[enazwo]

Here's a long shot Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter of Mars series sounds very similar. However John Carter does not crash land a ship on mars he is some how metaphysically transported. However in one of the eleven books he does crash land a ship on one of Mars' moons. Also the inhabitants ships fly and there is much sword play etc, etc, If this is not what you're looking for these Edgar Rice Burroughs books could serve as a very suitable substitude, the very best in old school sci-fi IMHO.

[Hobbit]

Actually, you might have something there enazwo.... :)


*still thinking*

[someguy]

The book I read just does not fit the Style of John Carter.

Too old-school, quasi Shakesperean speech, and doesnt Carter have lots of women and sex and stuff. Nothing like that in this book.

It's been years, but I definitely remember what it wasnt.

[Llama]

I suspect you're thinking of Bob Shaw's "Land and Overland" trilogy. The first book was called The Ragged Astonauts, the second The Wooden Spaceships. Your description fits the bill.

[someguy]

That was the first thing posted in response to this thread, but that aint it, at least as far as my research went.

[Kirby]

Tell me - did the wooden ships fly with the aid of an enormous hot air balloon up top?

[someguy]

mmmm...dont remember (it has been 10 years or so)...

I seem to recall something about special rocks or something like that in the hold of the ship doing something, dont recall any balloons. They got into naval battles in the air, so balloons would have made that difficult at best....

[kahnovitch]

When someone mentioned John Carter, I suddenly remembered an old comic by DC comics called "The Warlord". This is a character not connected to John Carter, but a similar concept.
The hero in it was a crashed space pilot who had white hair and a short pointy beard who found himself in a "Lost World" where the technology ranged from swords to firearms and more advanced weapons.
This was of course a comic series, but perhaps was based on the book you are trying to locate.
I've attached a link to the item I'm going on about. It may jog your memory or may be completely unrelated.


http://www.fanzing.com/mag/fanzingzero/feature1.shtml