The Log from the Sea of Cortez
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''The Log from the Sea of Cortez'' is an English-language book written by American author
John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...
and published in 1951. It details a six-week (March 11 – April 20) marine specimen-collecting boat expedition he made in 1940 at various sites in the
Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja Ca ...
(also known as the Sea of Cortez), with his friend, the
marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others th ...
Ed Ricketts. It is regarded as one of Steinbeck's most important works of non-fiction chiefly because of the involvement of Ricketts, who shaped Steinbeck's thinking and provided the prototype for many of the pivotal characters in his fiction, and the insights it gives into the philosophies of the two men. ''The Log from the Sea of Cortez'' is the narrative portion of an earlier work, ''Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research'', which was published by Steinbeck and Ricketts shortly after their return from the Gulf of California, and combined the journals of the collecting expedition, reworked by Steinbeck, with Ricketts' species catalogue. After Ricketts' death in 1948, Steinbeck dropped the species catalogue from the earlier work and republished it with a eulogy to his friend added as a foreword.


Journey


Background

Steinbeck met Ricketts in 1930 through a shared interest in marine biology. Ricketts made a modest living as a professional biologist by preparing and selling specimens of intertidal
fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...
to laboratories and universities from his small lab in
Cannery Row Cannery Row is the waterfront street bordering the city of Pacific Grove, but officially in the New Monterey section of Monterey, California. It was the site of a number of now-defunct sardine canning factories. The last cannery closed in 19 ...
, and Steinbeck spent many hours at the lab in Ricketts' company. Ricketts was the inspiration for the boozy, good-hearted character of "Doc", who appeared in the novels set in and around Monterey, and elements of his personality are mirrored by many other important characters in Steinbeck's novels. Both Steinbeck and Ricketts had achieved some measure of security and recognition in their professions by 1939: Steinbeck had capitalized on his first successful novel, ''
Tortilla Flat ''Tortilla Flat'' (1935) is an early John Steinbeck novel set in Monterey, California. The novel was the author's first clear critical and commercial success. The book portrays a group of 'paisanos'—literally, countrymen—a small band of err ...
'', with the publication of ''
The Grapes of Wrath ''The Grapes of Wrath'' is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize ...
'', and Ricketts had published '' Between Pacific Tides'', which became the definitive handbook for the study of the intertidal fauna of the Pacific Coast of the coterminous United States. Steinbeck was exhausted and looking for a new start; Ricketts was looking for a new challenge. The two men had long thought of producing a book together and, in a change of pace for both of them, they began work on a handbook of the common intertidal species of the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
. The book came to nothing, but it spurred them into making a trip to the Sea of Cortez. Initially they planned a motoring trip to
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
as a break from their work on the handbook, but as time went on they became more interested in a collecting trip around the Gulf of California. Ricketts noted in his journal: A specimen-collecting expedition along the Pacific Coast and down into
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
provided them with a chance to relax, and, for Steinbeck, a chance for a brief escape from the controversy mounting over ''The Grapes of Wrath''. Ricketts, suffering as a result of the breakup of his long-term relationship with a married woman in Monterey, was glad to get away too. They planned to collect specimens from the rock and tide pools and the shore line uncovered between tides, which would allow them to build up a picture of the macro level ecosystem in the Gulf. The preserved specimens of the fauna they collected could be identified and catalogued or sold on their return. Early in 1940, Steinbeck and Ricketts hired a Monterey Bay sardine fishing boat, the '' Western Flyer'', with a four-man crew, and spent six weeks travelling the coast of the Gulf of California collecting biological specimens. Along with Ricketts and the four crew members mentioned in the book, Steinbeck was accompanied by his wife, Carol. Steinbeck hoped that the trip would help rescue their failing marriage, but it seems to have had the opposite effect: the marriage ended soon after they returned. Steinbeck's lawyer and friend, Toby Street, was also on board as far as
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
.


