The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow

Publisher: Seafarer Books/Sheridan House, 2002 £ 12.95/$19.95

Is this an adventure novel or an account of a real voyage? Sandy Mackinnon's tale relates how a couple of quiet weeks' sailing in a Mirror dinghy on the River Severn somehow got out of hand, and a year and more than 3,000 miles later he reached the Black Sea. It is difficult to know how much of the story to believe since the author admits to exaggerating for effect. His descriptions of sailing down the tidal Thames and crossing the Channel sound convincing enough though you might consider the events, if true, to be shamelessly irresponsible. Similarly, his encounters with the busy industrial rivers of the Moselle and the Rhine left me wondering whether he might have had a death wish. The only photograph is on the front cover but there are illustrations. You, dear reader, may make up your own mind about this enigma of a book. I have never read anything quite like it, but then that is an exaggeration since, despite many attempts to finish it, my interest in the journey stopped some way short of the Black Sea. - SB

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