Colorado Parks & Wildlife Research Library

This gripping saga of the sea demonstrates Jack London's gift for expressing complex ideas with compelling action. A clash of two opposing views of morality is brought to life in the ruthless Wolf Larsen, a strong believer in the survival of the fittest, and Humphrey Van Weyden, a civilized man who is shocked by the cruelty of Larsen's nature.

Looking for adventure and a new life, Ishmael, the story's narrator, decides to find work on a whaling boat. On arriving at the Massachusetts harbour to begin his search, the only bed available is already half occupied by a "cannibal" named Queequeg. Although Queequeg has limited English, a friendship forms and the two men sign up for work together aboard the Pequod under the infamous Captain Ahab. Consumed by an insane rage, Captain Ahab has but...

The crew of the Oregon has just completed a top secret mission against Iran in the Persian Gulf, when they come across a cruise ship adrift in the sea. Hundreds of bodies litter its deck, and as ship captain Cabrillo tries to determine what happened, explosions rack the length of the ship. Barely able to escape with his own life and that of the liner's sole survivor, Cabrillo finds himself plunged into a mystery as intricate--and as perilous--as any...

Captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin sail to Australia with a hold full of convicts, including a dangerous spy, while the crew is decimated by disease and their ship, the "Leopard," is pursued by a Dutch man-of-war.

The only full-length novel by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym" was first published in 1838. It is the story of a boy from Nantucket, Arthur Gordon Pym, who stows away aboard a whaling ship, the "Grampus", with the help of his friend Augustus, the ship captain's son. Pym and Augustus experience many unexpected adventures and misfortunes at sea, including mutiny, violent storms, cannibalism, and the destruction of the ship. Eventually,...

At French instigation, an ambitious Tongan chief captures a British whaler in the Friendly Isles, and Captain Aubrey is dispatched from Australia to restore order. But a spirited female convict unexpectedly joins Aubrey and Maturin as a stowaway. To the officers, Clarissa Harvill is an object of awkward courtliness and dangerous jealousies. Aubrey himself is won over, while only Stephen Maturin fathoms her secrets.

The East Indies at the dawn of the eighteenth century. And at the farthest edges of the known world, the mighty East India Trading Company suffers catastrophic losses at the hands of pirates on the high seas. Master mariner Sir Hal Courtney, after four years away from service, prepares for his latest and most dangerous voyage - a death or glory mission in the name of the crown. But Hal must also think about the fate of his three sons. Each is very...

"Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the Oregon are back with a new adventure in this thrilling suspense novel in Clive Cussler's #1 New York Times bestselling series"-- When the CIA realizes the identities of three American spies in Brazil have been compromised, they turn to Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the Oregon to rescue the agents. What seems a routine operation turns out to be a trap designed by Juan Cabrillo's greatest enemy, a man driven by hate...

"Crisscrossing the Great Lakes onboard her father's freighter ship, the Mary Elise, Elise Wright has grown up cooking and caring for the crew. It is a life she loves. Unlike her estranged sister, Elise has turned down numerous opportunities for a 'respectable life' with their wealthy relatives. And now, because of promises she made to her dying mother, she's bound to the ship and her deeply grieving father more than ever. Nick Clark is grateful to...

"Fate is a ship. As the shadows of World War II gather, the SS Lichenfield is westbound across the Pacific carrying eighty thousand barrels of highly explosive naphtha. The cargo alone makes the journey perilous, with the entire crew aware that one careless moment could lead to disaster. But yet another sort of peril haunts the Lichenfield. Even beyond their day-to-day coexistence, the lives of the crew are mysteriously intertwined. Though each has...