Account of the expedition

The '' Western Flyer'' is a
purse seiner A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing. The total number of fishing vessels in the world in 2016 was es ...
, that was crewed by Tony Berry, the captain; "Tex" Travis, the engineer; and two able seamen, "Sparky" Enea and "Tiny" Colletto. Stocked with supplies, collecting equipment and a small library, the boat put out to sea on the afternoon of March 11, 1940. They started in a leisurely fashion down the Pacific coast, fishing as they went. They refueled at
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
and on March 17 passed Point San Lazaro and made their way down the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula. They put in at
Cabo San Lucas Cabo San Lucas (, "Saint Luke Cape"), or simply just Cabo, is a resort city at the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. As at the 2020 Census, the population of the city was 202,694 inhabitan ...
, on the tip of the peninsula, where they were greeted by Mexican officials and began collecting specimens. The collecting team was initially planned to consist of Steinbeck and Ricketts alone, but Carol and eventually Enea and Colletto joined them, allowing for a much more efficient collection at each stop. The battles with their outboard motor, referred to pseudonymously as the "Hansen Sea-Cow", which would feature as a humorous thread throughout the journal, began immediately and continued the next day when they moved further round the coast to El Pulmo Reef: Making for
Isla Espiritu Santo Isla or ISLA may refer to: Organizations * International Securities Lending Association, a trade association * International School of Los Angeles * International Bilingual School, later named International School of Los Angeles People * Isla (g ...
they faced strong winds and, rather than attempting to land at the island, they anchored at Pescadero on the mainland. On March 20 they returned to the island and spent the day collecting. A visit from some natives of
La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...
that evening, coupled with the exhaustion of their supplies of beer, encouraged them to make for the town the next morning. They spent three days collecting with the assistance of the locals, and enjoyed the hospitality of La Paz. In writing about the town, Steinbeck briefly recounts the story that he would later rewrite as '' The Pearl''. On March 23, they moved on to San José Island, where the "Sea-Cow" again let them down: they wanted it to bring the boat close to Cayo islet, but they ended up rowing the boat, with the outboard still attached, after it failed to start. The next day, Easter Sunday, they continued on to
Marcial Reef Marcial is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name *Marcial Ávalos, Paraguayan footballer *Marcial Calleja (1863–1914), Filipino lawyer *Marcial Cuquerella (born 1977), Spanish businessma ...
. After collecting specimens there, they sailed to Puerto Escondido where they met some holidaying Mexicans who invited them on a hunting trip. They accepted, wanting to see the interior of the peninsula, and enjoyed two days in the company of the Mexicans, eating, drinking and listening to unintelligible dirty jokes in Spanish. Due to the relaxed attitudes of their hosts, no actual hunting took place, which pleased Steinbeck: Puerto Escondido proved to be a rich collecting ground, and after nine days in the Gulf, they had to scale back their collecting ambitions owing to lack of space for the specimens. It had already become clear that there were certain species that were ubiquitous in the region: some species of
crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...
s,
sea anemone Sea anemones are a group of predation, predatory marine invertebrates of the order (biology), order Actiniaria. Because of their colourful appearance, they are named after the ''Anemone'', a terrestrial flowering plant. Sea anemones are classifi ...
s,
limpet Limpets are a group of aquatic snails that exhibit a conical shell shape (patelliform) and a strong, muscular foot. Limpets are members of the class Gastropoda, but are polyphyletic, meaning the various groups called "limpets" descended indep ...
s,
barnacle A barnacle is a type of arthropod constituting the subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in eros ...
s and
sea cucumber Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea (). They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide. The number of holothuria ...
s were found at every stop, and the sun star, ''
Heliaster kubiniji ''Heliaster kubiniji'' is a species of starfish in the order Forcipulatida. It is commonly known as the gulf sun star, the common sun star or estrella de mar de golfo and it occurs in the intertidal zone of the Pacific coast of California, Mexi ...
'', the
sea urchin Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of ...
