Sea burial / James Hamilton-Paterson -- Serendip / Ian Jack -- Northern light / George Rosie -- The boy who watched the ships go by / Orhan Pamuk -- Hunters / Jean Gaumy -- Los piratas / Justin Webster -- Conversations with a giant / Charles Nicholl -- Unspeakable rituals / Paul Theroux -- The mermaid / Julia Blackburn -- Sea pictures / William Scammell, Bella Bathurst, Neal Ascherson, N.A.M. Rodger & Will Hobson -- The New York waterfront / Michael Ackerman -- Waiting for St Petersburg / Philip Marsden -- Scotland's last great artefact / Stephen Gill -- The seventh man / Haruki Murakami -- News shark / Robert Drewe -- And never come up / John Biguenet