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Join three intrepid explorers as they seek to cross and explore the continent of Africa from Indian Ocean to Atlantic Ocean, except they’re doing it by hot air balloon. Scholar and scientist Samuel Ferguson, his manservant Joe, and his friend Richard “Dick” Kennedy engage in this mighty scientific feat, as they face danger after danger, enjoy adventure after adventure, and experience the literal highs and lows of Africa from the view of a hot air balloon. (Summary by Alex C. Telander)...

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Adventure

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Excerpt: Here is a tale which extends over many years and travels into many countries. By a peculiar fitness of circumstance the writer began, continued it, and concluded it among distant and diverse scenes. Above all, he was much upon the sea. The character and fortune of the fraternal enemies, the hall and shrubbery of Durrisdeer, the problem of Mackellar?s homespun and how to shape it for superior flights; these were his company on deck in many star-reflecting harbours, ran often in his mind at sea to the tune of slatting canvas, and were dismissed (something of the suddenest) on the approach of squalls. It is my hope that these surroundings of its manufacture may to some degree find favour for my story with seafarers and sea-lovers like yourselves....

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Excerpt: Chapter I; I SCARCELY know where to begin, though I sometimes facetiously place the cause of it all to Charley Furuseth?s credit. He kept a summer cottage in Mill Valley, under the shadow of Mount Tamalpais, and never occupied it except when he loafed through the winter months and read Nietzsche and Schopenhaver to rest his brain. When summer came on, he elected to sweat out a hot and dusty existence in the city and to toil incessantly. Had it not been my custom to run up to see him every Saturday afternoon and to stop over till Monday morning, this particular January Monday morning would not have found me afloat on San Francisco Bay. Not but that I was afloat in a safe craft, for the Martinez was a new ferrysteamer, making her fourth or fifth trip on the run between Sausalito and San Francisco. The danger lay in the heavy fog which blanketed the bay, and of which, as a landsman, I had little apprehension. In fact, I remember the placid exaltation with which took up my position on the forward upper deck, directly beneath the pilot-house, and allowed the mystery of the fog to lay hold of my imagination. A fresh breeze was bl...

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Table of Contents: Chapter I, 1 -- Chapter II, 8 -- Chapter III, 14 -- Chapter IV, 24 -- Chapter V, 29 -- Chapter VI, 35 -- Chapter VII, 46 -- Chapter VIII, 49 -- Chapter IX, 55 -- Chapter X, 62 -- Chapter XI, 67 -- Chapter XII, 72 -- Chapter XIII, 80 -- Chapter XIV, 84 -- Chapter XV, 91 -- Chapter XVI, 96 -- Chapter XVII, 102 -- Chapter XVIII, 113 -- Chapter XIX, 119 -- Chapter XX, 125 -- Chapter XXI, 132 -- Chapter XXII, 136 -- Chapter XXIII, 139 -- Chapter XXIV, 143 -- Chapter XXV, 149 -- Chapter XXVI, 160 -- Chapter XXVII, 170 -- Chapter XXVIII, 177...

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Excerpt: Of all the spots on the world?s surface that I, George Walker, of Friday Street, London, have ever visited, Suez in Egypt, at the head of the Red Sea, is by far the vilest, the most unpleasant, and the least interesting. There are no women there, no water, and no vegetation. It is surrounded, and indeed often filled, by a world of sand. A scorching sun is always overhead; and one is domiciled in a huge cavernous hotel, which seems to have been made purposely destitute of all the comforts of civilized life. Nevertheless, in looking back upon the week of my life which I spent there I always enjoy a certain sort of triumph;--or rather, upon one day of that week, which lends a sort of halo not only to my sojourn at Suez, but to the whole period of my residence in Egypt....

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Excerpt: ?Phantasmagoria and Other Poems? by Lewis Carroll.

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Contents Phantasmagoria 4 PHANTASMAGORIA 4 CANTO I - The Trystyng 4 CANTO II - Hys Fyve Rules 7 CANTO III - Scarmoges 10 CANTO IV - Hys Nouryture 13 CANTO V - Byckerment 16 ECHOES 24 A SEA DIRGE 25 Ye Carpette Knyghte 26 HIAWATHA?S PHOTOGRAPHING 27 MELANCHOLETTA 30 A VALENTINE 32 THE THREE VOICES 33 TEMA CON VARIAZIONI 42 A GAME OF FIVES 43 POETA FIT, NON NASCITUR 44 SIZE AND TEARS 46 ATALANTA IN CAMDEN-TOWN 48 THE LANG COORTIN? 49 FOUR RIDDLES 53 FAME?S PENNY-TRUMPET 58...

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Excerpt: Four years ago--in 1874--two young Englishmen had occasion to go to the United States. They crossed the ocean at midsummer, and, arriving in New York on the first day of August, were much struck with the fervid temperature of that city. Disembarking upon the wharf, they climbed into one of those huge high-hung coaches which convey passengers to the hotels, and with a great deal of bouncing and bumping, took their course through Broadway. The midsummer aspect of New York is not, perhaps, the most favorable one; still, it is not without its picturesque and even brilliant side....

