Classic choice
A Modern Sinbad Aylward Dingle
One of the more obscure sailing classics out there but definitely worth a read if you can get hold of a copy. The is the ‘autobiography’ of is his confessional and takes the concept of the unreliable narrator to an extraordinary new level. Everything is presented as fact and much has the unmistakeable tang of authenticity. There are beautiful descriptions of sailing in tall ships, including the legendary clipper Thermopylae, a wonderful diversion into treasure hunting in the Kerguelen Islands plus very grim accounts of hard times ashore in various ports. All that plus intriguing diversions into life ashore, including a stint as footman to J P Morgan in New York plus a spell as a bareknuckle fighter. Yet Dingle also describes things presented as brutal fact that – hopefully – can’t be true. Most worryingly, how he murdered the cook of a steamship he was in command of in Sydney and inadvertently blew up the same rather decrepit vessel while on passage in the Southern Ocean, killing most of the crew. He also writes about how he repeatedly served as officer in various ships using falsified papers. Latter yachting adventures – making the first verified singlehanded passage from the US to Bermuda are backed up by contemporary newspaper reports. Perhaps this is what makes the book so compelling – you’re never sure what to believe. It was a template laid down by Ford Madox Ford in The Good Soldier but Dingle adds a whole new dimension to the concept and the results are fascinating.
