Learning the Ropes: An Apprentice on the Last of the Windjammers

Mr. Newby has captured a way of life that for good or bad, no longer exists. His style of writing (along with many hair raisingphotographs), depicts life aboard a square rigger the way it truly was; few amenities, almost ceaseless toil, and the everpresent dangers of falling from aloft or being washed overboard.In this day of high tech everything, it might seem incredible that many men would willingly endure such hardships... Read Full Review

This book is just wonderful. Newby's prose is colorful without being judgemental - a quality too rarely found in modern adventure writing (the egocentric griping of Paul Theroux comes to mind). Here is a young man who accepts his new surroundings as they are, trying his best to fit in and never complaining too much when they don't live up to his personal standards. What's more, on a ship full of discomforts and frightening... Read Full Review

Unfortunately the unappealingly named "The Last Great Grain Race" might be left on the bookshelf if it were not for its companion volume of photographs more appropriately titled "Learning The Ropes; An Apprentice on the Last of the Windjammers," both by Eric Newby. Oddly these volumes were issued over forty years apart, Grain Race in 1956 and Ropes in 1999. (A recent volume of Grain Race was reissued in 1999, possibly to take... Read Full Review

Living close to Philly, I often wander by the Moshulu, wondering what she must have been like before she was a floating restaurant. This book answers that question. As an amateur sailor, I can't get enough of books on the topic and this one is fabulous. The black and white photography is of the utmost quality and the commentary that accompanies the pictures is neither academically boring nor overly loose.This book is... Read Full Review