GAEL ARTHUR reviews THE WAYWARD SAILOR	A new book by Anthony Dalton
"Photo courtesy Henry Wagner Collection"	.

First off, let me state my biases. I do not normally choose to read biographies.
Nor am I particularly drawn to books about the sea. Nor had I even heard about Tristan Jones before chatting with good friend and colleague, Anthony Dalton.

So, I come to Wayward Sailor, In Search of the Real Tristan Jones from a distinctly different perspective than the usual book reviewer. In some ways, this makes me a tougher critic. For Dalton to hold my non-nautical attention, we are on an uphill battle, eased somewhat by my respect for his writing abilities and our friendship.

	Fortunately, the beauty of this book is that at its heart is a character whose prevarications and fabrications are at least as intriguing as the truth of his seafaring adventures. Dalton has ferreted out as much of the truth as is possible, drawing out sources that most would never have dreamed existed. Just how did Dalton determine the famous man’s reinvention through a forged passport that gently shifted reality (changing the year of birth to allow the writer to describe war years he never experience, how a new birthplace and family history hid the shame of being a bastard with a nondescript childhood)?
		© Manfred Peter, courtesy Willi Zeiss"
	It was the usual way, the persistent search through public records, coupled with interviewing scores of people who knew Tristan and generously shared snippets of stories. Imagine how many records of male children named Jones, born (probably) in May of one of a few years in the twenties.

The persistence of Dalton’s years of research has rewarded us with a painstaking chronology of a man who didn’t want people to know exactly what he was doing and where.

The book follows a general chronology, with the odd fast-forward to link things Tristan wrote with real life experiences. Photos on this site reproduced with permission, credit goes to Henry Wagner) are taken from the book – they add much to the story.


I found myself moving from the story to the photos and cheating a bit by referring to the maps of various voyages to see what continent Tristan would next attack. And it is an attack, almost as though Tristan were obsessed by taking on bigger and bigger projects. Not content with coastlines alone, voyages up and down rivers figure prominently and along with them the sense of a man at once a loner and a storyteller.

"Photo courtesy Henry Wagner Collection"

I would be lying if I didn’t admit to finding some sections of the book a bit dry. The day-by-day, blow-by-blow description of the Sea Dart’s voyage through the Panama Canal and along the coast of Colombia and Ecuador en route to Lake Titicaca wore a bit thin on me, but Dalton’s reasons for the detail are apparent. His careful research allowed him to unearth inconsistencies in Tristan’s “accounts” of his journeys. Ten-foot jellyfish documented in the ship’s log double in size by the time they reach The Incredible Journey. One wonders why – ten-foot jellyfish are spectacular enough.

But this is the crux of Dalton’s investigation and line of inquiry. What prompted Tristan to take great adventures and retool them to be so dramatic and exciting as to become ridiculously over the top and unbelievable to the serious reader.

Tristan’s carefully executed plan to generate writing income to finance his voyages reveals not only a complex personality, but also an extremely talented and versatile individual who knew how to capitalize on all his assets.

Although Dalton dissects and exposes the fiction of Tristan Jones’ non-fiction writing, he does so with the compassion of one who both sails and writes, one who understands the desire to please readers and appease editors. This was a labour of love and it shows.

Editor’s note: Anthony Dalton is an occasional contributor to Worldrover. Click on the button captioned San Francisco in this issue. Then, check out his articles on:
Arcachon http://www.worldrover.net/archive/0201fran/ADalDune.htm
and Rome http://www.worldrover.net/archive/0208ital/.

http:://webmaster.daytonatrophy.com/jones/pages/dalton.html