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Excerpt: The Life and Death of King Richard the Second; Actus Primus -- Scaena Prima -- Enter King Richard, John of Gaunt, with other Nobles and Attendants. King Richard. Old John of Gaunt, time- honoured Lancaster, Hast thou according to thy oath and band Brought hither Henry Herford thy bold son: Heere to make good y boistrous late appeale, Which then our leysure would not let us heare, Against the Duke of Norfolke, Thomas Mowbray? Gaunt. I have my Liege. King. Tell me moreover, hast thou sounded him, If he appeale the Duke on ancient malice, Or worthily as a good subject should On some knowne ground of treacherie in him. Gaunt. As neere as I could sift him on that argument, On some apparant danger seene in him, Aym?d at your Highnesse, no inveterate malice. Kin. Then call them to our presence face to face, And frowning brow to brow, our selves will heare Th? accuser, and the accused, freely speake; High stomack?d are they both, and full of ire, In rage, deafe as the sea; hastie as fire. Enter Bullingbrooke and Mowbray. Bul. Many yeares of happy dayes befall My gracious Soveraigne, my most loving Liege. Mow. Each day still better ...

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Table of Contents: The life and death of King Richard the Second, 1 -- Actus Primus, Scaena Prima., 1 -- Scaena Secunda., 5 -- Scena Tertia., 7 -- Scoena Quarta., 13 -- Actus Secundus. Scena Prima., 15 -- Scena Secunda., 22 -- Scaena Tertia., 25 -- Scoena Quarta., 29 -- Actus Tertius. Scena Prima., 30 -- Scena Secunda., 31 -- Scaena Tertia., 36 -- Scena Quarta., 41 -- Actus Quartus. Scoena Prima., 43 -- Actus Quintus. Scena Prima., 51 -- Scoena Secunda., 53 -- Scoena Tertia., 56 -- Scaena Quarta., 60 -- Scoena Quinta., 63...

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Excerpt: Enoch Arden. Long lines of cliff breaking have left a chasm; And in the chasm are foam and yellow sands; Beyond, red roofs about a narrow wharf In cluster; then a moulder?d church; and higher A long street climbs to one tall-tower?d mill; And high in heaven behind it a gray down With Danish barrows; and a hazelwood, By autumn nutters haunted, flourishes Green in a cuplike hollow of the down....

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Contents ENOCH ARDEN.......................................................................................................................................................... 4 AYLMER?S FIELD. ..................................................................................................................................................... 23 SEA DREAMS ............................................................................................................................................................. 39 NORTHERN FARMER................................................................................................................................................ 49 MISCELLANEOUS..................................................................................................................................................... 52 TITHONUS.................................................................................................................................................................. 52 THE VOYAGE .........................................................................................................................

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Excerpt: The Merchant of Venice; Actus Primus -- Enter Anthonio, Salarino, and Salanio. Anthonio. In sooth I know not why I am so sad, It wearies me: you say it wearies you; But how I caught it, found it, or came by it, What stuffe ?tis made of, whereof it is borne, I am to learne: and such a Want- wit sadnesse makes of mee, That I have much ado to know my selfe. Sal. Your minde is tossing on the Ocean, There where your Argosies with portly saile Like Signiors and rich Burgers on the flood, Or as it were the Pageants of the sea, Do over- peere the pettie Traffiquers That curtsie to them, do them reverence As they flye by them with their wouen wings. Salar. Beleeve me sir, had I such venture forth, The better part of my affections, would Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still Plucking the grasse to know where sits the winde, Peering in Maps for ports, and peers, and rodes: And every object that might make me feare Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt Would make me sad. Sal. My winde cooling my broth, Would blow me to an Ague, when I thought What harme a winde too great might doe at sea....

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Table of Contents: The Merchant of Venice, 1 -- Actus primus., 1 -- Actus Secundus., 12 -- Actus Tertius., 27 -- Actus Quartus., 42 -- Actus Quintus., 53...

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Excerpt: In the early spring of 1822, the Paris doctors sent to Lower Normandy a young man just recovering from an inflammatory complaint, brought on by overstudy, or perhaps by excess of some other kind. His convalescence demanded complete rest, a light diet, bracing air, and freedom from excitement of every kind, and the fat lands of Bessin seemed to offer all these conditions of recovery. To Bayeux, a picturesque place about six miles from the sea, the patient therefore betook himself, and was received with the cordiality characteristic of relatives who lead very retired lives, and regard a new arrival as a godsend....

