Wild Sea: A History of the Southern Ocean

‘An apparition of an adult wandering albatross comes into view. A small flutter and powerful wings arch upward in a slow, poised descent to feed the waiting mouth. Fluffy chicks, half-grown, huddle close to the grass. One strides over to a neighbouring giant petrel chick and picks a fight. They remind me of bored teenagers filling in time between snacks.’

Flowing completely around the Earth and unimpeded by any landmass, the wild and elusive Southern Ocean reaches from the seasonally-shifting icy continent of Antarctica to the southern coastlines and islands of Australia, New Zealand, South America and South Africa.

In Wild Sea Joy McCann interweaves the fascinating environmental and cultural histories of the Southern Ocean - long neglected by writers and historians - drawing from sea captains’ journals, whalers’ log books, explorers’ letters, scientific reports, ancient beliefs and her own voyage of discovery.

In a hybrid space where science, technology, culture, imagination and myth converge, Wild Sea explores a little-known ocean and its emerging importance as a barometer of planetary climate change.