Seaworthy: Adrift with William Willis in the Golden Age of Rafting

By T.R. Pearson

Book Overview

Welcome to the daring, thrilling, and downright strange adventures of William Willis. Driven by an unfettered appetite for personal challenge and a yen for the path of most resistance, Willis twice crossed the Pacific on rafts of his own design, with only house cats and a parrot for companionship. He'd been inspired by the voyage of Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl's bid to prove that a primitive raft could negotiate the open ocean. Willis's trips confirmed that a primitive man could as well. Willis survived on rye flour and seawater, sang to keep his spirits up, communicated with his wife via telepathy, suffered from bouts of temporary blindness, and eased the intermittent pain of a double hernia by looping a halyard around his ankles and dangling upside-down from his mast. His first voyage, atop a ten-ton balsa monstrosity, was undertaken in 1954 when Willis was sixty. His second raft, having crossed eleven thousand miles from Peru, found the north shore of Australia shortly after Willis's seventieth birthday. A marvel of vigor and fitness, William Willis was a connoisseur of ordeal, plagued by short rations, shipwreck conditions, and crushing solitude on his trans-Pacific voyages. Rich with vivid detail and wry humor, Seaworthy is the story of a sailor you've probably never heard of but need to know. In an age when countless rafts were adrift on the waters of the world, Willis's methods were eccentric, his accomplishments little short of remarkable. Don't miss the chance to meet this singular monk of the sea. Book jacket.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307335941
• ISBN13: 9780307335944
• Release Date: June 2006
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 1.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A true original

Thor Heyerdahl thrilled millions in 1947 when he sought to prove that inhabitants of the Americas could have colonized Polynesia. Heyerdahl sailed from South America to the islands east of Tahiti 5,000 miles away. The story is told in THE KON-TIKI EXPEDITION: By Raft Across the South Seas. In particular, Heyerdahl inspired the hero of this fine book, William Willis. Willis has found a wonderful biographer in T.R. Pearson (A Short History of a Small Place, Blue Ridge and Cry Me a River) writing his first nonfiction book. Willis was born in Hamburg, Germany, went to sea at 15, and lived in New York City writing unpublished novels and epic poems, holding down small jobs and following yogic instruction about breathing and chewing. His wife, Teddy, supported him. Before his marriage, Willis rescued his landlord's son who was imprisoned in French Guiana. Pearson writes it was the sort of quest that had been foreseen by his instructors in San Francisco: "It seems the yogi who had encouraged Willis to fill his upper lobes with air had also informed him, `The impossible attracts you,' which Willis saw fit to embrace as an article of faith." By 1951, "Willis's appetite for trial, for hardship, even suffering, was going largely unsatisfied." He became a maritime union member and planned a "pilgrimage" by raft "to the shrine of my philosophy.... Willis was essentially an extreme sportsman well in advance of the phenomenon. He was either out of his proper mind or obliquely suicidal." In 1954 he sailed on the "Seven Little Sisters", alone except for his parrot named "Eekie" and his cat named "Meekie." His trip from South America to American Samoa was 6700 miles long, 2200 miles further than Heyerdahl on Kon-Tiki. Ten years later, he rafted 11,000 miles from South America to Australia. Later, he tried unsuccessfully three times to cross the North Atlantic, dying at 74 in a small sailboat during his last attempt. This extract describing the beginning of the last journey is a good example of Pearson's style: "He carried by way of provisions only olive oil and flour, honey and lemon juice, garlic and evaporated milk. Since he intended to drink from the sea, a personal practice of long standing, he'd dispensed with the bother of stowing so much as the first ounce of fresh water. His radar reflector was a scrap of planking wrapped in aluminum foil, his chronometer a balky pocket watch, his distress flag a scarlet sweater. He'd shipped no proper radio, had but a sextant for his bearings, sailing directions to guide him into the English Channel past Bishop Rock. Among his papers was a letter of introduction to the mayor of Plymouth, England, from the Honorable John V. Lindsay, the mayor of New York City. It read, in part, 'If the bearer delivers this letter to you in person, he will have completed a trans-Atlantic voyage of great merit.'" [See first Comment for an insight into the styles of Willis and Pearson.] Pearson based his book on Willis's own books an

five stars may be a stretch- but I really liked it

I've read another Pearson book or two, and actually didn't even realize this was by him until I'd bought it. I like him a lot and this book was no exception. It is the story of several open ocean, open boat rafting voyages in the 50s and 60s, predominantly, including a little background on Kon-Tiki. Mostly the book centers on William Willis, about as eccentric a fellow as one ever runs across. He'd probably be a base jumper or some kind of adrenalin junkie were he alive today- he was ahead of his time in many ways. Extremely fit and health conscious, and most amazingly to me able to survive for weeks at a time drinking sea water and eating handfuls of grain. He didn't start rafting until he was 60, and made it to Australia from Peru when he was 63. He was also a bit of a contradiction, able to plan and be extremely disciplined, then suddenly making the most monumental decisions on a wing and a prayer, if that. The stories might seem to tell themselves, but some tell them better than others, and Pearson tells them better than most. He has a nice turn of phrase and is able to inject humor in his observations without disparaging his subjects- unless in the case of one Mormon guy with an issue or two he really intends to. Even in that case he probably cuts the guy more slack than not. Adventurous, humorous, informative. A quick read and very enjoyable. Highly recommend.

Must Read

This book is an outstanding read; wonderfully written saga of man and nature; descriptive, interesting, I couldn't put it down until it was completed; started great, ended a bit down, but it's on my recommended reading list for almost everyone.

Blends humor with adventure

SEAWORTHY: ADRIFT WITH WILLIAM WILLIS IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF RAFTING tells of a sixty-year-old who set out across the pacific Ocean on a homemade balsa raft with only a parrot and cat for company - in the heart of typhoon season. He survived on very little and spent four months at sea before arriving safely in British Samoa, besting Thor Heyerdahl by two thousand miles. Ten years later he did it again, crossing from Peru to Australia - and four years later he was on the Atlantic in a boat. SEAWORTHY blends humor with adventure in recounting his journeys and any boater will thrill to his many experiences. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

A Fiction Writer Tries His Hand at Biography

Pearson's stark writing style and excellent storytelling makes this book an excellent read. If you like a facinating story told simply, you'll like this book.