, '' Arbacia incisa'', and
bristleworm Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made ...
s of the '' Eurythoe'' genus were common. Leaving Puerto Escondido, they continued up the coast to Loreto, where they restocked their supplies. They then visited the Coronado Islands, Concepcíon Bay and San Lucas Cove, collecting specimens at each stop. The work was exhausting; Steinbeck wrote in his letters that he had little time for sleep because the collecting and preparation took so long. In the cramped quarters of the boat, all the equipment had to be set up and stowed each time the boat moved to a new anchorage, which made the work of cataloguing and processing the specimens doubly arduous. Making their way to
San Carlos Bay San Carlos Bay is a bay located southwest of Fort Myers, Florida, Fort Myers, Florida, at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. It connects to Pine Island Sound to the west and to Matlacha Pass National Wildlife Refuge, Matlacha Pass to the north. ...
, they bypassed the town of Santa Rosalía, and entered the sparsely populated upper Gulf, stopping at San Francisquito Bay. On April 1, they made for
Bahía de los Ángeles ("Bay of the Angels") is a coastal bay on the Gulf of California, located along the eastern shore of the Baja California Peninsula in the state of Baja California, Mexico. The town of the same name is located at the east end of Federal Highway ...
, which was to be the last stop on the peninsula before they crossed to the mainland coast. On April 2 they rounded
Isla Ángel de la Guarda Isla Ángel de la Guarda, (Guardian Angel Island) also called Archangel Island, is a large island in the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) east of Bahía de los Ángeles in northwestern Mexico, separated from the Baja California Peninsula by the ...
, and anchored in Puerto Refugio for the night. The next morning they made for
Tiburón Island Tiburón Island is the largest island in the Gulf of California and the largest island in Mexico, with an area of . It was made a nature reserve in 1963 by President Adolfo López Mateos. Etymology is Spanish for 'shark'. Although the Seri nam ...
, on the eastern side of the Gulf. They collected specimens at Red Point Bluff, keeping an eye out for the
Seri Seri or SERI may refer to: People *Jean Michaël Seri, an Ivorian professional footballer Places *Seri Yek-e Zarruk, Iran *Seri, Bheri, Nepal *Seri, Karnali, Nepal *Seri, Mahakali, Nepal *Seri, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India Oth ...
, a local tribe who they had heard were rumored to be cannibals: Although the crew were eager to get to Guaymas as soon as possible, it was too far for a single day's journey, so the next day they put in at Puerto San Carlos, where they collected. Early the next morning they made the short run to Guaymas. They left Guaymas on the morning of April 8 and, only an hour out, encountered a Japanese fishing fleet
dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...
the bottom. Although initially wary, the crew of one of the boats welcomed Steinbeck and Ricketts on board and allowed them to select some specimens from the catch, though to the annoyance of the crew of the ''Western Flyer'', Ricketts and Steinbeck forgot to get any fish to eat. Taking leave of the fleet, they made for the Estero de la Luna, a huge
estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
where Ricketts and Steinbeck became lost in fog while out on a collecting expedition, after the "Sea-Cow" once again refused to run. Although spooked by the episode, they were able to navigate back to the ''Western Flyer'' once the fog cleared. Continuing down to
Agiabampo Agiabampo is a hamlet of Huatabampo Municipality, located in the south of Mexican state of Sonora. According to data from the census of Population and Housing conducted in 2010 by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography The Nation ...
lagoon, they stopped to collect along the shores, and then recrossed the Gulf by night, putting in at San Gabriel Bay for a last collection before making for home. On the afternoon of April 12 they secured all the equipment and laid in a course for San Diego. The collecting trip had been very successful: they catalogued over 500 species of the fauna of the shores of the Gulf; recorded a species of brittle star, '' Ophiophragmus marginatus'', last recorded nearly 100 years earlier; and discovered about 50 new species. Three species of
sea anemone Sea anemones are a group of predation, predatory marine invertebrates of the order (biology), order Actiniaria. Because of their colourful appearance, they are named after the ''Anemone'', a terrestrial flowering plant. Sea anemones are classifi ...
they discovered were named for them by Dr. at the
Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
: '' Palythoa rickettsii'', '' Isometridium rickettsi'', and '' Phialoba steinbecki''.


