- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: Random House; First Edition edition (July 1 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1400066557
- ISBN-13: 978-1400066551
- Product Dimensions: 16 x 2.5 x 24.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 363 g
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#104,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #92 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Specific Groups > Adventurers & Explorers
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In 2003, after two years at sea, the 55-foot catamaran sailed by the Silverwoods, a suburban California family that chucked it all to sail around the world, hit a reef off the South Pacific island of Scilly (now known as Manuae), putting the life of Jean and John and their four children (ages five to 16) in peril. The first part of the book is written from Jean's perspective as she opens with the wreck and then moves smoothly between the family's fight for survival and the story of their journey. By juxtaposing the two tales, Jean illustrates how the children's maturity and cohesiveness were not only a byproduct of the trip but also the keys to all the Silverwoods surviving their ordeal, especially John, who was critically injured by the falling mast. Jean wears her heart on her sleeve, and her writing about her marital problems or John's alcoholic relapses is honest. John's narrative is half as long as Jean's, underscoring his straight-to-the point personality and writing style. The saga from John's perspective lacks emotion, but his ability to interweave the story of the Julia Anne (a sailing ship that hit the same reef in 1855) gives an eye-opening account of how much and how little sea travel has changed in 150 years and accentuates the heroism of this family that overcame an extraordinary ordeal. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Product Description
“I told God that if he would let us survive this night, I would make it mean something worthwhile. And then, somehow, I felt calmer than I have ever felt. Unreasonably so. Irrationally so. I looked over the scene of our wrecked life and I smiled–a crazy smile for sure–and I looked through the dark at the mad beauty of it.”
–Jean Silverwood
An exhilarating true-life adventure of one family’s extraordinary sea voyage of self-discovery and survival, tragedy and triumph
Successful businessman John Silverwood and his wife, Jean, both experienced sailors, decided the time was right to give their four children a taste of thrilling life on the high seas. And indeed their journey aboard the fifty-five-foot catamaran Emerald Jane would have many extraordinary and profound moments, whether it was the peaceful late-night watches John enjoyed under the stunning celestial sky or the elation shared by the whole family at the sight of blissful pods of dolphin and migrating tortoises. John and Jean had hoped to use the trip as a teaching opportunity, with the Emerald Jane as a floating classroom in which to instruct their children in important lessons–not only about the natural world but about the beauty of human life when stripped down to its essence, far from the trappings of civilization.
Yet rather than flourishing amid the new freedoms and responsibilities thrust upon them, the children were sometimes confused, frightened, resentful. The two oldest, fourteen-year-old Ben and twelve-year-old Amelia, missed their friends and the comfortable life left behind in San Diego, while the two youngest, Jack, seven, and Camille, three, picked up on the stressful currents running above and below the surface–for throughout the journey, the Silverwood family found its bonds tested as never before.
John and Jean, whose marriage had weathered its share of storms, would wonder again if they had taken on too much as the physical, emotional, and financial strains of caring for the expensive catamaran and their children brought old resentments to the surface.
John’s dream trip that began on Long Island Sound ended almost two years later as a nightmare in treacherous waters off a remote atoll in French Polynesia, where, in an explosion of awesome violence, the terrifying brunt of the ocean’s anger fell upon the Emerald Jane.
Gradually, in the crucible of the sea, a stronger, more closely knit unit was forged. The Silverwoods became a crew. Then they became a family again. But just as it seemed to them that they had mastered every challenge, their world was shattered in a split-second of unimaginable horror. Now their real challenge began, forcing them to fight for their very lives.
–Jean Silverwood
An exhilarating true-life adventure of one family’s extraordinary sea voyage of self-discovery and survival, tragedy and triumph
Successful businessman John Silverwood and his wife, Jean, both experienced sailors, decided the time was right to give their four children a taste of thrilling life on the high seas. And indeed their journey aboard the fifty-five-foot catamaran Emerald Jane would have many extraordinary and profound moments, whether it was the peaceful late-night watches John enjoyed under the stunning celestial sky or the elation shared by the whole family at the sight of blissful pods of dolphin and migrating tortoises. John and Jean had hoped to use the trip as a teaching opportunity, with the Emerald Jane as a floating classroom in which to instruct their children in important lessons–not only about the natural world but about the beauty of human life when stripped down to its essence, far from the trappings of civilization.
Yet rather than flourishing amid the new freedoms and responsibilities thrust upon them, the children were sometimes confused, frightened, resentful. The two oldest, fourteen-year-old Ben and twelve-year-old Amelia, missed their friends and the comfortable life left behind in San Diego, while the two youngest, Jack, seven, and Camille, three, picked up on the stressful currents running above and below the surface–for throughout the journey, the Silverwood family found its bonds tested as never before.
John and Jean, whose marriage had weathered its share of storms, would wonder again if they had taken on too much as the physical, emotional, and financial strains of caring for the expensive catamaran and their children brought old resentments to the surface.
