Watson and the Shark, by John Singleton Copley, 1778.

Watson and the Shark, by John Singleton Copley, 1778. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.

The Sea

Volume VI, Number 3 | summer 2013

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Preamble

Sea Change

By Lewis H. Lapham

The sea offers a particular kind of freedom, though it’s one that comes at a price.

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Around Alone

By Maggie Shipstead

The challenge of the world’s first solo, nonstop, around-the-world yacht race: to endure the danger of the sea, and the strain of solitude.

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Map

Water World

From radioactive waste to underwater cables, the world under the sea.

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Miscellany

The world’s largest shipbreaking yard is near Alang, India, where, during the 2011–2012 season, around fifty thousand employees broke down 435 ships for scrap, which had a value of about $2 billion.

1872 | South Pacific Ocean

Our Seaworthy Captain

Isabella Bird encounters a very heavy sea.More

1855 | Nantucket, MA

The Good Life

The benefits of wedding a sailor.More

1862 | London

On the Waterfront

Henry Mayhew surveys the docks of London.More

Charts & Graphs

Talking Like a Sailor

Definitions from Admiral William Henry Smyth’s “The Sailor’s Word Book” (1867).

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Black and white photograph of American poet Marianne Moore.

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Photograph of English novelist John Fowles.

Sculpture bust of Greek historian Herodotus.

Photograph of French writer Guy de Maupassant.

Photograph of American food writer M.F.K. Fisher with cat.

Photograph of traveler and writer Isabella Bird.

The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.

—Vladimir Nabokov, 1941

Portrait bust of Roman poet Virgil.

Photograph of French writer Guy de Maupassant.

Virgil & Guy de Maupassant

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