Chapter Notes – The Voyage of The Aegre

Earlier versions of the story long before publication had a different title was longer and had Chapter Notes

Before I started writing The Voyage of The Aegre, I gathered together and read all the old letters from the time, bits of diaries, early drafts of the story Julie and I had worked on long ago, magazine articles I’d written, and all the photos I could find. It took me a few years. Then, immersed in it, the memories flooding back, I started writing the story.

With so much material, it was difficult to decide what to include and what not. Furthermore, I wanted the story to engage both sailors and non-sailors, so technical terms needed to be explained without over-simplifying, which more experienced sailors might find patronising.

As I explain in the book’s Acknowledgements section, Dr Gene Carl Feldman came to my aid. An experienced small boat sailor, he would listen to and discuss my ideas and plan for each chapter, read my drafts, and give me constructive feedback. In answer to my question of whether I should include one thing or another, his answer was always to ‘Write it now. You can always cut it later.’ So I did, and that first draft was one thick book.

Naively, in hindsight, I sent it to various publishers. Most never replied, a few did, politely saying no for various reasons. One was positive, but he went further, telling me that for him to consider it, I’d need to cut it by at least 30,000 words.

That’s a lot. It took me a few months of hard decisions. Questioning what the story was really about. What stories were just rabbit holes that took the reader nowhere? What detail was superfluous? What explanations could I omit?

With Gene’s help, I made the cuts and the story was much the better for it. But the cutting room floor was littered with gems. Not lost, of course, just filed safely we agreed, to be possibly published one day as a supplement to the book for the interested reader.

Following publication, I started to receive letters from readers wanting more. I decided to progressively publish on the website a selection of the material cut from the early version of the story, as Chapter Notes — a sort of adjunct to the story. So here they are. I hope you find them interesting, but you’ll need to read the book first to get the best value from them.

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