Tristan Jones

[RED DRAGON]

Let me start by saying that I have a new favorite (non-porn) web-site. I don't want to respond to Mike by calling him names. Sailors are (and have been through-out history) the most courageous people on earth. All of my heros are sailors and I only wish I had half of their guts. We've only had motorized transport for about 200 yrs. European sailors discovered the world, including the cushy country that has the unfortunate distinction of being your home nation.
Anyway, I've always been a huge Tristan Jones fan. I would like to think that most sailors are familar with his books. If not do yourself a favor and read one of his books. He is by far the toughest person I've ever read of and posssibly the greatest single handed sailor ever. I think that I am reading his last book, "To Venture Further". (It's the last one I've found on book web sites.) I've searched the web, but can not find any info. on him. And, I'm wondering if anyone knows how he died? He his lived through so much, I'm interested to know what finally did him in.

 

[Mike]

Get ready for some surprises

I think all of us who have read a Tristan Jones book have marvelled at his courage, his stamina, and his sheer guts. However, it turns out that Tristan wasn't really the guy he said he was. Even if you are a Tristan-fanatic (or maybe especially if you are one), you should read Anthony Dalton's "Wayward Sailor - In Search of the Real Tristan Jones". According to Dalton, after Tristan lost his second leg in 1991 (his other leg had been amputated in the '80s, which apparently didn't stop him from sailing), his body and spirits failed him, and he died a bitter man in 1995.

 

[Joe]

Tristan Jones - Welsh mariner, author, adventurer and humanitarian - said he was born at sea in 1924 off the island of Tristan da Cunha aboard his father's tramp steamer. He died in Thailand in 1995 of "complications after a stroke"

I met Tristan Jones in Rhode Island at the Newport Boat Show. He was always one of my biggest heroes and I had read almost every book that he ever wrote. One of my favorite books that he wrote was called; "One Hand For The Ship, One Hand For Yourself." It was out of print at the time and I asked him if he would consider putting it back out on the market because I wanted to buy it. He was having a book signing and was selling his latest books. I told him that my library had all his books and he told me; "Please give your Liberian my compliments." He told me that he would try and get some reprints of this book, and after a short period of time they did reprint it and I bought a copy which I still have to this day. We talked a little about sextants and cooking on board. He was a little guy, but he had more guts than anyone I've ever known. He lived on a meager pension from the RAF and took on regular jobs like elevator operator or fireman at Herod's Department store in London when he wasn't out on his many adventures. He was a regular guy who loved adventure, but he also cared for other fellow human beings. Back around the turn of the last century, the hero of the day was Joshua Slocum, but my hero of day was Tristan Jones.
Joe

 

[larry w]

Mike and Joe

you know, of course, that the books Jones wrote were total bullsh!t, that he never spent time frozen in the ice, or in the Andes, or anywhere else. He was a total fraud, altho an entertaining one. He was never in the Royal Navy, was not torpedoed, was not born off some island in the Atlantic, father was not a merchant captain, etc. He made it all up. I've read every one of his books and I think the only true ones were the ones in Thailand.

 

[Paul]

google

Google Tristan Jones and you'll get any number of websites about him, some positive, some critical, all pretty interesting.

 

[John]

"European sailors discovered the world..."

Well, it wasn't exactly like that. There is some thought that people from South America sailed to the Pacific Islands. The Pacific Islanders, themselves, were amazing navigators. The combined a knowledge of birds, weather, and wave patterns to find islands hundreds, probably thousands of miles away. Evidently one of their techniques was to lie in the bottom of their dugouts and feel the wave patterns through their testicles - the most sensitive part of the male body.

For anybody who's interested in how people learned navigation (and other aspects of science), I highly recommend "A People's History of Science" by Clifford Connor. He shows that it was the experience of ordinary people - sailors, craftsmen, peasants, etc. - that was the real basis for an understanding of nature. It wasn't the elite who led the way.

 

[Joe]

Can you prove that Larry? It's easy to run a man down who is no longer around to debate you. The guy may have spun a few yarns, but he wasn't a complete phony as you make him out to be. Let's face it Larry, more people around the world have heard of Tristan Jones, but how many people have ever heard of you?

