Three thousand years ago, legend says, Jason and the Argonauts made a perilous sea journey to find a magical golden fleece. Their vessel was the Argo, a wooden 50-oared galley. Twentieth-century adventurer Tim Severin has commissioned a replica and persuaded 20 modern-day heroes to row and sail 1,500 miles from Greece to Ancient Colchis, now Soviet Georgia, and the home of the golden fleece. It will take them more than a million oar strokes to doit. When the ancient heroes landed on the island of Lemnos, they were so entranced by the beauty of the women that they stayed for two years. The modern Argonauts are not so lucky.
Tim Severin and his modern heroes, in search of the legend of Jason and the Argonauts, find some uncanny echoes of the past.... In the Dardanelles they are blessed with the fair winds that sped the original Argo on its way. And later storms blow the 20th-century voyagers ashore near the site of one of Jason's famous and tragic adventures. Meanwhile, as Argo sails from Greek to Turkish waters, the world of modern politics is never far away.
Tim Severin 's modem heroes have rowed and sailed 650 miles - and now they face the biggest test of their voyage. Eighteen turbulent miles of the Bosphorus could shatter any hope of proving the truth behind the legend of Jason and the Argonauts. The treacherous currents need all the strength, determination and seamanship the crew can muster. And no legendary Jason had to dodge 30,000-ton container ships as well....
Tim Severin and his modem Argonauts are becoming something of a legend themselves. A Turkish balladeer sings of the boat and its 'crazy captain' who has rowed and sailed nearly 1,500 miles in search of the Golden Fleece. Now comes the highpoint of the voyage - landfall in Soviet Georgia and the final search for clues to the truth behind the legend. When Jason landed 3,000 years ago, he had to overcome an unsleeping serpent. Severin and his crew are more in danger from the hospitality....
