Shrimpy a record around-the-world voyage in an 18 foot yacht
by Acton, Shane
pub. by Ulverscroft Large Print Books Ltd, Anstey, Leicestershire, England, UK - 1984 - - (orig. pub Patrick Stephens Ltd, Cambridge, UK 1983)     isbn 0-7-89-1194-3 - - LCCN - - - Maps p.i -- Dedicatgion p. vii -- contents p. ix-x -- Preamble p. xi-xii -- Analysis of Super Shrimp's achievement by D.H. Clark of Guiness Book of Records p. xiii-xxiv -- diagrams of the Caprice designed by Robert Tucker p. xxv-xxvi -- Appencices - A. Technical detils - B. the voyage in figures p. 330-331 -- Total. 331 pages.

Shane Acton used a twin headsails version of self steering when the wind was much abaft the beam.
(He made a sketch of this system for the book, and other than the maps is one of the few illustrations.)
Other wise spent a lot of time steering.
The book has 22 chapters - with a follow-up
Shane Acton was a young man when he started his voyage. He had just finished time in the military (Royal Marines) and worked with some water craft there. However when he bought this boat he had no experience with small sailing craft. He was a quick learner and fell in with some folks who taught him how to proceed. He learned standard astro navigation using a sextant and tables by himself. Later he taught others how to navigate.

Since his boat was so small he was treated interestingly by the folks he met and the officials he had to deal with. He lived a very primitive life, and even his radio, where he got time broadcasts for navigation was very simple, and often problematic in function. While in Panama he met a young woman Iris Derungs from Switzerland who was vacationing. She decided to become his friend and accompany him, in his 18 ft, boat for half of his voyage around the world.

Shane was in no hurry and often stopped along his way for long periods of time. He and Iris spent some time in Guayaquil, and finally sailed across the Pacific stoping at several islands before going on to New Caledonia and from there to Brisbane, Australia. They stayed in Australia the better part of a year. This included having invited Prince Philip (Queen Elizabeth's husband) to visit their boat, which he did, Shrimpy was floating in a swiming pool for that visit. They sailed on to northern Australia sailing inside the Barrier Reef on the way and stopped at Gove where they worked at a huge Bauxite mine for a few months. From there they sailed on to Indonesia.

Iris flew to visit her grandmother in Switzerland to visit her grandmother and planned to rejoin Shane in the Mediterranean. Shane sailed on across the Indian Ocean and up the Red Sea, hugging the east, Saudi Arabian, shore. He had a lot of help from more normal sized yachts and had an interesting time through the Suez Canal and out into the Mediterranean where Iris met him. They stayed at a friend's place in southern France for the winter, and took the French canal system to the English Channel. They sailed back up to his original point of departure and the local folks had a celebration for him. He did get a note of congratulations from Prince Philip.

The book ends with a note that he did not intend to stay... He intended to sail again... Which he did, and wrote a second book, which I have not read. It is a very rare book, not available for interlibrary loan anywhere in USA. Iris did not accompany him on his second voyage, however another young woman did.

Maps
    The whole voyage p. xvii
    The first leg - England to Portugal . p.19
    Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, Panama to Guayayaquil p.43
    West Indies - Grenada - Antigua p.59
    The east Pacific - Guayayaquil to the Marquesas Is. and Tahiti p.109
    French Polynesia (approaching Tahiti etc.) p.130
    The western Pacific - Bora Bora - Fiji - New Caledonia - Birsbane, Australia - Barrier Reef p.143
    The Great Barrier Reef - Brisbane - Thursday Is. p.194
    North Australia - Thursday Is. - Darwin - Sumbayv Is in Indonesia p.211
    The Indian Ocean - Singapore - Sri Lanka - Mangalore, India - Socotra - Jibouti then up the Red Sea on the     Arabian side p.255
    The Red Sea (detail) and Suez Canal p.278
    2 maps The Mediterranean including travel through France on canals then back to Cambridge, England
        and a detail of The Greek Islands p.310 <

This was a good read written in an almost innocent style.
Note that I borrowed this book to read on interlibrary loan. The library which lent it to the public library in my town was the Louisanna State Librarty for the blind.
They had this Ulverscroft Large Type edition, which it seems has all the maps and illustrations in the regular Patrick Stephens Ltd. publication.

~2021-08-22~

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