Sailing to the Far Horizon: The Restless Journey and Tragic Sinking of a Tall Ship

By Pamela Sisman Bitterman

Book Overview

Of the legions of wayfarers who shared in the tall ship Sofia's diverse and colorful history, only seventeen were on board when she went down. Of those who survived to tell the tale, none has . . . until now.
More than twenty-five years ago, Pamela Bitterman began her journey on board a 123-foot, sixty-year-old sailing ship being readied for its second global circumnavigation.
Bitterman's initial voyage, during which Hurricane Kendra chased the schooner miles off course to Bermuda, did not impel her to retreat home. Instead, she immersed herself in this created space between the life of a tall ship sailor, world traveler, and adventurer. Her narrative describes rare gatherings with Cuna Indians in the Gulf of San Blas, the discovery of original ancient tikis hidden away in the Marquesas, and a treasured offering of traditional tapa cloth from island natives. Bitterman's experiences also give readers insight into a time of civil unrest in Latin America, including a frightening road trip through Mexico and Central America, and the chaos during the final stages of the treaty that returned control of the Canal Zone back to Panama. The drama ensues with the arrest of the entire Sofia crew in two different countries, a bout with dengue fever, and a near-mutiny in New Zealand before the final voyage.
The details of events from this journey endure as vividly today as when Bitterman was a naive "shellback" swabbie, later ship's bos'un, and finally acting first mate. In the end, she was merely one on a life raft of grateful survivors.
Sailing to the Far Horizon draws on original journal entries, photographs, and excerpts from official Coast Guard documents that chronicle the fascinating enigma that was the Sofia and its dramatic end.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0299201902
• ISBN13: 9780299201906
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A wonderfully refreshing true story

I stumbled across this book while doing some research online. Finding the author's narrative snappish and amusing and the subject matter intriguing, I purchased the book. I was not disappointed. The book got better with each chapter. By the middle I could barely put it down. The author manages to recount the very interesting and "real" story of the tall ship Sofia while identifying, without judgment, key principles at the heart of the 60's cultural revolution. I found myself having huge respect for the authro's intellect and physical accomplishments. She's a woman I would love to meet! My husband, who is a political science writer, found the first chapters laborious and was therefore skeptical. By the end, however, he too had nothing but praise for the book and the author.

Sailor from Hell

I live on a lake in Hell Michigan, hence the title for my review. I have a tiny O'Day sloop that I sail when the jet skiers and wake boarders are not about and I'm a child of Woodstock who remembers living life without hand rails. I related to this wonderful story on many levels; the great sailing adventures; the loose and whimsical way that the crew made decisions and the great freedom that the crew experienced as they crammed all of their worldly possessions into a sea bag and ventured out. This is one of those books that I wanted to gobble up in a single setting but I made myself parcel it out in small savory bites so that it lasted for an entire week. Reading a new chapter was my reward for completing parts of a syllabus that I was working on. Thank you Pamela Bitterman for this beautiful book, it has joined the collection of sailing stories on my book shelf. Larry Broat

Sailing to the Far Horizon

This is a truly amazing adventure written by a courageous author who dared to take a risk and sail across the world. Composed mostly of journal entries, the book is written in an honest style that paints the picture of the long voyage out at sea and the hardships its crew endured during its sinking. Overall, I appreciated the honest style in which the book was written and the truthful accounts from the journal entries. The book not only told the story in writing, but conveyed it through its sincerity. I was captivated from the beginning to end, but especially during the end... during the sinking, the aftermath, and dealing with the loss. The accounts of the Sofia and what her crew faced were both fascinating and heartfelt, and they portrayed a vivid picture of what life was like on that tall ship. Whether you're young or old, the theme of the book is applicable to all. I will forever keep the the story of the Sofia and it's crew with me and will heed the advice of the author who once said to "have an adventure wherever you can."

Sailing to the Far Horizon: The Restless Journey

Ms. Sisman's book is a thrilling account recalling the rich tradition of 19th century nautical fiction and travelogues of Melville and Dana, or the rich evocative canvasses of Turner. Like so many restless wanderers in search of themselves, Pamela's memoirs recount an epic journey to exotic ports of call and encounters with people who, without the trappings of our 21st century mall-saturated American culture, manage to maintain serenity, sanity and dignity. At the same time, the book recalls the 70's and the youthful quests all but lost to the "Baby Boom" generation. I recommend this book to anyone who's fascinated with the sea, with travel articles and memoirs, and to anyone who has ever suffered a traumatic experience and lived to move on. I'd welcome a sequel about the reunion of the crew, should this be possible. Gripping, descriptive, yet embued with both nostalgia and horror, "Sailing" riveted me from start to tragic finish. S.Nathanson, Valley Stream, NY

Glad someone told this true story.

I started this book with quite high expectations due to a very positive review I had read in my local sailing newspaper. Unfortunately, after reading the first several pages I almost put the book down. The language at the beginning was laborious and over-written, as if a non-writer was trying too hard to be a real writer. The fact that she states herself to have been an anti-establishment, non-shaving, environmentalist vegetarian when she had her Sofian adventure also made me leery to continue. I am no social conservative but I am too old to enjoy the writings of generally judgmental idealists. The only reason I kept reading was because I really wanted to hear about the Sofia sailing experience and her tragic sinking. Fortunately, the author's writing got a lot better and she turned out not to be as irritating as I had begun to fear. She wrote that this book is based quite a lot on letters she wrote home over the 3-plus years she was a regular Sofian crewmember. I think these letters provided the base for the majority of the book and so the majority of the book was written well and in a natural way that was also entertaining. Her character came through as solid, life-loving and very accepting of others, contrary to what I had first feared. Her observations about her crewmates and her travels were very interesting and had the right amount of humor. She was also very informative about the technicalities of sailing a tallship without getting too bogged down for non-sailing readers. She was very honest about the people she crewed with, about herself and about the sinking. In other words, this is an enjoyable travelog and the only one available about this unique ship and its last trip so I am grateful she made the great effort of writing a book. Maybe I am being sexist to think some men may be particularly discouraged by the first several pages of the book. But I urge everyone interested in sailing, cruising the oceans and just plain adventuring to stick it out if they are because this is a great story. I also enjoyed noting how modern people on an old-fashioned tallship act just like sailors under stress in centuries past. You still have near mutinies in the doldrums, shipboard power alliances and surprising international incidents. It's all different yet all the same which is reassuring for some reason. The only dissatisation I felt at the end was that this was indeed a true story and someone who seemed very special, trusting and kind took a seemingly uncharacteristic gamble and lost it all.