Ebook: Peter Freuchen's Book of the Seven Seas

PETER FREUCHEN’S BOOK OF THE SEVEN SEAS

By PETER FREUCHEN with David Loth

Here is the sea as only Freuchen can write about it ...a wonderful volume filled with story, lore and legend ... with history and fact ... with myths and strange tales... with magnificent illustrations

The “Vagrant Viking,” as millions of readers of his previous books and articles know him, has drawn on his vast knowledge of nautical fact and legend, and on his fantastic personal experiences, to write his Book of the Seven Seas.

In these pages, readers will wrestle with sea monsters, drift endlessly in hot dead calms, face the wildest storms, battle mighty navies, see strange sights. And they will join the scientists and explorers on their expeditions into the sea and across it — to discover new forms of life, new sources of wealth, new lands to conquer.

Peter Freuchen paints an exciting, colorful picture of man’s adventures on the sea — from the first prehistoric voyages in open rafts to daring scientific explorations in bathispheres. He tells of the sailors who fought for fame and glory. the traders who risked their lives for wealth, and the ‘galley slaves who sought only their eventual freedom. He exposes the “scavengers” of the sea - the pirates and privateers, the whale hunters, the “wreckers” who placed lights on rocky shoals to lure unsuspecting ships to disaster. He tells of the greatest battles of the seven seas — from the destruction of the Persian fleet at Salamis, a model for naval warfare even today ... to the great conflict at Leyte Gulf in the Philippines, where the two largest fleets ever massed sealed the final outcome of World War II.

The inimitable Freuchen shows us the great mysteries of the sea itself — the monstrous waves over 100 feet high ... the rivers and currents flowing between underwater mountains and valleys ... its “ghost ships” and “mermaids” and “sea serpents” that sailors swear to have seen... the seas within seas, like the Sargasso, with its ancient legend of dead sailing ships manned by dead crews sailing interminably in great endless circles.

He tells us of the great treasures of the sea — food, jewels, oil, minerals ... of the millions of dollars worth of gold in each cubic mile of water and of those who have tried to extract it.

Peter Freuchen writes not only about the past and the present, but predicts what may happen to the oceans of the future — how melting glaciers could raise the level of the ocean and flood our coastal cities ... what would happen if a major earthquake knocked out the Gulf Stream... and a bizarre but feasible plan to dam the Bering Strait and pump warm Pacific waters into the Arctic, converting Siberia and Northern Canada into a flourishing and fertile agricultural region.

Peter. Freuchen’s Book of the Seven Seas is packed from cover to cover with wonderful stories, lively anecdotes and little-known facts. It captures all the irresistible lure of the seven seas, the fish and plants that inhabit them, the birds that fly over them, the men and ships that sail on them.

The result of many years of exploration and research, this is truly a magnificent volume.