Jean Lee Latham · 1955 · sea

Jean Lee Latham's 1955 novel, based on a true life. Denied schooling, the young Nathaniel Bowditch of Salem teaches himself mathematics, Latin and navigation aboard trading ships - voyaging to Lisbon, the Indian Ocean, Manila and beyond - and rewrites the science of finding one's way at sea, producing the navigator's bible that still bears his name.

1. 1
   Salem

   Bowditch's home port on the Massachusetts coast, where tall ships from every ocean crowded the wharves.

2. 2
   Lisbon

   First landfall of the Astrea, taking on water and a cargo of wine before the long reach south.

3. 3
   Ile de Bourbon

   Reunion, the last water stop for Salem ships bound for the Indies in the southern Indian Ocean.

4. 4
   Manila

   The great prize of the voyage, reached by book-sailing through the treacherous Sunda Strait.

5. 5
   Sumatra

   The pepper coast, where Captain Bowditch loaded his cargo on the voyage of the Putnam.

6. 6
   Ile de France

   Mauritius, where the Putnam topped off her hold with coffee before the long haul home.

7. 7
   Salem

   Home again to Salem, brought safely into harbour through a pea-soup fog by dead reckoning.