Book


''Sea of Cortez''

In 1941, the year after their return from the trip, Steinbeck and Ricketts published ''Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research'', in which Steinbeck combined the daily journals of the trip with Ricketts' annotated specimen list. The title "Sea of Cortez" was preferred to the "Gulf of California" as a better-sounding and a more exciting name. It was assumed by many that Steinbeck had kept a journal during the trip and that the book was merely an amalgamation of his log and Ricketts' taxonomic list; but the two authors revealed that the journal was Ricketts'. Although Steinbeck had added to it during the journey, he had done the real work of editing it after they returned. The log was based on what Ricketts called the ''Verbatim Transcript'', an account of the trip he had compiled from the various notes he kept during the trip. Much of the final narrative was little changed from Ricketts' notes; Steinbeck shifted from the first person singular to the first person plural and gave some of Ricketts' drier prose a poetic twist, but many of the scenes remained almost unchanged from the daily journal. The suggestion by Steinbeck's editor,
Pascal Covici Pascal Avram "Pat" Covici (November 4, 1885–October 14, 1964) was a Romanian Jewish-American book publisher and editor, best known for his close associations with authors such as John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, and many more noted American literary ...
, that the title page should state that Steinbeck was the author and add that the appendices were by Ricketts met with blunt opposition from Steinbeck: "I not only disapprove of your plan — I forbid it". Steinbeck also drew upon the journal of Tony Berry, mostly to confirm dates and times. The book is a travelogue and biological record, but also reveals the two men's philosophies: it dwells on the place of humans in the environment, the interconnection between single organisms and the larger ecosystem, and the themes of leaving and returning home. A number of ecological concerns, rare in 1940, are voiced, such as an imagined but horrific vision of the long term damage that the Japanese bottom
fishing trawlers A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets tha ...
are doing to the sea bed. Although written as if it were the journal kept by Steinbeck during the voyage, the book is to some extent a work of fiction: the journals are not Steinbeck's, and his wife, who had accompanied him on the trip, is not mentioned (though at one point Steinbeck slips and mentions the matter of food for ''seven'' people). Since returning home is a theme throughout the narrative, the inclusion of his wife, a symbol of home, would have dissipated the effect. Steinbeck and Ricketts are never mentioned by name but are amalgamated into the first person "we" who narrate the log. A version of Ricketts' philosophical work "Essay on Non-teleological Thinking", which to some extent expressed both authors' outlooks, was included as the Easter Sunday chapter. Although Steinbeck altered the original, Ricketts expressed his satisfaction with the result. Becoming known as the "Easter Sunday Sermon", it explores the gap between the methods of science and faith and the common ground they share, and it expounds on the holistic approach both men took to
ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
: Steinbeck enjoyed writing the book; it was a challenge to apply his novel-writing skills to a scientific subject. However, he doubted from an early stage that the book would sell well. He considered it would be a good read, but not for the "take-a-book-to-bed public". As he progressed further, he began to see that the book would have very limited appeal, but equally he was convinced that it was a good book and the best work he had done. He was happy that it took his writing in a new direction and would confound the attempts of the critics to pigeonhole him, and, with a slightly masochistic joy he looked forward to their "rage and contempt". In that, he was proved incorrect; the reviews were mixed, but largely favorable, focusing on his affirmation of humankind's place in the wider environment, and picking up on the excitement Steinbeck and Ricketts felt for their subject. Most felt that even though there were moments when Steinbeck was at his best, the blending of philosophy, travelogue and biological recording made for an uneven read: Those critics who looked beyond the narrative portion were impressed by Ricketts' catalogue. Marine biologist Joel W. Hedgpeth, writing in the ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'', predicted it would be indispensable for students of the marine invertebrates of the Gulf of California. Steinbeck was right about the lack of popular appeal, however: the unusual mixture of taxonomic data and travelogue meant the book struggled to find an audience. Few copies were printed and it was soon all but forgotten. The country's entry into the war and plummeting book sales also had an effect. Ricketts' share of the revenues from sales did not even provide him with the money to pay back Steinbeck for financing the journey.