 

[Ross]

I just did a cursury search of the web for Tristan

Jones, and my impression is that he was an accomplished world sailor and Welsh story teller. Like my late brother-in-law he never like the fine details of fact get in the way of a good story. As in ,"when I was in the battle of Trafalgar with Lord Nelson............." Hell no ! "I" wasn't there but it makes the writing easier. He wrote a dozen or more books and is known by many to have sailed in the places he writes about and experienced the things he tells of. To label him a fraud is to be narrow of mind and lacking an understanding of the story tellers craft.

 

[Rick Webb]

Who Cares?

It would not matter if the books were written by a woman in Kansas who gets seasick in a bathtub, the books are a wonderful read. Skip the truth and enjoy the stories. How boring and unromantic would it be if we only dealt with facts?

 

[Joe]

You're absolutely right!

Rick,
John Wayne was another hero of mine but lets face it, he was never in the service, and never won any medals like Audie Murphy, Lee Marvin, or other actors who served in the armed forces. He was a great actor who portrayed great American heroes.

Larry,
You and I still have plenty of time to carve our niche in this world, and if we don't,-- who cares? LOL
Joe

 

[Stu Jackson]

searched the web, but can not find any info. on him.

Ya gotta be kidding...wikipedia and a search on Google. Where were you NOT finding material on this guy? C'mon.......

He's fun reading and I've learned a lot from his writings.

 

[CalebD]

I've gotta chime in here.

I have read everything I could find by Tristan Jones as well and have read Patrick O'Brian's 'Aubrey, Maturin' series twice. They are both good reads but Tristan Jones was a sailor whereas P. O'B. was more of a very good researcher and maybe amateur sailor.
TJ (not Trader Joe) could spin a yarn faster and better than most of us and even if half of what he wrote is actual fiction he is still an enviable sailing curmudgeon. I just don't understand the whole hoopla over the Dalton book that dismisses most everything TJ wrote (never read it and probably never will). I enjoyed reading these books and was also saddened when I heard that this author of, let's call it embellished autobiography, was dead before I could meet him.
There was another fellow who used to post here and on other sailing forums, named Robert Gainer who some of you may remember who recently died. I probably should not name them in the same post as RG was always a gentleman but he also did some rather crazy single handed stunts. Do any of you who have also read Bernard Moitissier think that he was particularly sane?
Kicking dirt on a tomb stone seems like bad luck and bad manners IMHO. Please enjoy the TJ novels as largely fiction and you won't be hurt if it turns out that he never actually worked at Harrod's department store in London (for example).
As Stu Jackson said there is a lot of web info on TJ out there. Use google and type in the name 'Tristan Jones' and his website among others will show up. I just did it.
There is also a guy in Idaho who was refurbishing the 'Sea Dart' (happens to be the State 'boat'???). His legacy (as with RG) are still with us.
http://www.tristanjones.org/
http://ronreil.abana.org/tristan.shtml
http://www.tor.cc/articles/tristan.htm
These are just a few of the more 'interesting' links I have found on TJ.
BTW, Robert Gainer also wrote at least one book (see link below).

 

[Liam]

Europeans Discovered the world???

Actually the world was there the whole time and the natives who inhabited it were not at all lost. The Europeans had to go somewhere because they turned their continent into shit.

 

[Mike]

A slightly different view

Caleb: I think that many folks disenchantment with Tristan Jones is a natural reaction. Don't get me wrong: totally true or completely false, they are entertaining stories. However, he maintained they were true; completely true. Some of the pleasure I got from reading him was based on the belief that I was reading non-fiction; that there was a tough old bird out there living a movie-worthy life and writing about it in straight-forward, no-nonsense prose. When I learned that Tristan wasn't really "Tristan", I felt a little like I had been had. That feeling didn't last too long, as I can now look on his stories as Tall Tails, or in the cases where he just elaborated on the truth, as memoirs. Still enjoyable for me, but very different. I do understand though why some think he's a fraud and not worth reading anymore.