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Excerpt: Chapter 1. The Village ?AND A MIGHTY SING?LAR and pretty place it is, as ever I saw in all the days of my life!? said Captain Jorgan, looking up at it. Captain Jorgan had to look high to look at it, for the village was built sheer up the face of a steep and lofty cliff. There was no road in it, there was no wheeled vehicle in it, there was not a level yard in it. From the sea-beach to the cliff-top two irregular rows of white houses, placed opposite to one another, and twisting here and there....

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Excerpt: How Sir Galahad fought at a tournament, and how he was known of Sir Gawaine and Sir Ector de Maris. Now saith this story, when Galahad had rescued Percivale from the twenty knights, he yede tho into a waste forest wherein he rode many journeys; and he found many adventures the which he brought to an end, whereof the story maketh here no mention. Then he took his way to the sea on a day, and it befell as he passed by a castle where was a wonder tournament, but they without had done so much that they within were put to the worse, yet were they within good knights enough....

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Excerpt: Chapter 1. Eilean Aros. It was a beautiful morning in the late July when I set forth on foot for the last time for Aros. A boat had put me ashore the night before at Grisapol; I had such breakfast as the little inn afforded, and, leaving all my baggage till I had an occasion to come round for it by sea, struck right across the promontory with a cheerful heart....

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Contents THE MERRY MEN .......................................................................................4 WILL O? THE MILL...................................................................................50 MARKHEIM ................................................................................................74 THRAWN JANET ........................................................................................90 OLALLA .....................................................................................................100 THE TREASURE OF FRANCHARD......................................................140...

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Excerpt: In the centre of the great city of London lies a small neighborhood, consisting of a cluster of narrow streets and courts, of very venerable and debilitated houses, which goes by the name of Little Britain. Christ Church School and St. Bartholomew?s Hospital bound it on the west; Smithfield and Long Lane on the north; Aldersgate Street, like an arm of the sea, divides it from the eastern part of the city; whilst the yawning gulf of Bull-and-Mouth Street separates it from Butcher Lane, and the regions of Newgate. Over this little territory, thus bounded and designated, the great dome of St. Paul?s, swelling above the intervening houses of Paternoster Row, Amen Corner, and Ave Maria Lane, looks down with an air of motherly protection. This quarter derives its appellation from having been, in ancient times, the residence of the Dukes of Brittany....

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Excerpt: Kennedy is a country doctor, and lives in Colebrook, on the shores of Eastbay. The high ground rising abruptly behind the red roofs of the little town crowds the quaint High Street against the wall which defends it from the sea. Beyond the sea-wall there curves for miles in a vast and regular sweep the barren beach of shingle, with the village of Brenzett standing out darkly across the water, a spire in a clump of trees; and still further out the perpendicular column of a lighthouse, looking in the distance no bigger than a lead pencil, marks the vanishing-point of the land....

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Es ist die Nacht vom 26. auf den 27. November des Jahres 1703. Eine muntere Gesellschaft feiert auf dem Eddystone die Fertigstellung des neuen Leuchtturms. Doch eine uralte Sage umrankt diesen Felsen vor der Küste von Cornwall und bestimmt das Schicksal der auf dem Leuchtturm versammelten Personen. (Zusammenfassung von Rainer)...

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Fiction, Horror/Ghost stories, Mystery, Myths/Legends, Romance, Sea stories

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The Cruise of the Snark (1913) is a memoir of Jack and Charmian London's 1907-1909 voyage across the Pacific. His descriptions of surf-riding, which he dubbed a royal sport, helped introduce it to and popularize it with the mainland. London writes: Through the white crest of a breaker suddenly appears a dark figure, erect, a man-fish or a sea-god, on the very forward face of the crest where the top falls over and down, driving in toward shore, buried to his loins in smoking spray, caught up by the sea and flung landward, bodily, a quarter of a mile. It is a Kanaka on a surf-board. And I know that when I have finished these lines I shall be out in that riot of colour and pounding surf, trying to bit those breakers even as he, and failing as he never failed, but living life as the best of us may live it. Excerpted from Wikipedia....

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Memoirs

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This is the tale of a perilous voyage aboard a clipper ship told by the second mate. He looks up to Trunnell, the first mate, who somehow manages to hold things together between a murdering former captain, a captain who may not actually be a captain, and a crew inclined to mutiny. This all leads to a surprising and satisfying ending. The author, Hains, wrote frequently of the sea. He is the author who (under a pen name) had a story on the newsstands about a liner hitting an iceberg and sinking, while Titanic was doing precisely that!...

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Fiction, Sea stories

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Authentic Narratives of the Most Celebrated Sea Robbers.

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Adventure, Sea stories, Biography

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For Treasure Bound is one of the earlier novels by Harry Collingwood (William Joseph Cosens Lancaster), published in 1897. We follow the hero, whose name is incidentally also Harry Collingwood, on a quest to the pacific islands for treasure and his marooned father, through all the perils he encounters on his journey, such as pirates, sea monsters, and beautiful young ladies. (Summary by Carolin)...

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Adventure, Fiction, Sea stories