Journeys through the Inside Passage 1st edition 1992 2nd edition 1998 Writer and fisherman Joe Upton recounts the riveting stories of explorers of the past and seafarers of the present in JOURNEYS THROUGH THE INSIDE PASSAGE. His chronicle offers events vivid in their telling: the journey of widow Muriel Blanchet, who solo navigated a small vessel in the 1930s with her five children; the failed meeting of explorers Alexander Mackenzie and George Vancouver in 1793; countless sinkings; and tales from the author's own experiences plying this legendary waterway. "A thoughtful combination of sailing instructions, travel guide, social history and personal diary, and a convincing depiction of a waterway as cultural and geographical region." --Writer's Northwest "Once in a while, an author who knows a good deal about a subject writes a book. In rare instances the knowledgeable author is also a fine writer, and the book achieves distinction. Joe Upton's JOURNEYS THROUGH THE INSIDE PASSAGE is one of those happy occurrences-a book that will sweep readers along the water maze of the Inside Passage with pleasure and interest, providing entertainment and instruction in equal measure . . . The love of the sailor for the sea is evident, but the author is a sailor who reads literature and history to understand his region . . . He relates stirring tales of shipwrecks interspersed with other lively tales of adventures of himself and friends. Good stories of colorful characters at sea and on land abound . . . Those who traverse Alaska's maritime world will find Upton exciting and authentic. And armchair literary voyagers like myself will place the book high on the list of favorite maritime reading . . . A book that should never be allowed to go out of print." --Anchorage Daily News "Alternately exhilarating and contemplative . . . Upton's approach underscores the powerful effect of the sea and land on those who choose to wrestle with them." --Booklist "Joe Upton fans, and their number is legion, will be delighted that he's back writing about his first love, that wonderful, dangerous, beautiful, lovely country known as Southeast Alaska." --Nor'westing "Joe Upton, a commercial fisherman and noted author of ALASKA BLUES, takes us on a tour of the Inside Passage from Seattle to Skagway]. It is a moving memory of passagemaking, an anecdotal history of the region, a pilot's guide, an essay on nautical individualism, and a monument to a way of life that continues . . . Well written, with the rhythmic ebb and flow of all fine stories of voyaging, it is a pleasure to read." --Boating Books "Whether he writes of facing the rough waters of Queen Charlotte Sound alone or watching the sunset from an isolated settlement hacked out of the wilderness, Upton demonstrates on every page that he is a craftsman who knows how to reel in the right word and do it with no wasted effort." --Fairbanks News-Miner

Abandoned in Seattle by their mother, thirteen-year-old twins join an elderly fisherman friend on the long and dangerous voyage to Alaska in hopes of finding their father by Christmas.

This a gripping memoir of a winter season of crab-fishing in the Bering Sea, filled with scary moments, killer ice, dangerous work, and-for the lucky ones-financial rewards. For others, survival was their reward.

Just 25, Joe Upton was the youngest guy aboard when the 104-foot "Flood Tide "pulled out of Seattle in March 1971 headed for Dutch Harbor with 700-pound crab pots stacked three deep on her deck. The top-heavy load caused some anxious moments later when the vessel iced up. The crew went to work with hammers and baseball bats as howling winds roughed up the seas and the "Flood Tide "rolled from side to side, threatening to capsize while everyone held their breath.

BERING SEA BLUES is a thinking-man's book version of the TV series "Deadliest Catch" because Joe Upton did a lot of thinking that winter working 12- to 14-hour days in weather that would scare most mariners away. He figured if he challenged fate in the Bering Sea crab fishery too long he would wind up either rich or dead, or both.

Step aboard Joe Upton's 32-foot troller and journey with him into another world. It's Southeast Alaska in the 1970s, and this evocative, true-life account chronicles four months of commercial fishing in the Inside Passage. Travel with Upton through open channels and narrow fjords, past forested shorelines, tiny villages, abandoned homesteads, and deserted canneries. Experience the life of the independent fisher -- the lonely hours at sea, the satisfaction of a good day's catch, and the easy camaraderie of other fishers. You'll be entranced by this authentic tale of the Southeast Alaska landscape and way of life.