John’s dream trip that began on Long Island Sound ended almost two years later as a nightmare in treacherous waters off a remote atoll in French Polynesia, where, in an explosion of awesome violence, the terrifying brunt of the ocean’s anger fell upon the Emerald Jane.
Gradually, in the crucible of the sea, a stronger, more closely knit unit was forged. The Silverwoods became a crew. Then they became a family again. But just as it seemed to them that they had mastered every challenge, their world was shattered in a split-second of unimaginable horror. Now their real challenge began, forcing them to fight for their very lives.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars (57 customer reviews)
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I couldn't put it down., July 1 2008
By Mark S - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Black Wave: A Family's Adventure at Sea and the Disaster That Saved Them (Hardcover)
If you've ever extended yourself, spent time outdoors or been exposed to the many elements of nature, you know this story could easily be about you. It grips you right at the start as you sense the tearing of the hulls and rushing and pounding of the ocean destroying everything and probably everyone they care about in a matter of minutes. The interweaving of the travels and exploration with the horror of the destruction of boat and flesh keeps you hanging on and waiting for the next piece of news. This is a great story of human bonds, nature and endurance.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Lessons learned at sea, Aug 17 2008
By Mary G. Longorio "Texasbookgirl" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Black Wave: A Family's Adventure at Sea and the Disaster That Saved Them (Hardcover)
John and Jean Silverwood decide to put their busy daily lives aside and take their four children on a round the world adventure at sea. The Silverwoods feel as though the fast pace of life in San Diego has pulled the family in too many directions. They purchase the Emerald Jane and set of on an once-in-a-lifetime adventure with Ben (14), Amelia (12), Jack (7), and Camille (3). Using the sea and new ports as a school and hoping to satiate John's seemingly endless need for adrenalin, the Silverwoods also have to manage worries about pirates, unfriendly ports, balky generators and whatever the sea throws at them. The close quarters of the catamaran make clashes inevitable as Ben, missing his friends and diversions in California becomes sullen, Jean worries and John slips into old habits and the dream voyage threatens to become a battle of wills. However, the beauty of the sea, the sea life, new ports, discovering new friends and discovering new strengths within themselves, the Silverwoods keep on their journey until the unthinkable happens. The Emerald Jane hits a reef and the family`s survival depends on the lessons learned at sea.
This is an engrossing book that kept me hooked right till the end of the first portion. The portion about the Julia Ann and her crew and fate, not as interesting. I also had bit of a hard time with Jean's excusing John's behaviors (selfishness?) and putting herself down in comparison. That said, this is as much a tale of a family's growth as a tale of a journey
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Pefect Summer Read, July 2 2008
By Roy Trakin - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Black Wave: A Family's Adventure at Sea and the Disaster That Saved Them (Hardcover)
If you're looking for the perfect summer read, you won't do much better than this tale of a successful San Diego real estate developer who lives out a lifelong dream by taking his perfect SoCal family of six on a sailing trip around the world, which turns into a nightmare when they run aground on a Pacific reef 350 miles due west of Tahiti, costing him his leg in the process. This first-person diary account reveals the Silverwood family dynamic on board their beloved Emerald Jane, warts and all, from John's own battles with alcoholism to Jean's control issues to the various adjustments of the kids--16-year-old Ben's longing for his friends back home and eventual emergence as a hero, 13-year-old Amelia's blossoming into a self-confident artist, 9-year-old Jack's fascination with ocean life and 5-year-old Camille's angelic innocence. There is something here that anyone with a family can relate to about escaping the rat race of modern life and taking to the high seas, anchoring in exotic ports from Bora Bora and Raiatea to Grenada and the Galapagos, crossing the Equator, sailing through the Panama Canal, being chased by pirates and surviving hurricanes with waves several stories high. The first 150 pages, narrated by Jean, describe the family's day-to-day duties, home-schooling the kids and how each one adapted to the journey, as she keeps coming back to the narrative's singular event--the wreck of the Emerald Jane on a reef in the middle of the night and the boat's giant mast pinning John's leg underneath. It's an amazing tale, with the last quarter including John's ruminations, which have him questioning his judgment and dealing with his own guilt by channeling an accident that took place 150 years ago on the very same reef that ripped apart his own sailboat. The Julia Ann, a vessel on its way from Australia to San Francisco in 1855, carrying coals from Newcastle in New South Wales, along with a group of Mormon missionaries bound for Utah, suffered a similar fate as the Emerald Jane. The story is a tribute to the family's gung-ho spirit of living to the fullest, and dealing with the consequences...as a family. "If real life catches you by the heel sometimes, it is worth it," John concludes. "Life is short anyway, so it may as well be beautiful." Not just a travelogue or a primer on sailing around the world, Black Wave is the story of a family that circled the ocean, only to find what they were looking for was right in front of them all along.
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