More of this Feature • Part 1: Sea-Feud Special, and more • Part 2: United We Stand Guard, Name Dropping, and more
Related Resources • News/FYI Index

Sea-Feud Special
It's the Hatfields and McCoys all over again, only this time at sea: A long-time feud between rival New Jersey lobstermen ended in a fierce, boat-to-boat gun battle about three miles offshore, according to a federal investigation.

Territorial tensions had escalated between the competing lobstermen and their crews, and each accused the other of stealing equipment and sabotaging lines. According to the Associated Press, on the day of the shootout, Thomas Van Salisbury claims that he and his brother Richard were pulling lobster traps onto their boat, the Heather Ann, about ten miles off Manasquan Inlet when Horvath's boat, the Baby Doll, pulled up beside them. After a shouting match between the crews, Thomas Van Salisbury said Horvath emerged from his cabin with a shotgun and fired three times. He also said his brother returned the fire with a semiautomatic rifle. Horvath's attorney, however, claims it was Richard Van Salisbury who fired the first shot. Apparently the shootout wasn't the end of the feud: In the weeks following the altercation, both lobster boats were damaged in suspicious fires.

Horvath was indicted by a grand jury in August; the delay between the indictment and the incident was due to a dearth of witnesses and the World Trade Center attacks. A trial date had not been set at presstime.

ON SHELVES: Eight Men and a Duck
While traveling through Bolivia on a bus, British travel writer Nick Thorpe overheard a conversation about a boat made of reeds and a journey from Chile to Easter Island. Seven men were planning to replicate a voyage that famed mariner Thor Heyerdahl plotted but never completed. Thorpe joined the team, and his humorous Eight Men and a Duck: An Improbable Voyage by Reed Boat to Easter Island chronicles the outrageous misadventures this remarkably unskilled crew experienced. Facing 2,000 miles of rugged Pacific Ocean, the crew learns both comic and nerve-wracking lessons about navigation and teamwork. Thorpe's style is easy, insightful, and refreshingly self-effacing. It's a terrific voyage and an engrossing book.
$24, hardcover. Free Press.

November
7-10. The Mexico Boat Show in Mexico City. (858) 274-9924. www.expoyate.com.
14-16. The Fish Expo and WorkBoat Northwest Show in Seattle. (207) 842-5508. www.fishexposeattle.com.
14-17. The Fort Myers Boat Show. (954) 570-7785. www.swfmia.com.
15-17. The St. Lucie County Boat Show in Fort Pierce, Florida. (305) 864-7333.
21-24. The St. Petersburg Boat Show in St. Petersburg, Florida. (800) 940-7642. www.showmanagement.com.

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