Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #482 in Books
• Published on: 1995-12-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 251 pages

Synopsis
At the age of 18, Eric Newby signed on as an apprentice on the four-masted sailing ship Moshulu of the Erikson line for the round trip from Europe to Australia and back, outwards by way of the Cape of Good Hope and round Cape Horn. This was to be an historic voyage, a dramatic personal adventure.

Customer Reviews

An addictively good read - even for non sailors
Eric Newby is a renowned travel writer, and this is one of his first and best books. It tells of how in 1938 he signed on as an apprentice deck hand on a large steel square rigger engaged in the Australia - Europe grain trade. It is a fascinating, moving, exciting, funny account of the round trip with all its highs and lows, written with such skill, and passion I just couldn't put it down. You really don't have to be a sailor to enjoy this book,nut if you are it's even better. A collector's item.

rave over sail
His prose prompted me to by a small sailing cruiser when i retired. I will probably never make one of those epic voyages, but sailing on the Firth of Forth as I now do, I can dream

Greatest non-fiction sea adventure ever?
Being an avid sailor myself, i approached this book with apprehension. However as soon i had finsihed the first chapter than was i drawn into eric's world. This book is as much a tribute to then endurance of man, as it is to the timeless square rigged tall ships and the crew that bravely man them. So engaging is the narrative that often you can taste the salt air and hear the sails fill with wind and feel the water about your ankles, and once again the crew lives. Finally a book you wish would never finish Hilarious, frightening and saddening in turns it's description of day to day life on the last great sailing ships is over all uplifting; i would recommend this book to both land lubbers and sailors alike.