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Voices In Time

c. 1835 | Cape of Good Hope

The Tormented Sea

Herman Melville tossed by the waves. More

Voices In Time

1630 | Essex

No Place of Habitation

John Donne sermonizes on the sea.More

Voices In Time

1572 | Lisbon

Epic Brag

Luís de Camões’ high hopes for Portugal.More

Voices In Time

1861 | Oxford

Sea Chantey

Lewis Carroll loathes the sea.More

Voices In Time

1855 | Nantucket, MA

The Good Life

The benefits of wedding a sailor.More

Voices In Time

c. 1926 | Cape Cod

Subtle Sea Musics

Harry Beston listens to the sound of waves.More

Voices In Time

1912 | Atlantic Ocean

Jumping Ship

Getting off the Titanic.More

Voices In Time

1995 | Suffolk

Gazing into Eternity

W.G. Sebald goes fishing.More

Voices In Time

1689 | Izumo Point

Sinking Sun

Matsuo Basho spots an island.More

Voices In Time

1775 | Southern Ocean

Limit of Discovery

James Cook on the journeys not worth making.More

Voices In Time

1941 | Sea of Cortez

Boat-Shaped Mind

John Steinbeck ponders the strange identification of man with boat.More

Voices In Time

c. 150 | Mediterranean Sea

Survival of the Fittest

Sailors versus the fog. More

Voices In Time

1862 | London

On the Waterfront

Henry Mayhew surveys the docks of London.More

Voices In Time

c. 1240 | Norway

Monsters of the Deep

The kraken lurks below the surface.More

Voices In Time

1868 | Indian Ocean

A Watery Funeral

Jules Verne bids farewell to a friend. More

Voices In Time

c. 1856 | Louisiana

Liquid Eternity

Lafcadio Hearn on the shore and the “infinite blue ghost” beyond.More

Voices In Time

1798 | London

Light Surf on Level Sand

Observing a port on a dark evening.More

Voices In Time

c. 1895 | Grand Isle, LA

Last Swim

Kate Chopin describes a drowning.More

Voices In Time

1892 | Strait of Formosa

The Curious Sensation of Drowning

The mechanics of watery death. More

Voices In Time

1120 | English Channel

Going Down With the Ship

A drunken shipwreck angers God and King. More

Voices In Time

1853 | Washington, DC

Dark-Ship Diplomacy

Millard Fillmore tries to open up Japan.More

Voices In Time

1812 | Atlantic Ocean

A Grand and Awful Scene

Live from the War of 1812.More

Voices In Time

1709 | Juan Fernández Islands

Castaway

The real Robinson Crusoe.More

Voices In Time

1929 | Caribbean Sea

Securing the Hatches

Richard Hughes braves a hurricane and lives to tell the tale. More

Voices In Time

1943 | Bandol

Uncharted Waters

Jacques Cousteau goes exploring. More

Voices In Time

1872 | South Pacific Ocean

Our Seaworthy Captain

Isabella Bird encounters a very heavy sea.More

Voices In Time

c. 1185 BC | Strait of Messina

Between the Devil and the Deep-Blue Sea

Odysseus faces Scylla and Charybdis.More

Voices In Time

c. 1880 | London

Love of the Sea

Joseph Conrad’s complicated relationship with the briny deep.More

Voices In Time

77 | Rome

Man’s Best Friend

In which dolphins are superior to all other creatures. More

Voices In Time

1503 | Jamaica

Wonderful Complaints

Christopher Columbus recounts his trials and tribulations.More

Voices In Time

c. 1477 | London

A Thousand Fearful Wrecks

A Shakespearean nightmare.More

Voices In Time

1776 | London

Trade Routes

Adam Smith extols the benefits of maritime trade.More

Voices In Time

67 BC | Mediterranean Sea

Clearing the Decks

Pompey rids the Mediterranean of pirates.More

Voices In Time

1912 | Connecticut

Vision of Beatitude

Eugene O’Neill’s moment of transcendence.More

Voices In Time

1812 | Atlantic Ocean

Taking Stock

A slave smuggler’s journal.More

Voices In Time

1878 | Edinburgh

The Sea Is English

Robert Louis Stevenson bestows honorary citizenship.More

Voices In Time

c. 150 | Samosata

Sex on the Beach

Zeus has his way with Europa on the shore.More

Voices In Time

1914 | Antarctica

Dead Reckoning

G. Murray Levick documents penguins at play.More

Voices In Time

1914 | Panama

Accurate Forecasting

James Bryce on “the greatest liberty man has ever taken with nature.”More

Voices In Time

1851 | Broadstairs

On Vacation

Charles Dickens hits the beach.More

Voices In Time

1907 | London

Paradise Lost

“No one will see again on the shore of England what I saw in my early childhood.”More

Voices In Time

1774 | Firth of Forth

No Such Thing as Being Warm

Janet Schaw tours the ship. More

Voices In Time

1955 | Caribbean Sea

Infinite Solitude

Gabriel García Márquez alone and adrift. More

Voices In Time

690 | Naka

Washed Ashore

On finding a man lost at sea.More

Voices In Time

c. 2500 BC | Sumer

When the Levee Breaks

The Gilgamesh flood myth.More

Voices In Time

1923 | New York City

Out of Soundings

Langston Hughes sails from New York to Africa.More

Voices In Time

1921 | New York City

Unconscious Desecration

The sea has nothing to give but a well-excavated grave.More

Voices In Time

1834 | Pacific Ocean

Committed to Davy Jones’ Locker

Richard Henry Dana Jr. mourns a loss. More

Voices In Time

1759 | Atlantic Ocean

The Accursed Trade

Olaudah Equiano describes a harrowing passage. More

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