Carina: The Yacht That Refused to Die


By Valerie L. Warner
January 2010
Book Guild
Distrubuted by Trans-Atlantic Publications Inc.
ISBN: 9781846244131
179 pages
$33.50 Hardcover

OUT OF PRINT

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Struggling American writer, Alex Johnson, first sees the yacht Carina swinging on a mooring in Egypt, whilst taking a working holiday with his family. The once-luxury motor yacht is now over seventy years old, rather worse for wear and up for sale. From the moment he sees Carina, Alex becomes fascinated by the yacht and determined to find out her history, seeing the potential to turn his findings into a bestselling novel.

As his research deepens, Alex gains insights into Carina’s past. There are flashbacks to her previous owners: in World War II, where we see the wartime duplicity of Göring and his associates in the 1940s, followed by the omnipotence of British Royalty in the 1950s; the romantic daredevil speedster of the 1960s; the ambitious, but ultimately discredited reporter of the 1970s and, finally, the wealthy adventurous businessman and his American wife in the 1990s.

Alex finds and interviews the last three owners of the yacht in depth as part of his research, and in doing so, his own life changes dramatically. By becoming deeply involved in the personal stories of those who sailed Carina and by redefining his own relationships, Alex’s research becomes a personal journey, with some unexpected surprises along the way.

Part history, part adventure, part travelogue, this book is based on the true story of a ninety-foot yacht built in Hamburg, Germany for Göring and his new wife Emmy in 1937, and its extraordinary and colourful history since World War II. Today the yacht is still afloat, on the Red Sea.

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