The Ship Beyond Time (The Girl from Everywhere #2)
By: Heidi Heilig
In 1968, Donald Crowhurst set out from England on a trimaran called Teignmouth Electron, in the hopes of winning a single-handed race around the world. At first, he seemed a long shot: his boat was untested, he was competing against much more experienced sailors, and he’d had a string of personal and business failures to date. Still, he was certain he could win—in fact, he had to win. His debts left no other option.
Surprisingly, he reported record speeds sailing south toward the Horn and soon became a media darling; after six months, as competitors dropped out of the race through choice or circumstance, he became a sure thing. Welcome parties were planned, grand ceremonies and parades—and an inspection of his logbooks, of course, just to make sure everything was on the level. All of that was set aside when the Teignmouth Electron was found drifting in the Sargasso Sea, abandoned without sign of a storm or struggle.
The ship’s clock was missing, along with one of his logbooks—likely, the one in which he’d recorded the fake version of his journey: the version where he raced around the world at record-breaking speeds. Review of the books left behind pointed to Crowhurst’s probable fate—suicide after eight months of solitude and pressure—though as in any mysterious disappearance, some people are certain he survived.
Either way, his logbooks show a descent into madness and despair, countered by an odd certainty that he had unlocked the secrets of the universe. References to “the game” and becoming a “cosmic being” are taken from those passages. For readers interested in further information, The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst, by Tomalin and Hall, was invaluable to me.
THE THIRD VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN JAMES COOK
Nearly two hundred years before Crowhurst, another famous mariner set out on his own final voyage. By 1776, Captain James Cook had circumnavigated the globe twice. Hailed as a hero, he’d been made a fellow of the Royal Society and was given an honorary retirement by the royal navy as well as the Copley Gold medal.
Certainly he’d come a long way from his apprenticeship days, and no one would have blamed him for taking his retirement. But something drove him back to sea. Perhaps it was his ambition, which he said led him “not only farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it is possible for a man to go.” On this voyage, though, Cook went too far.
By all accounts, he’d been a fair and beloved leader, but something changed between his second and third voyages. Though he was greeted warmly upon his arrival in Hawaii, he wore out his welcome rather quickly with his irrational behavior and demands. When a group of frustrated Hawaiians stole one of Cook’s small boats, Cook himself marched up to the king of Hawaii and attempted to hold him as ransom for the return of the cutter. The Hawaiians fought back, and Cook was struck and killed in the fray.
What caused the bizarre behavior that led to his death in Kealakekua Bay? One may speculate, though there is no record of a prophecy made by a mysterious woman in the Port of London.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
All ships need a good crew—this past year, I’ve sailed with the best.
My great thanks to Martha Mihalick, for making sure this book is shipshape, stem to stern, through her patience both at the helm and at the holystone. Thanks also to Molly Ker Hawn, without whom the Temptation would not have left port.
To the librarians and booksellers, thank you for being real-life Navigators, carrying us magically to places out of myth and history.
Fair winds brought me to the Sweet Sixteens—more real than two pieces of eight (pardon the puns) and worth their weight in gold. Special thanks to Alwyn Hamilton, who, when asked for an emergency critique, swung to the rescue with guns blazing.
I salute the assorted tars, salts, and scalawags who inspire me: here are dragons born. Cristina Das, Elspeth Morris, and Michelle Veazie on art history; Matt Holohan and Tommaso Sciortino on gods and devils; Paul Bruno on fate and free will; Nelson Lugo with all the cards up his sleeves; Fyodor Pavlov for the cut of his jib; Mike Pettry and Allison Posner for their siren song.
I’m ever grateful for Jennifer Baker, Bean River Haskell, Brittany of Brittany’s Book Rambles, Kris of My Friends are Fiction, and Rachel of A Perfection Called Books. Thank you for ringing the ship’s bell for Book One (or were you sounding the alarm?).
To the old salts and sea dogs—Becky Albertalli, Rae Carson, Jodi Meadows, Danielle Paige, Adam Silvera, and Anne Ursu—thank you for sharing your charts of the seas through which I’m now sailing.
My boundless appreciation for the team at Greenwillow, particularly Tim Smith for his weather eye on first watch, Gina Rizzo for flying our flag, and Sylvie Le Floc’h for designing it.
Love and gratitude to my family—Thekla and Duncan, Matt and Lisa, Ken and Cindy, Mom and Dad—for being there under red skies, at night or in the morning.
And always, to Bret and Felix, who buoy me up.