A few high school classes have asked our cadets:
Will you recommend some nautical books that they we can read as we follow Sea Term 2023?
Check out their suggestions! Some middle school students may be ready to read a few of these novels.
“I enjoy reading nautical books as an adult. I loved In The Heart Of The Sea: The Tragedy Of The Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick. The most recent book that I read that I really loved was Until The Sea Shall Free Them: Life, Death, And Survival In The Merchant Marine by Robert Frump." – 4/C Timothy Shea (MTRA – Boston, MA)
"Senior year of high school, I took a class called Voyages And Vessels at Guilford High School. This was a two-period class. One dedicated for building my kayak, and the other for reading nautical books. I read Moby Dick by Herman Melville, In The Heart Of The Sea: The Tragedy Of The Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick, and the Life of Pi by Yann Martel in this course. My favorite was the Life of Pi because I was inspired to work as hard in my own life just as Pi works hard on his boat to survive." - 4/C Edward Barlage (FENG – Guilford, CT)
“My favorite nautical themed book I read in high school was The Great Wide Sea. This is a story of three boys and their father who moved onto a sailboat. I really enjoyed reading about life on the sailboat. I found this book very interesting and exciting. I highly recommend it.” – 3/C Kolby Seibert (MTRA – Liverpool, PA)
“Growing up, I read many history books and encyclopedias about Naval history, focusing on the time of World War II. As my years in high school lengthened, I did not read books all that much, as I was busy with school, sports, and friends. Most of my knowledge from this time came from movies, documentaries, and random articles I happened to look up on my own accord. Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal by James D. Hornfischer is fabulous.” – 4/C Lucas Marcolini (MTRA– Marion, MA)
The Perfect Storm: A True Story Of Men Against The Sea by Sebastian Junger exposed me to the potential dangers of a maritime career."
– 4/C Justin Zadroga (MENG – Nantucket, MA)
“My favorite nautical book has to be Moby Dick by Herman Melville.” - 4/C Jack Schrier (MTRA – Rockville, MD)
In high school I read Moby Dick by Herman Melville in an English class. That got me really into the history of whaling in the early 1800s. I read In The Heart Of The Sea: The Tragedy Of The Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick over the summer. It is a famous tale of a whaling disaster at sea. For someone who doesn't like to read, I really liked reading that the novel. It was interesting and kept me hooked until the last page, which is hard for me.”
“I recommend The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea by Yukio Mishima. It romanticized the lifestyle of leaving for months at a time, then coming back to people who love you. I didn’t read this in school, but in my own time during high school.” - 4/C Michael Caulfield (MENG – Walpole, MA)
“I read the book Stowaway by Karen Hesse in middle school. The book talked about long voyages and the life of a sailor. The adventure was interesting to me.”
– 4/C Abigail Stiltner (MTRA – Middleton, MA)
“When I was young my grandmother often read books relating to shipwrecks and nautical events. This gave me an introduction to ships and a sort of interest with nautical related things. This at a young age paired with trips to the ocean yearly is what most likely gave me an interest in the sea.”
– 4/C Joshua Bajadek (MENG – Newfoundland, PA)
Keep your questions coming. We welcome book reviews by middle school and high school students.
Please send your book reviews or photos of your book-related projects to ftvsubmissions@maritime.edu.
Keep your questions coming!