The world of square riggers is obscure to the vast majority of sailors today. Yet nautical literature is rich in fine works describing the minutiae of what went on – and still can go on – aboard a real sailing ship. Anyone with a genuine thirst for knowledge in this regard would do no better than scour the internet for a copy of Eric Newby’s The Last Grain Race, an insightful and often hilarious read.
Where this genus of book differs from Will Sofrin’s new volume about sailing , the replica of a Nelsonian frigate, is in the way the tale is told. ’s crew are a very different bunch from the eclectic mix of volunteers and pressed men on HMS in the days of Patrick O'Brian’s Jack Aubrey. The interaction of Sofrin’s shipmates with each other and the ship’s officers is explored in some depth, making this a very modern book. Where Newby takes going aloft more or less in a day’s work, Sofrin gives us the full drama. In this account he makes his first acquaintance with the alarming
