Journeys Through the Inside Passage - Seafaring Adventures Along the Coast of British Columbia and Alaska (Paperback)

Journeys through the Inside Passage 1st edition 1992 2nd edition 1998 Writer and fisherman Joe Upton recounts the riveting stories of explorers of the past and seafarers of the present in JOURNEYS THROUGH THE INSIDE PASSAGE. His chronicle offers events vivid in their telling: the journey of widow Muriel Blanchet, who solo navigated a small vessel in the 1930s with her five children; the failed meeting of explorers Alexander Mackenzie and George Vancouver in 1793; countless sinkings; and tales from the author's own experiences plying this legendary waterway. "A thoughtful combination of sailing instructions, travel guide, social history and personal diary, and a convincing depiction of a waterway as cultural and geographical region." --Writer's Northwest "Once in a while, an author who knows a good deal about a subject writes a book. In rare instances the knowledgeable author is also a fine writer, and the book achieves distinction. Joe Upton's JOURNEYS THROUGH THE INSIDE PASSAGE is one of those happy occurrences-a book that will sweep readers along the water maze of the Inside Passage with pleasure and interest, providing entertainment and instruction in equal measure . . . The love of the sailor for the sea is evident, but the author is a sailor who reads literature and history to understand his region . . . He relates stirring tales of shipwrecks interspersed with other lively tales of adventures of himself and friends. Good stories of colorful characters at sea and on land abound . . . Those who traverse Alaska's maritime world will find Upton exciting and authentic. And armchair literary voyagers like myself will place the book high on the list of favorite maritime reading . . . A book that should never be allowed to go out of print." --Anchorage Daily News "Alternately exhilarating and contemplative . . . Upton's approach underscores the powerful effect of the sea and land on those who choose to wrestle with them." --Booklist "Joe Upton fans, and their number is legion, will be delighted that he's back writing about his first love, that wonderful, dangerous, beautiful, lovely country known as Southeast Alaska." --Nor'westing "Joe Upton, a commercial fisherman and noted author of ALASKA BLUES, takes us on a tour of the Inside Passage from Seattle to Skagway]. It is a moving memory of passagemaking, an anecdotal history of the region, a pilot's guide, an essay on nautical individualism, and a monument to a way of life that continues . . . Well written, with the rhythmic ebb and flow of all fine stories of voyaging, it is a pleasure to read." --Boating Books "Whether he writes of facing the rough waters of Queen Charlotte Sound alone or watching the sunset from an isolated settlement hacked out of the wilderness, Upton demonstrates on every page that he is a craftsman who knows how to reel in the right word and do it with no wasted effort." --Fairbanks News-Miner