A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck

Maralyn and Maurice are a strange pair and he is shocked when she agrees to marry him. He is an introvert, she is outgoing. He loves to sail, and after getting her out on the water, they decide to sell their home and sail halfway around the world from England to New Zealand. They meticulously pack for their voyage, but without a radio per Maurice's wishes. One day, while in the Pacific Ocean, they realize a whale has hit their ship. They grab what they can, and move onto the dinghy, watching the ship sink. They then spend nearly 4 months floating in the ocean with little provisions, while ships pass them by. Finally rescued, they have to deal with newfound fame. Without Maralyn's resourcefulness, they would have likely died.
The author show more relied on previously published info to create the book, and it read like a novel vs. non-fiction. Great story, held my interest. show less

For what else is a marriage, really, if not being stuck on a small raft with someone and trying to survive! from A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst

I sped through this book. It is a story of individuals against the elements, using every tool and their ingenuity to survive, which alone is a page-turner story. On the deeper level, it is a story of how two people rely on each other’s strengths to make it, illustrating the best of a marriage.

Maurice had knowledge and strived for perfection. Maralyn had optimism and hope and never gave up.

It is not so much the feats of endurance that keep people alive as the absence of surrender. from A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst

How did I miss this story back in 1973? I was working, my husband in show more school, and we were living in a dorm in rural Ohio. All I remember was Dick Zip’s farm report when the clock radio turned on in the morning.

Maurice was lonely, a difficult man to like. Madalyn was bored and wanted adventure. Maurice introduced her to mountain climbing and sailing, and she loved it. They married and were living a normal life, neither happy with normal. Madalyn suggested a goal: save up for a sail boat and live a life of adventure.

They made their dream come true. They left England and crossed the Atlantic. They were on their way to the Galapagos when it happened: a Sperm whale struck the boat. They couldn’t plug the hole, and scrambled to gather what they could into the dingy and inflatable boat. Then watched their home sink.

Days turned to weeks turned to months. Maurice was sure they would die, but Madalyn insisted they had a future. Ships passed, oblivious to their presence. They learned to catch turtles and fish and how to collect rainwater. They endured sun and storm, loss of supplies, air leaks in the inflatable. They watched their bodies change, slowly starving.

You’re still alive while you’re dying. from A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst

It was a Korean fishing boat that noticed them, just in time. The couple became international news, celebrities, and sold a book about their adventure.

Madalyn was Maurice’s ballast. He admitted that she took over and kept them alive. As their story shows, a good marriage allows each person’s strength to lead, making them stronger together than they are separately.

Thanks to Riverhead Books for a free book through First Look Book Club. show less

Maurice and Maralyn is based on a true story, one of courage, fortitude and love. The couple met and married in the 1960s and embarked on life together in Derby. However, not content with domesticity and the day to day grind of daily life, they decided to sell their bungalow and build a boat, one that would sail them across oceans. Several years later they are ready to set sail and they have a merry time until a whale strikes the boat and it sinks, leaving them to bob around the Pacific on just a life raft and a dinghy.

This is an incredible and almost unbelievable story of survival. Knowing it all really happened just makes it even more shocking and it proves just how much the human body can endure. The vast wide open space of the show more ocean made me shudder to think about it and I can barely come close to imagining what four months of it must have felt like. Maurice and Maralyn had very different personalities, him quite cautious and often tending towards pessimism, with Maralyn being optimistic to the point of sometimes seeming unrealistic. Although opposites in many ways, they also complemented each other and it's this that made them strong enough to survive their ordeal.

Sophie Elmhirst's story is a memorable one and is beautifully written. Whilst the recounting of details gives it a matter-of-fact feel, it has been fictionalised in such a way that it also drew me in completely as any good novel should. I found it such a compelling and extraordinary story of a brave couple's life before, during and after their astonishing voyage. It moved me, it surprised me and it enthralled me. It's such a swell (forgive the pun) book. show less

Maurice and Maralyn Bailey decide to abruptly change their lives. They quit their jobs, sell their house in England and purchase a sailboat. They decide to sail to New Zealand- an improbable destination. Nine months into their trip, somewhere in the Pacific, a whale suddenly breaches into their boat, capsizing it. They find themselves adrift on a raft with a few scant supplies. They somehow survive for three months.
This excellent nonfiction tale, set in 1972, is a joy to read. The author brings her impressive journalistic skills to flesh out a fast-moving narrative, detailing a story about survival and the fierce bonds of a marriage.

Fascinating and deftly written account of a British husband and wife who survived six weeks drifting in a life raft after their sailboat collided with an injured whale and sank into the Pacific Ocean. The methods they used to find food and water, and the number of times they came close to death are told in descriptive yet matter-of-fact prose, an extreme example of the culturally-celebrated stiff upper lip.*

This is also a portrait of a singular marriage that in a romance novel would be labeled as "grumpy meets sunshine," although grumpy Maurice wasn't masking a soft, kind center and sunshine Maralyn yearned more for adventure than community. Finally, it's a bizarre example of 1970s-era celebrity that found the bemused couple being feted show more and chronicled after their eventual rescue, even though they didn't come close to achieving their goal of sailing to New Zealand.

Loses a little steam in the final sections with a significant time jump, just when I wanted to know more about What Happened Next. But overall, this is non-fiction at its best - using a little-remembered incident as an opportunity to explore universal truths about humankind, all in less than 250 pages.

By the way, Maralyn didn't know how to swim!

*"Buck up. You might say it to a horse. Generations of English children have found themselves doing things they don't want to, miserably, after being told to buck up. Boys' schools and regiments, all dependent on the idea that a mood can be instructed." show less

Absolutely fascinating!! I am SO impressed with Elmhirst's ability to really show just who Maralyn and Maurice are/were with so much detail. Their lives turned completely up-side-down and they sort of went with the flow not only of the ocean currents but of the world-wide media attention later. Faced with something so out of their control ---in the ocean and then on land with the attention provides a dramatic story that we are able to see because of Elmhirst's wonderful research and her ability to describe the couple from so many different angles. Definitely a special book to read...particularly Maurice's words near the end of his life.

Maurice Bailey and his wife Maralyn, outsiders in the stultifying atmosphere of England in the mid-1970s, scrimped and saved until they could build a yacht and sail off to sea. Calamitously, they experienced every sailor's worst nightmare: a shipwreck in the open ocean. Because Captain Maurice eschewed modern conveniences like radios, they had no way to signal for help. The couple endured a 118-day ordeal as they struggled to survive on a life raft with only the meager provisions they had quickly rescued from their boat. As supplies dwindled, starvation and dehydration became ever-present threats. Maurice's despairing nature didn't help matters any, either. Optimistic, resourceful Maralyn saved the day.

Author Sophie Elmhirst's A show more Marriage at Sea emphasizes the love story behind the Baileys’ survival tale in a narrative that is expertly crafted and gripping from beginning to end. Highly recommended.

I received an electronic copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated in any way. show less