Like other groups with dangerous occupations, mariners have developed a close-knit culture bound by loss and memory. Death regularly disrupts the fabric of this culture and necessitates actions designed to mend its social structure. From the ritual of burying a body at sea to the creation of memorials to honor the missing, these events tell us a great deal about how sailors see their world. Based on a study of more than 2,100 gravestones and monuments in North America and the United Kingdom erected between the seventeenth and late twentieth centuries, David Stewart expands the use of nautical archaeology into terrestrial environments. He focuses on those who make their living at sea--one of the world's oldest and most dangerous occupations--to examine their distinct folkloric traditions, beliefs, and customs regarding death, loss, and remembrance.

本書は、荒れ狂う海に命を懸ける者たちが築いた「死と追憶の文化」を、各地に遺された墓碑から解き明かす魂の考古学です。死が日常の隣にある世界で、人々はいかにして喪失を乗り越え、絆を繋ぎ止めてきたのか。二千以上の記念碑の調査を通じ、海に消えた魂を地上に刻み直す切実な祈りの形を、著者は圧倒的な熱量で描き出しています。 石に刻まれたフォークロアから「生者と死者の対話」を浮き彫りにする洞察は圧巻です。失われた命が記憶の羅針盤として永遠に輝き続ける。その文学的な深みと歴史の重層性に触れるとき、読者は海という美しくも恐ろしい存在への認識を根底から覆されるでしょう。知的好奇心と感情を激しく揺さぶる、比類なき傑作です。