A deep and personal look into the lives of “anchor-outs”—a homeless community in California living at sea on abandoned boats—casting light on the struggles and resilience of those surviving on the fringes of society.
Set against the backdrop of Richardson Bay, Lost at Sea explores the lives and motivations of a unique Californian community known as the “anchor-outs”: a seafaring community who’ve repurposed abandoned vessels into their homes.
In recent decades, the animosity between the anchor-outs and the wealthy residents of Marin County—one of the richest in the whole country—has devolved into pure class warfare, with many of the hillside mansion-owners upset that their view of the water is obstructed. Kloc found that life on the anchorage is a lens into the struggles of so many homeless people who are at odds with societal norms, as well as those with significantly more means. The residents of Marin County, for example, pose environmental concerns about the anchorage; simultaneously, their aged sewage system is prone to spewing literal garbage on the streets.
In many ways, the story of the anchor-outs is the story of being poor in America. Examining profit-driven policies that exacerbate the contemporary housing crisis, Lost at Sea weaves together stories from within the anchorage alongside the rich history of the region, spanning from the Gold Rush era to the devastating fire of 1906. From a contemporary vantage point, it delves into the intense conflicts that arise between the anchor-outs and the affluent hillside communities which seek to dismantle the community for financial and recreational purposes.
Along the way, Kloc discovers a quiet beauty in the community built within the anchorage: how they’ve learned to care for each other, push back against capitalism and harmful policies, and, ultimately, advocate for a way of life that looks different than it does on shore. In doing so, Lost at Sea sheds light on the stark contrast between wealth and destitution within this very community—and speaks to the tragic, complex effects of homelessness writ large across America.
"A magisterial but unsentimental journey." -- Kirkus Reviews
"Enthralling...[Kloc] offers vivid portraits of the charming and welcoming anchor-outs themselves...without shying away from reporting on the community's endemic violence and poverty. It's an evocative portrait of America at the fringes." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Hardscrabble lives can be lived on water, too, as Joe Kloc shows in this exploration of the floating world of Sausalito's 'anchor-outs.' Spending nights on their vessels and at the places they congregate on shore, he sets flashes of beautiful, eccentric humanity in a sober context of the history of the Bay Area, in particular its current housing crisis. Kloc is a smart and sympathetic witness to a precarious life in which these singular off-gridders, who ask for little more than to be ignored, seem like stowaways on their own boats." -- Ted Conover, author of Cheap Land Colorado and Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing
"In Lost At Sea, reporter Joe Kloc deftly leads us into and through the world of these housing insecure urban boat dwellers, vulnerable and colorful, as they attempt to find pleasure and beauty in the shadow of the failed American dream. It's the most beguiling tale about houseboat dwellers since Penelope Fitzgerald's classic Offshore." -- Alissa Quart, author of Squeezed and Bootstrapped
"Lost at Sea is an invaluable account of an unconventional community struggling to stay afloat. The story of the anchor-outs will resonate with all Americans, even the land-locked." -- Malcolm Harris, author of What's Left and Palo Alto
"The depth of Joe Kloc's reporting made me understand the history of California's anchor-outs and the stakes of their fight against their millionaire neighbors and their local government. The vividness of his writing, meanwhile, made me care deeply about his characters--the pensioners, street preachers, and hemp farmers whose lives on the edges of our society are too often left out of stories about wealthy areas like the Bay Area." -- Megan Greenwell, author of Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream
"An absorbing chronicle of inequality in America. Kloc is a great writer and his careful attention to compelling details of place and speech--and to the rhythm of days and nights spent floating on the water--will make you feel like you're bobbing on the bay with his characters through the last days of their outcast community." -- Anthony McCann, author of Shadowlands: Fear and Freedom at the Oregon Standoff
JOE KLOC is a reporter and senior editor at Harper's Magazine, where he was a finalist for the 2019 National Magazine Award for Feature Writing. His work has also appeared in the New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, New York magazine, and the New York Review of Books.
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