T. D. Matzenik says he couldn't do a bio if he tried. His life has been a high-wire act of stupid mistakes and incredibly good luck. When his old shipmates call him an "artist," they're not talking about oil-paintings. As a lad of sixteen, T D shipped out on a 15,000 ton tanker under the command of one of Alan Villiers' die-hards. But his heart wasn't in it and he soon gave up the oil-tanker for a three-masted Baltic schooner. Announced on his ship's radio in the dead man's watch, he cites the death of Von Luckner an important influence. T D rounded the Cape of Good Hope at the age of twenty one, and found his way into professional sailing in American and European waters. He served as mate in the famous schooner America, which presaged the renaissance of classic yacht building. Voyages followed in the schooners So Fong, Puritan, and Altair. In tropical waters T D Matzenik developed something of taste for the claustrophobic intrigues of shipboard and island life which he has drawn upon and portrays vividly in his book Song of the Mokihana.
AOS Other Nautical Fiction |
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| Series: n/a | ||
| Year | Book | Comment |
| 1917 | Song of the Mokihana | Henry Ka'imiloa Keenan is forced to beach his old schooner for repairs |