The Ninth Wave

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents xi
3. A Note on The Ocean Reader xv
4. Acknowledgments xvii
5. Introduction 1
6. I. Creation
7. The Egyptian Sea of Nun 5
8. Babylon by the Sea 9
9. Aphrodite Born from Sea Spray 10
10. Izanagi and Izanami, Japanese Sea Gods 13
11. The Pacific Islanders’ Angry Ocean God 14
12. Pele Loses Her Temper 19
13. The Hindu Ocean Gods 21
14. The Finnish Sea Mother 24
15. The Sea-Creating, Rainbow-Loving 28
16. Did Comets Bring Water to Earth? 33
17. Before the Great Extinctions 36
18. II. Ancient Seas
19. The First Aussies 41
20. A New View of the Ainu 49
21. The Surfing Chinchorro of Chile 55
22. Canoes: The World’s First—and Simplest, and Most Graceful—Boats 58
23. Pacific Island Open Ocean Navigation 60
24. The Earliest Seafarers in the Mediterranean and the Near East 69
25. III. Unknown Waters
26. Chinese Voyages on the Indian Ocean 73
27. Arab Voyages on the Indian Ocean 80
28. A Chart of the Wet Blue Yonder, 1512 86
29. No Welcome for Newcomers in New Zealand 88
30. The Oceanic Captain Kirk 93
31. A Half Mile Down 103
32. Walking on the Seafloor 111
33. Descent to the Deepest Deep 116
34. Rubber Duckies Navigate the Northwest Passage 118
35. IV. Saltwater Hunt
36. Basque Whaling in the North Atlantic Ocean 121
37. The Tragedy of the Mackerel 126
38. The Tragedy of the Menhaden 132
39. The Perils of South Pacific Whaling 135
40. The Collapse of Newfoundland Cod 144
41. The Death of Coral Reefs 148
42. V. Watery Highways
43. The Maritime Silk Road 151
44. Navigating the Indian Ocean in the 1300s 155
45. The Ocean: Bridge or Moat? 162
46. Surviving the Slave Ship 168
47. Hating the China Trade 174
48. About All Kinds of Ships 180
49. Loving Cape Horn 189
50. “Bitter Strength”: The International “Coolie” Trade 195
51. The Container Ship 199
52. VI. Battlefields
53. The Epic Galley Battle of the Ancient Sea 205
54. The Crest of Islamic Sea Power 210
55. Elizabethan England’s Plausibly Deniable War in the Pacific Ocean 215
56. The Iconic Tactic of the Age of Sail 220
57. Captain Marryat’s War 226
58. World War I beneath the Waves 234
59. The Far-Flung Battle of Midway 238
60. The Barents Sea, Most Dangerous Waters of World War II 245
61. The Unfinished Cold War at Sea 251
62. China Returns to the Ocean 256
63. VII. Piracy
64. The Sea Peoples 261
65. Patrick and the Pirates 266
66. The Pirates of the Mediterranean 270
67. The First Pirate of the Caribbean: Christopher Columbus 273
68. American Sea Rovers 276
69. Born to Be Hanged 280
70. The Dutch Pirate Admiral: Piet Hein 283
71. The Chinese Pirate Admiral: Koxinga 285
72. Song of the Pirate 289
73. Somali Pirates Attack a Cruise Ship 292
74. VIII. Shipwrecks and Castaways
75. Shipwrecked by Worms, Saved by Canoe: The Last Voyage of Columbus 297
76. The Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea 305
77. Pandora’s Box 309
78. The Real Moby-Dick 313
79. The Castaway 321
80. Just Keep Rowing . . . ! 325
81. Life of Poon 331
82. A Three-Hour Tour Becomes a Four-Month Ordeal 333
83. IX. Inspiration
84. The Asian Sea Goddess 337
85. The Hajj by Sea 342
86. Durr Freedley’s “Saints of the Sea” 346
87. Missionary to Micronesia 352
88. The Voyage 358
89. The Northern Seas 361
90. The World below the Brine 363
91. Far Off-Shore 364
92. The Ninth Wave 365
93. Sea Pictures 366
94. Voyage to Montevideo 373
95. The Ballad of the Seawater 375
96. X. Recreation
97. Surfing: A Royal Sport 377
98. By the Sea, by the Sea . . . 385
99. The Compleat Angler 387
100. Women and Children Next: The Family Goes to Sea 392
101. The First Solo Circumnavigation 403
102. The Cruise 410
103. The Compleat Goggler 415
104. Round the World! Journal of a Sailing Voyage—from a Teen’s Point of View 421
105. XI. Laboratory
106. The Pliny Deep 433
107. Leonardo’s Notes on the Ocean 437
108. The Discovery of the Gulf Stream 442
109. Celestial Navigation for the People 446
110. The Ocean and the Atmosphere 450
111. Hurrah for the Dredge! 455
112. Return of the Fossil Fish 458
113. XII. The Endangered Ocean
114. Goodbye, Plankton 463
115. Ocean Acidification 470
116. Attack of the Invasive Species! 473
117. The First Dead Zone 483
118. The First Trash Vortex 486
119. The Rise of Slime 494
120. The Tragic Common Home of the Ocean 497
121. Suggestions for Further Reading 499
122. Acknowledgment of Copyrights and Sources 505
123. Index 515