Reissue

Ricketts was killed in 1948 when a train collided with his car while he was crossing the rail tracks. Ricketts' death severely hurt Steinbeck: "he was part of my brain for 18 years". Although Steinbeck had moved to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
shortly after the journey and the two men had not seen as much of each other in the following years, they had corresponded by mail and had been planning a further expedition, this time northwards to the
Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a cha ...
. In 1951 Steinbeck republished the narrative portion of ''Sea of Cortez'' as ''The Log from the Sea of Cortez'', dropping Ricketts' species list and adding a preface entitled "About Ed Ricketts", a biography of his friend. Pascal Covici had always regarded Ricketts as a hanger-on and had been keen to deny his authorship of the original book. He pushed Steinbeck to get Ricketts' son, Ed Jr., to sign over the copyright to the narrative portion of the book, so that the reissued version could credit Steinbeck alone. Covici suggested a 15–20% share of the royalties as a recompense; but Ed Jr., knowing that the narrative was largely Ricketts' own, insisted on 25%. With the copyright secured, Ricketts' name was dropped from the cover, though the title page acknowledged that the book was "the narrative portion of the ''Sea of Cortez'' by John Steinbeck and E.F. Ricketts", and throughout his life, Steinbeck insisted on referring to the work as a collaboration. The republished narrative is unchanged from the original published in ''Sea of Cortez''. The republished version enjoyed greater success than the original. Although, by the time of his death in 1968, Steinbeck's reputation was at an all-time low owing to his mediocre output during the last decades of his life and his support for American involvement in Vietnam, his books have slowly regained their popularity. ''The Log from the Sea of Cortez'' became an important work within his oeuvre, not only as an interesting travelogue and work of non-fiction, but for its first-hand account of Ed Ricketts, the man whose thinking had so much influence on the course of Steinbeck's writing and on whom he had based so many of his pivotal characters. Whereas earlier critics mostly assumed that "Mr. Ricketts contributed some of the biology, and Mr. Steinbeck all of the prose", the publication of Ricketts' rediscovered original notes in 2003 has revealed how closely Steinbeck followed Ricketts' journal. This has forced a re-evaluation of how far it is fair to attribute authorship of the narrative portion of ''Sea of Cortez'' to Steinbeck, and has caused critics to view the removal of Ricketts' name from the cover as reflecting badly on Steinbeck. '' Travels With Charley: In Search of America'', another non-fiction travelogue which Steinbeck wrote in 1962, is seen as a more rounded view of the author late in life, but ''The Log from the Sea of Cortez'' is regarded as showing the direct influence of Ed Ricketts and his philosophies on Steinbeck, and provides clues to the underlying rationales for some events in his novels. In particular, "About Ed Ricketts" reveals how closely he was tied to the characters in Steinbeck's novels: parts are taken almost verbatim from descriptions of "Doc" in ''Cannery Row''. The book is also important for seeing something of Ed Ricketts himself. It was the only example of his philosophical writings published in his lifetime. The "Essay on Non-teleological Thinking" was part of a trilogy of philosophical essays he had written before the trip, and which, with Steinbeck's help, he continued to try to have published until his death. As a travelogue it captures a lost world. Even as they were making the trip, a new hotel was being built in La Paz. Steinbeck bemoaned the coming of tourism: Today, Cabo San Lucas is home to luxury hotels and the houses of American rock stars, and many of the small villages have become suburbs of the larger towns of the Gulf, but people still visit, attempting to capture something of the spirit of the leisurely journey Steinbeck and Ricketts took around the Sea of Cortez.


Notes

a. Sparky Enea and Tiny Colletto later featured in a scene in Steinbeck's ''
Cannery Row Cannery Row is the waterfront street bordering the city of Pacific Grove, but officially in the New Monterey section of Monterey, California. It was the site of a number of now-defunct sardine canning factories. The last cannery closed in 19 ...
'': "Sparky Enea and Tiny Colletti had made up a quarrel and were helping Jimmy to celebrate his birthday". b. Dates in this section are taken from ''The Log from the Sea of Cortez'', though there is some doubt as to the accuracy of the dates: Chapter 25 of the book is headed "April 22" and sandwiched between two chapters for "April 3" and "April 5". The ''Western Flyer'' returned to Monterey on 20 April. c. The timing of the release of the book did nothing to help sales. It was published in the first week of December: the
attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
on December 7, 1941, and the subsequent entry of the United States into
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
focused the attention of the American people elsewhere. d. The republished narrative section even refers to the expunged appendix.


Citations


References

* * * * * * * Railsback, Brian. "Darwin and Steinbeck: The Older Method and ''Sea of Cortez''.
''Steinbeck Quarterly'' 23.01-02 (Winter/Spring 1990)
27–34. * * * * * *


External links


John Steinbeck’s Baja Adventures By Greg Niemann
{{DEFAULTSORT:Log From The Sea Of Cortez, The 1951 non-fiction books Books by John Steinbeck Log from the Sea of Cortez American travel books Viking Press books Books about Mexico 1940 in Mexico