Book excerpt: Block Island, in the Atlantic Ocean off the southern coast of New England, is further from other land -- from the mainland or other islands -- than any other town along the 1,800 mile eastern coast of the United States. Isolated from neighbors, with no harbor until the late 19th century, Block Island evolved differently. Each chapter of Block Island, The Sea stands alone, providing one or more stories, and the scholarly research to go with it, about this little town -- currently with 850 year-round inhabitants whose singular preference is to be completely surrounded by salt water. Subjects include fishing, piracy, lighthouses, hurricane. shipwrecks and more. Fully indexed, and with over 200 images.