Bit of a stretch for me to claim this as a book read, given this is a short story. But it’s 19th century literature and you get ten words for the price of one, so it’s about the same level of effort.
The story details a mariner who goes from dealing with the usual perils of the sea, followed by supernatural perils. One of my favorite details is the presence of a “simoom,” apparently a combination of a sandstorm and a hurricane. It’s hard to imagine something worse than being inside a sandblaster big enough to obliterate your entire ship, let alone blast the skin off your body.
Eventually, the narrator and an old swede find themselves the only survivors of the ship, similar to Arthur Pym and Dirk Peters in the Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. They find themselves on a gigantic black galleon crewed by elderly men who are unable to see them. I love ghost ships, and this is a great take on one, with a satisfying combination of real world peril and ghostly strangeness.
You can read this story in an hour or so and the text is free online. Worth it if you want to round out your exposure to Poe!