In his new book, Philip Hoare seeks out various shorelines, examining our need to be immersed in water. Or at least to be near it.

He arrives in Provincetown, Cape Cod, boards the Dolphin VIII, and is soon amongst loons and gannets, minkes and rorquals. He also thinks about Herman Melville and a passage from Moby Dick - 'a vast sound of sighing and sobbing' - but what is this phenomena?

Reader Tobias Menzies

Producer Duncan Minshull. Show less