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242:. It is at this stage that Newby almost kills himself by not attaching his bosun's chair correctly. He also has to undertake horrific jobs like cleaning the heads (the lavatories) and doing backstern—washing up for the 20 occupants of the three forecastles. Tension rises as weather conditions worsen, and Newby finally fights Hermansonn, whom Newby is able to smash after ten minutes.
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He was respected and feared as a man over whose eyes no wool could be pulled by the masters whom he employed to sail his ships, and the tremors they felt were passed down to the newest joined apprentice. Of such stuff discipline is made. A now out-moded word, but sailing ships do not stay afloat and
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becomes becalmed. They finally cross the Line and are given a huge rum ration which they find difficult to get through, and spirits are lifted when they think they have caught a shark but it bends the hook. The last pig, Filamon, is slaughtered and the crew eat so much pork that it wreaks havoc with
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At this height, 130 feet up, in a wind blowing 70 miles an hour, the noise was an unearthly scream. Above me was the naked topgallant yard and above that again the royal to which I presently climbed ... the high whistle of the wind through the halliards sheaf, and above all the pale blue illimitable
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is discharging her cargo in York Dock. He meets some of the crew and they take him out on a drinking binge, but not before the second mate has ordered him "op the rigging". As the ship waits in port, he spends his time chipping away at the rust on the ship's hull but also befriends John Sömmarström,
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By the 1930s, the grain trade from South
Australia to Europe was the last enterprise in which square-riggers could engage with any real hope of profit, and then only if the owner had a keen interest in reducing running costs. As Newby notes, Erikson had to pay his crews as little as possible and he
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We were cold and wet, and yet too excited to sleep ... watching the seas rearing up astern as high as a three-storeyed house. It was not only their height that was impressive but their length. Between the greatest of them there was a distance that could only be estimated in relation to the ship, as
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was captained by
Captain Mikael Sjögren, with a crew of twenty-eight, including officers, cook, steward etc. The work of handling large acreages of sail was very heavy, even for men and boys with strong constitutions. Bending a complete set of fair-weather canvas was no easy job, and sail changing
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and Newby at last experiences some real storms as the sea washes over the deck and the crew have to deal with flapping sails perched high up in the rigging. Newby manages to fall off the yard backwards, knocked off by 40 feet (12 m) of canvas, but fortunately becomes entangled in the weather
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takes 93 days to reach
Falmouth, they have won the Last Grain Race. On 27 June, the ship is warped with difficulty into Queen's Dock, Glasgow. Captain Sjögren, with whom Newby has had a stiffly formal relationship, asks him if he is coming again as he inks in his discharge as Ordinary Seaman, but
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for a place on one of his grain ships, having been inspired with tales of the sea by an old family friend, Mr
Mountstewart. Much to his surprise, he is accepted by 'Ploddy Gustav', the owner of the largest fleet of square-rigged deep-water sailing vessels in the world at that time.
305:, the crew start to realize they are making a record-breaking passage. The crew are now becoming famished, having to eat 'Buffelo' (boiled salt beef) the whole time cooked by the 'Kock'. However, life becomes easier with the return of the Trades but then
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had kindly included. The ship finally leaves
Australia on 11 March 1939 and Newby's new job, given to him by the First Mate who dislikes him, is to muck out the pigsties of four large pigs—"dose brodders of yours". Moshulu is prepared to meet the
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timber trade. At the age of nineteen he got his first command in the North Sea, and after that spent six years in deep-water sail as a mate. From 1902 to 1913 he was master of a number of square-rigged vessels before becoming an owner.
360:, Finland was the last man to own a great fleet of sailing ships and Newby relates that he never met any foremast hand who liked 'Ploddy Gustav'. Originally, as a boy of nine, he had gone to sea in a sailing vessel engaged in the
295:, the crew have become bored by the desolation around them and engage in a tug-of-war competition from which Newby emerges victorious. They also kill a pig to celebrate Good Friday and they also spot another four-master—the
395:(a wind off the east coast of South America) was blowing, the port and starboard watches, eight men to a watch, took in, re-set, took and re-set again twenty-eight sails, the heaviest of which weighed 1/
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where the crew sleeps is overrun by bugs, including their beds, so they string hammocks (with practical jokers cutting the ropes they hang from). 24 days out, the ship picks up the
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is hit by a tornado. By now the crew is getting desperate for any food different from their staple menu and Newby shares his last can of peaches with another crewman, Kroner.
