The wind in the sails

"Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd published many other nautical titles in addition to those in The Mariners Library and for one of them - The Wind in the Sails, a historical sailing fantasy by the French author Jacques Perret - Ransome played an important role. The truth is, he played three important roles. First, he was instrumental in getting it published. Second, because it was 'so abominably translated' from the French, he and Richard Garnett (David's son) laboured mightily to put it into publishable form. It required so much work, in fact, that Garnett later wrote, 'Ransome threatened that if we did not leave the original translator's name off the title page he would add 'with several hundred corrections by another hand'. And third, Ransome show more favourably reviewed the book for The Sunday Times, an act that doesn't seem quite sporting, considering his involvement." (Donald Tunnicliff Rice, 'Arthur Ransome, Rupert Hart-Davis, and the Mariners Library', Mixed Moss, 2023, pp. 45-53). show less