Through the Land of Fire
Ben Pester
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2004 Seafarer Books/Sheridan House
ISBN: 1574092022

Fifty-Six South -- sailing the mysterious & dangerous waters of Tierra del Fuego & Patagonia.

In his annual catch-up, my brother suggested I might enjoy his friend's account of their 18,000 mile voyage they'd made during 1999-2000. A voyage that had taken them both from the ancient seaport of Falmouth in Cornwall, England, across the Equator, into the Doldrums & down along the coast of South America to the Land of Fire -- the farthest tip of that continent -- where they'd cruised up the Beagle Channel, following in the wake of those legendary seamen who comprised much of the lore of the island nation in which I lived my childhood: Drake, Raleigh, Cavendish, Davis, Cook & Darwin, to name only a few... & the Englishmen -- not forgetting the man for whom the strait is named: Magellan, & the Portuguese & Spanish who also fought the mighty seas & lost... & won a place in history.

My brother is a classically under-stated Englishman, so when he mentioned Ben Pester's book, I petitioned Sheridan House for a copy to review & dove in.

Through the Land of Fire is Ben Pester's account, in an immediate & thoughtful meandering, laced with humor & his detours into the history of those who had gone before, & what happened in that harsh & magnificent part of the world when the Christian Europeans found it. Suffice to say that there's not one aboriginal alive today who is a descendant of the thousands of people who had survived there for countless generations.

Ben Pester is a natural-born storyteller, & has been sailing the Seven Seas from his early boyhood in New Zealand. The idea for this Millennium voyage came about in a conversation at lunch with my brother & sister-in-law, after which they set about provisioning Ben's 12 ton, 36 foot wooden ocean racer (yacht) Marelle.

I found myself yearning for a glossary of all those nautical terms with which Ben Pester is so fluent, however, the lack thereof did not detract from the thrill of the journey.

I also wanted an index because beside recounting his log of the weather, sailing data, ships met & messages passed on, & the seas through which he sailed, Ben Pester loves to tell stories of the great explorers of yore, in particular about mutinies & survivals, settlements & penal colonies, & the possible source for Samuel Taylor Coleridge's classic poem of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, an epic I once knew by heart.

In the back of the book are appendices from Jeremy re: recipes for onboard cooking as well as his observations of the sea life he encountered, & Adrie's quest to provision the crew with victuals for 9 months at sea plus Marelle's statistics.

While in need of an editor's skill, Through the Land of Fire: Fifty-Six South is an engrossing & delightful read, & is for every armchair wannabe sailor, as well as all those who do go down to the sea in ships & are addicted to mucking about in boats. Ben Pester offers modernday thoughts on GPS & other things nautical, that are incomprehensible to a landlubber like me!

Grab this paperback & set sail for a grand cruise as you peer at the photos & study the maps. It's a keeper!
(01/29/06)

Rebecca