Book DescriptionA pocket of salt water tucked into southern Massachusetts, Buzzards Bay is a place where "swamp yankee" traditions still hold sway and the ghosts of Indians and 17th century explorers, pirates and revolutionaries rise from every quarter. Herman Melville and Henry James, Grover Cleveland and John F. Kennedy are among the many historical figures who have left their mark on the area. Among the boats cruising the idyllic and largely unspoiled bay, the research schooner SARAH ABBOT-crewed by high school students studying marine biology-sails each summer with Captain Randall Peffer at the helm. A tale of exploration and adventure, Logs of the Dead Pirates Society is the absorbing account of a routine cruise that became a rite of passage and a deeply personal quest for Peffer. Coming aboard with a persistent yet vague uneasiness, Peffer views the bay's islands and coves, towns and townspeople through an unusually keen and imaginative lens. Ruminating on historical wisdoms, he searches relentlessly for the path to his future by delving into the past. Thus this seemingly ordinary cruise (which concludes with a surprising, satisfying twist) stands-in the words of Joseph Conrad-as one of "those voyages that seem illustrations of life." Randall Peffer's nonfiction narrative Watermen won the Baltimore Sun's Critics Choice Award. He is the author of several travel guidebooks published by National Geographic and Lonely Planet, and has been a regular contributor to National Geographic, Smithsonian, SAIL, and WoodenBoat. Peffer is a licensed captain and a literature instructor at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.
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