BLACK WAVE

A San Diego family’s adventure-filled, two-year journey from New York to the South Pacific in a 55-foot catamaran sailboat.

Along the way, the Silverwoods endured close encounters with modern-day pirates of the Caribbean, a Force-10 gale off Colombia, a broken generator in Tahiti and every kind of sea creature imaginable. In many ways, the children—Ben, 16, Amelia, 14, Jack, nine, and Camille, five—proved more resilient than their parents. John, an alcoholic, suffered several tumbles from the wagon early on, causing his admittedly high-strung wife Jean to nearly pack up the kids and leave. He soon righted himself, aided by some hastily arranged tropical AA meetings, and Jean was eventually calmed by daily runs on the beach and the companionship of a chance-met South African family making a similar round-the-world voyage. The Silverwoods’ courage and survival skills got their ultimate test when the Emerald Jane crashed into a hidden reef in the remote South Pacific, destroying the boat and severely damaging John’s leg. In this life-and-death trial, all of them were changed, brought together as few families ever are. The first-time authors prove able narrators and engaging hosts throughout this well-crafted memoir. Wisely, they focus not only on the natural wonders experienced on their marathon journey, but on the small everyday matters: meal preparations, the kids’ home schooling at sea, mechanical problems with the boat. These up-close, authentic details enrich a story that works on many levels—as intimate family portrait, colorful travelogue and high-seas drama. Moreover, the Silverwoods wrecked on the same reef where a three-masted sailing ship, the Julia Ann, was struck back in 1855, thus providing them with a riveting historical coda to their own adventure.

Highly readable, educational and entertaining.