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and the consequent near-total interruption of commercial shipping, commercial sailing ships still sailed the route after the war for two more years in 1948 and 1949.
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the ship's sailmaker, 58 years old, 43 of which have been at sea, who explains all the technicalities of a square rig to the young greenhorn.
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and the crew have to offload the ballast on the outer-ballast grounds, working amidst the stench of two dead dog carcasses that the
Belfast
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finally reaches port and the ship is loaded with 60,000 sacks (about 5000 tons) of grain - "wheat" in
America, "corn" elsewhere - at
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Newby finds out that his advertising agency, the Wurzel Agency, has lost a lucrative cereal account and he decides to write to
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could not afford to insure ships, but he also had to maintain them at such a standard that they were rated 100 A1 at
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from the captain, the new crewmen undergo the initiation ceremony – their heads are covered in tar and
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and all the crew go on a bender since they at last receive their measly pay. The ship sails on to
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Today steel, square-rigged sailing ships no longer trade the oceans of the world.
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sky, cold and serene, made me deeply afraid and conscious of my insignificance.
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vanish as they believe the calms north of the line may have been too much for
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The storm finally abates but not before it enters its most impressive phase.
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as an apprentice. His outbound passage from Europe to
Australia was via the
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was at the time one of the largest sailing ships still transporting grain.
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After fitting himself out with heavy-weather gear, Newby makes his way to
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was always done four times on a voyage as a ship entered and left the
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much as four times her entire length, or nearly a quarter of a mile.
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make fast passages at the pleasure of a committee of seamen.
165:, the ship on which Eric Newby sailed. She is today a
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340:Newby leaves through the dock gates and never sees
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460:'The enduring magic of Eric Newby' March 14, 2007
104:during the vessel's last voyage in the Australian
452:in partnership with CNN 'Grain Race' May 4, 2007
391:. In one period of twenty-four hours when the
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145:worthy of the name, as it was followed by
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203:The ship has a rough passage through the
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534:Bowditch's American Practical Navigator
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120:shipped aboard the four-masted barque
335:, 91 days from Port Victoria and, as
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399:tons - a total of 112 operations.
207:and ten days out they are passing
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141:While 1939 was arguably the last
722:Glossary of nautical terms (M–Z)
717:Glossary of nautical terms (A–L)
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468:BGTW Lifetime Achievement Award
466:British Guild of Travel Writers
596:Sailing Alone Around the World
484:'Eric Newby' October 23, 2006
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234:and, along with a bottle of
617:Swallows and Amazons series
436:(retrieved 1 December 2006)
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758:Secker & Warburg books
171:Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
763:English non-fiction books
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624:Two Years Before the Mast
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573:Local Notice to Mariners
130:. His return was around
116:In 1938 the 18-year-old
589:Radio Navigational Aids
555:The Cruise of the Snark
161:The four-masted barque
743:1956 non-fiction books
610:Sea Survival: A Manual
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112:Background to the book
319:record of 83 days to
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753:British travel books
68:Secker & Warburg
19:The Last Grain Race
562:The Last Grain Race
520:Works about sailing
409:The Last Grain Race
91:The Last Grain Race
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658:Blue Water Sailing
651:Australian Sailing
603:Sailing Directions
583:Notice to Mariners
431:pamir.chez-alice:
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153:Summary of content
94:is a 1956 book by
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417:978-0-330-31885-3
411:, Picador (1990)
313:Hopes of beating
226:On the 34th day,
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348:The Erikson Line
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693:WoodenBoat
568:Light List
382:On board,
333:Queenstown
262:stevedores
217:Trade Wind
213:forecastle
143:Grain race
96:Eric Newby
40:Eric Newby
643:Magazines
362:North Sea
358:Mariehamn
293:Cape Horn
209:Gibraltar
205:Irish Sea
183:Mariehamn
132:Cape Horn
64:Publisher
710:See also
700:Yachting
331:reaches
321:Falmouth
240:red lead
46:Language
475:Moshulu
403:Sources
393:Pampero
384:Moshulu
371:Lloyd's
344:again.
342:Moshulu
329:Moshulu
325:Moshulu
316:Parma's
307:Moshulu
246:Moshulu
236:Akvavit
232:Equator
228:Moshulu
221:Moshulu
196:Moshulu
191:Belfast
163:Moshulu
136:Moshulu
123:Moshulu
101:Moshulu
58:Sailing
49:English
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193:where
134:. The
36:Author
526:Books
337:Padua
118:Newby
80:Pages
54:Genre
686:Vene
450:Time
413:ISBN
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