Top ten books on the sea

Bella Bathurst's first published book was The Lighthouse Stevensons (1999), an account of the construction of the Scottish lighthouses by the ancestors of Robert Louis Stevenson; it was named one of the List Magazine's "100 Best Scottish Books of all time." Her second book was a novel, Special (2002); it was followed by The Wreckers (2005), a history of shipwrecking and maritime mischief around the coast of Britain.

In 2005 she named her top ten books on the sea for the Guardian. One series on the list:

The Aubrey/Maturin Series by Patrick O'Brian

You can read this fabulous series of novels for advice on the correct use of spankers and futtocks, you can read them for their exuberance and humanity, or you can just read them because they're compulsive and you fancy Stephen Maturin.

Read about the other books on the list.

One book in the series made Lewis Smith's critic's chart of books with bears.

--Marshal Zeringue