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Broad Oceans and Narrow Seas
by John Townend

This autobiography of British sailer John Townend (b. 1941) includes a chapter devoted to his time as a shark fisherman on Achill Island and his involvement in filming a documentary about Achill shark fishing which tragically claimed the lives of three men, including one of his best friends. This engaging book also includes accounts of Townend's escapades in the navy all around the world, during the second world war and the Korean war, and his time as a sien-fisherman.

Price: €10.00 plus P&P



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From the back cover:

John Townend volunteered for the Navy in 1941. The years that followed took him to South Africa, the Persian Gulf, India, Norway and into the dangerous waters of the Channel between England and occupied France. He served chiefly in MTBs, sometimes engaged in secret and hazardous operations. At the end of the war in Europe he volunteered for minesweeping in the Far East, helping to clear Singapore, Thailand and Burmese ports. But this did not bring his sea-faring life to an end, for the challenge of sailing small boats was irresistible. He went fishing for basking sharks off the coast of Ireland, returned briefly to the Navy during the Korean war, was involved in a collision at sea and then became a sien-fisherman, first in Irish waters and later from Fleetwood in Lancashire.

This is a wonderful, fast-moving story, told with gusto and remembered as though it were yesterday.