A Fighting Chance.**

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.VG+/VG+.No owner inscrptn,no price-clip to dw/dj but with a black ink,capital lettered WITHDRAWN stamp to ffe. [Assumed an ex-library copy/edn - but there are no other such markings or indications to that effect,in the book.] Partial loss to top corner of ffe also.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated,wrap-around b/w photographic dw/dj and red+white lettering; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges,two small nicks/closed tears top+bottom,rear board's corners.Top+fore-edges generally bright and clean; contents bright,tight and clean - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners.Bright,unblemished, publisher's original,plain dark blue cloth boards with bright,crisp, stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate b/w map endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,9-255pp [paginated] includes 12 chapters,16pp comprising 24 contemporary b/w photographs,between pp128/9,authors' notes,an appendix,13pp facsimile log pages to rear; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,a dedication and contents list/table. On a stormy Saturday in September,1966 John Ridgway and Chay Blyth landed at the little Irish village of Inishmore after rowing alone across the Atlantic in a tiny boat only twenty feet long and five feet wide.Their 92- day voyage from Cape Cod,Massachusetts,USA, was an incredible achievement.Both Captain Ridgway and Sergeant Blyth had had a tough army training as paratroopers,but neither had much previous experience of the sea.The little boat, English Rose III,was like a Nova Scotian dory - the sort of open boat traditionally used by fishermen off the coast of North East America.The dory men who made her ready promised the two Englishmen 'a fighting chance' - and they certainly needed it! For three months they lived in a cockpit measuring eight feet by four feet.English Rose III was battered by storms,by hurricane Alma,by huge and almost overwhelming waves.Salt water got into the rations and food became short.The rowers encountered whales, sharks,porpoises,dolphins,a mysterious sea-serpent and the occasional friendly ship.But the intense solitude brought a new dimension to life,and the struggle to keep going and keep alive gave them a greater awareness of true values.Day by day John Ridgway and Chay Blyth kept individual logs,recording their experiences.These salt-stained notebooks have enabled them to write 'A Fighting Chance',their own personal account of an achievement which must surely rank as one of the great heroic adventures of this century (then 1966).The book includes a list of equipment taken on the voyage of English Rose III and an account of the navigational methods used.It is illustrated with b/w photographs taken by the authors and facsimile pages from their log-books. Please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the lighter weight of this item,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!