Heart of Oak

Sheridan House, 1997. Trade paperback. Very Good. Following the account of his childhood and his early years aboard in A Steady Trade, Tristan Jones now looks back to his years below decks in the Royal Navy during World War II." Arthur Jones, pen name Tristan Jones (8 May 1929 – 21 June 1995) was a British mariner and author. He spent most of his life at sea, first in the British Royal Navy, and then sailing in small yachts for various purposes, including self-appointed adventure trips. Starting in 1977, he wrote sixteen books and many articles about sailing and his adventures, including several memoirs. His writing, while highly entertaining, often mixes fact and fiction. In the early 1970s, he conceived the idea of setting "the altitude record for sailing" by sailing both the Dead Sea (the lowest open water in the world) and Lake Titicaca, which is 3,812 meters (12,507 ft) up in the Andes Mountains. He sailed to Israel, and trucked his sailboat to the Dead Sea. Though he was not allowed to launch his boat, he did make a brief sail on the Sea in an Israeli naval officer's sailboat.He then sailed his boat from Israel around Africa to the West Indies, where he traded it for a smaller boat. He sailed this boat to Peru, trucked it up to Lake Titicaca, and sailed the lake, thus achieving the "record". He then hauled his sailboat across Bolivia to Brazil on the Paraguay River, and sailed down through the Mato Grosso to Paraguay and Argentina.His account of this adventure was published in 1977 as his first book, The Incredible Voyage.