious into it. The name simply stuck as the boat took shape.
Is The Cruise of the Snark a true story?
Yes, it is a true travel memoir based on London's own voyage, which began in 1907. He first wrote the chapters as magazine pieces, and the book was published afterward.
The author
Jack London
1876–1916 · American novelist and journalist
Jack London (1876–1916) was an American author, journalist and social activist. He was born in San Francisco and lived in California. He wrote novels, short stories and essays. His novels include The Call of the Wild (1903), The Sea-Wolf (1904), White Fang (1906) and Martin Eden (1909). He died in California.
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