The China Voyage

Six men and one woman are about to make maritime history as they sail the Pacific on a raft. Starting in Vietnam and attempting to reach America on a bamboo raft, they are testing the theory that Asian soldiers reached America some 2,000 years ago. Tim Severin begins his journey by going on a trial raft trip with two fishermen and after that is successful, he decides that Vietnam is the place for him to start his journey. He names the raft Hsu Fu, after a Chinese mariner sent by the first Emperor of China to explore for islands in the Pacific and after a long eighteen months of planning and building, they are ready to set sail. There’s just one thing left: his crew. The team: Tim, Loi, Joe, Mark, Geoffrey, Rex and Nina have a long journey ahead of them. From searches by Japanese police to encounters with pirates, it’s a challenging and weary journey. Will they all get there alive? And will they be able to keep the peace in the small space they all share together? Or will ‘The China Voyage’ prove catastrophic for them all? In ‘The China Voyage’, world-renowned explorer Tim Severin’s account of this unparalleled exploit provides us with one of the most remarkable sea adventures ever told. Praise for Tim Severin: ‘Tim Severin is one of the last of the old-style explorers…His deeds speak to us of the purity of achievement in an age where experience has become blunted by comfort and complacency. We watch them, awed … A vivid picture of the aching space of the ocean} the loneliness of the long-distance sailor’ The TIMES ‘The story of this courageous quest is gripping and a wonderful armchair escape to real adventure from an increasingly mundane world’ SUNDAY EXPRESS ‘An extraordinary experiment, and by implication a study of man’s desire to set himself gruelling tasks and to set to them with great ingenuity and courage…This well-illustrated book is awash with nautical and hydrographic detail, which he manages to make interesting and accessible even to the avowed landlubber…Fascinating’ SCOTSMAN Tim Severin is an explorer, film-maker and lecturer, who has made many expeditions, from crossing the Atlantic in a medieval leather boat to going out in search of Moby Dick and Robinson Crusoe. He has won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, the Book of the Sea Award, a Christopher Prize, and the literary medal of the Academie de la Marine. He books include ‘Crusader’, ‘The Sindbad Voyage’, ‘The Brendan Voyage’, ‘The Jason Voyage’ and ‘The Ulysses Voyage’. Read more