KARLSSON, Elis - MOTHER SEA. [Foreword by Alan Villiers]. London : New York : Toronto, Oxford University Press, 1964. In-8.º (22,5cm) de xiii, [1], 264, [2] p. ; [10] p. il. ; E.
Livro de memórias do autor, um verdadeiro "lobo do mar".
Muito valorizado pelo seu autógrafo na f. rosto.
O prefácio é da autoria de Alan Villiers, comandante da marinha e conhecido jornalista australiano, cronista do The National Geographic, que em Portugal ficou associado a um dos best-sellers da nossa bibliografia marinha - A Campanha do Argus, onde A. Villiers narra as peripécias dos pescadores de bacalhau portugueses nos Bancos da Terra Nova.
Edição ilustrada com fotografias a p.b., sobretudo de veleiros, em folhas intercaladas no texto, impressas sobre papel couché.
                                            .....................
"This book is different. At last an Áland Island Finn, a careerman in sail, has put pen to paper. Elis Karlsson is an Áland Islander of the true school, who started at sea in small Baltic ships as a lad, graduated from from there to deep water and big square-riggers. He served in the famous Herzogin Cecilie as able seaman and as mate. He was mate in that fine ship when she drifted up on Bolt Head and was lost. He was mate of the big barque Penang, a vessel noted as hard on her officers. He was in steam, too, for a while, and was mate of the North Sea steamer Bodia when a gale flung her on the coast of Norway. He was not a dogwatch in these ships: he was in theme for years, voyage after voyage. The stuff of their voyagings and the fabric of their being became his life - for month after month, year after year, almost his whole life. He cared for the ships as a good mate should: he served them as seaman and as officer: he served under good masters (than whom none better ever commanded a bib Cape Horner than is brother-in-law, the late Captain Ruben de Cloux) and suffered under bad. There were some who were extremely bad, for there were always more good and faithful ships than good masters. The strain of the master's life in such ships was severe and unending: some broke under it. A few took to drink."
(excerto do prefácio)
Elis Karlsson (1905-1989). Natural das Ilhas Áland, arquipélago finlandês com cerca de 6.500 ilhas e ilhotas situadas à entrada do Golfo de Bótnia. Iniciou cedo a sua carreira de marinheiro, em 1919, na escuna de 3 mastros Näsborg. Depois de fazer carreira na marinha mercante no Baltico e no Mar do Norte, Elis Karlsson graduou-se em "deepsea sailing-ships", presumimos que, em Portugal, corresponda à Carta de Patrão de Alto Mar. Em 1947 foi viver para a Rodésia do Sul (actual Zimbabué) onde montou um estaleiro. Em 1964 publicou "Sea Mother", que relata a sua infância nas Ilhas Áland e sua experiência de velejador. Publicou outros três livros sobre viagens marítimas em que tomou parte. Faleceu no Zimbabué a 8 de Fevereiro de 1989.
Encadernação editorial em tela, revestida por sobrecapa protectora.
Exemplar em bom estado de conservação.
Invulgar e muito apreciado.
30€