Fully aware that his mythical home-place might have vanished forever into memory (or at least into sad disrepair), Gary Geddes set out to discover his roots in a 31-foot British sailing sloop, christened the Groais. Those tangled roots wound their way up British Columbia's famed Inside Passage, an ancient sea route of nearly one thousand miles, an often turbulent waterscape where Geddes discovers a vibrant history, livelihoods come and gone, dramatic scenery, and ghosts of the past. The result of that search is Sailing Home, a wonderful meditative literary journey that is both a poignant personal memoir and a crow's nest view of the west coast's rich 10,000-year cultural, social and economic heritage. Despite his seafaring background -- Geddes' grandfather was a fisherman who drowned mysteriously off Point Atkinson and his father was a deep sea diver, shipbuilder and salmon fisherman -- he knows he is navigationally challenged with nautical experience anchored by raw fear, mechanical ineptness and bouts of seasickness. Setting out with the latest in technology (along with indecipherable charts, an adventure library, and the writings of George Vancouver and Charles Darwin), he soon finds himself at the mercy of a willful boat and an even more headstrong sea. But as he sails through unexpected storms and cotton wool fogs, he discovers that his own past is becoming a strong current in the shifting tides of coastal history. Lyrical and evocative, this is a book for all those embarking on their own personal journeys, whether they be by water, land or the flight paths of the imagination.

Sailing home: A journey through time, place & memory

Travel

Geddes, Gary

Canada

HarperFlamingo Canada

There's A Seal in my Sleeping Bag

Wild,Margaret

Harper Collins Canada

A Day in the Life of Canada (Day in the Life)

A Day in the Life of Canada

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

Harpercollins Canada

Describes facilities, activities, and programs at each park, and shows the plants, wildlife, mountains, rivers, lakes, islands, beaches, marshes, and forests of the Canadian wilderness

Canada's National Parks

LAWRENCE, R.D.

HARPER/COLLINS

Bark, Skin & Cedar: Exploring the Canoe in the Canadian Experience

Engineering & Transportation

Raffan, James

Transportation

Eastern Canada: Welcome to Eastern Canada (Welcome Guides)

Chester, Carole

HarperCollins, Publishers

Spine creased. Shipped from the U.K. All orders received before 3pm sent that weekday.

The Oatmeal Ark: From the Western Isles to a Promised Sea

MacLean, Rory

Flamingo

The truth is that John Rae solved the two great mysteries ofnineteenth-century Arctic exploration: during a single expedition in 1854, hediscovered both the fate of the Franklin expedition and the only NorthwestPassage navigable by the ships of that time ― the fatal passage explorers hadbeen seeking for centuries. ― from Fatal Passage
Not long after he began reading the handwritten, 820-page diary of Scottishexplorer John Rae, Ken McGoogan realized that here was an astonishing story,hidden from the world for almost 150 years. McGoogan, who was originallyconducting research for a novel, recognized the injustice committed against Rae.He was determined to restore the adventurer’s rightful place in history as theman who discovered not only the grisly truth about the lost Franklin expedition,but also the final link in the elusive Northwest Passage.
Fatal Passage is McGoogan’s completely absorbing account of John Rae’sincredible accomplishments and his undeserved and wholesale discreditation atthe hands of polite Victorian society. After sifting through thousands of pagesof research, maps and charts, and traveling to England, Scotland and the Arcticto visit the places Rae knew, McGoogan has produced a book that reads like afast-paced novel ― a smooth synthesis of adventure story, travelogue andhistorical biography. Fatal Passage is a richly detailed portrait of a time whenthe ambitions of the Empire knew no bounds.
John Rae was an adventurous young medical doctor from Orkney who signed onwith the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1833. He lived in the Canadian wilds for morethan two decades, becoming legendary as a hunter and snowshoer, before he turnedto exploration. Famous for what was then a unique attitude ― a willingness tolearn from and use the knowledge and skills of aboriginal peoples ― Rae becamethe first European to survive an Arctic winter while living solely off the land.
One of dozens of explorers and naval men commissioned by the BritishAdmiralty to find out what became of Sir John Franklin and his two ships, Raereturned from the Arctic to report that the most glorious expedition everlaunched had ended with no survivors ― and worse, that it had degenerated intocannibalism. Unwilling to accept that verdict, Victorian England not onlyostracized Rae, but ignored his achievements, and credited Franklin with thediscovery of the Passage.
Fatal Passage is Ken McGoogan’s brilliant vindication of John Rae’slife and rightful place in history, a book for armchair adventurers, Arcticenthusiasts, lovers of Canadian history, and all those who revel in a story of physical courage andmoral integrity. Read an opinion piece by Ken McGoogan: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/opinion1/stories/010415/5013219.html

Fatal Passage

Biographies & Memoirs

McGoogan, Ken

Historical

Phyllis Bruce Books Perennial

Sailing Home

The histories of Sir George Simpson and the Hudson's Bay Company are inextricably intertwined, for Simpson's business acumen and go-ahead personality would take a failing fur trading business to a position of great wealth and political power. Controlling a vast trading territory that stretched over 1/12 the world's surface, The HBC became the most significant business in 18th and 19th century Canada and shaped the nation. As its head, Sir George Simpson epitomized the self-made man of Victorian times. Raffan has captured the many contradictions of this larger-than-life figure: his shame at his illegitimate birth, yet his fathering of at least 13 children out of wedlock; his love of grandiosity, yet his ability to rough it with the voyageurs. As he ranged fearlessly across his "empire of furs," spurring his employees to even greater profits, Simpson set speed and endurance records for overland travel that have yet to be beaten. Under his ruthless, inventive and far-seeing management, the HBC became one of the greatest business empires ever and contributed to the concept of a Canadian nation stretching from sea to sea. In many respects, Simpson was a "father of Confederation" ahead of his time.

Emperor of the North

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