Seaworthy Adrift with William Willis in the Golden Age of Rafting
by Pearson, T. R. .
pub. by Crown Publishers, NY, 2006 -       isbn 978-0-307-33594-4 - some maps. diagrams. b&w photos - Bibliography p.271-271- Acknowledgements - index -p 277-280 - it is 281 p.
This is mostly a biography of William Willis, who rafted across the Pacific Ocean twice, and later was lost at sea while attempting to cross the North Atlantic in a small boat in 1968 when he was 75 years old.
In early mid-life Willis successfully -rescued- a man who had served time on the French penal colony Devils Island. It seems that after one finished ones sentence on the Island one was permanently sentenced to live in French Guiana (S. America) in horrible conditions. Willis successfully managed to have the man smuggled out. This was a very interesting aside to the ocean voyage tales which make up the bulk of the book.
It also contains fairly detailed information about other rafting voyages of the time, from Heyerdahls Kon-Tiki to Bakers Lehi IV.
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~2012-04-30~

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