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New book, In the Middle of the Sea at the Dark of the Moon, chronicles Joseph Patrick Ferry's 41-day solo sail from Philadelphia to Falcarragh, County Donegal, Ireland — and the letters he wrote along the way to grandchildren still in their cradles.

PHILADELPHIA, June 16, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- In 1929, a young man named Joe Ferry left the windswept village of Falcarragh, County Donegal, and boarded a ship bound for a new life in America. 77 years later, his son — also named Joe Ferry — set out to make the same crossing in reverse. Alone. In a small sailboat. Eastbound across the Atlantic Ocean.

That 2006 voyage — 41 days at sea, 2 failed attempts before it, and a homecoming that closed a circle nearly 8 decades in the making — is now the subject of a new memoir, In the Middle of the Sea at the Dark of the Moon, releasing in hardcover and softcover on June 16, 2026.

Ferry named his boat the Falcarragh — after the village his father had sailed away from nearly 80 years earlier. When the small craft finally entered Ballyness Bay at the end of the crossing, it carried its own name back to the place that gave it meaning.

"Single-handed" is an accurate description only of how many people were aboard the Falcarragh sailboat as it crossed 3,000 miles of open ocean. By Ferry's own account, he carried far more than that with him — the prayers, encourgement and preparation from dozens of family and friends on both sides of the Atlantic who readied him for departure, and the Irish village that welcomed him on arrival.

Two earlier attempts to make the crossing had ended before they truly began. The third did not. Over 41 days, Ferry navigated open water, tracked the wind and waves and the set of sail in the ship's log.

Perhaps the most personal thread running through In the Middle of the Sea at the Dark of the Moon is its correspondence. During long night watches — often under the dark of the moon that gives the book its title — Ferry wrote letters to his infant grandchildren, Madeline Ferry and Keiran McPoyle, intended for them to read once they were old enough to understand the journey their grandfather had made.

Those letters, along with Ferry's ship logs, personal reflections, and photographs, sat largely untouched for years. It was Ferry's wife, siblings, children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, who eventually helped him assemble these pieces into the book.

What began as one man's voyage in 2006 became, twenty years later, a family project spanning three generations: a father's emigration in 1929, a son's crossing in reverse in 2006, and family who helped turn both into a book. In the Middle of the Sea at the Dark of the Moon stands as both an adventure story and a family record - a way of making sure that what one generation carries across an ocean is not lost to the next.

About the Book

In the Middle of the Sea at the Dark of the Moon is available in hardcover and softcover beginning June 16, 2026, on Amazon.com and Amazon.ie, along with other titles by the author. A short film of the voyage, with press materials, photos and event information, is available at .

Media Contact

Kathleen M Ferry, Firefly, 1 6107159009, [email protected]

SOURCE Firefly