The Last Grain Race (Picador Books) |
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Eric Newby
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Pages: 251 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0330318853
Pub: Picador
Pub date: 1995-12-01
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 28818
Reader Reviews:
An addictively good read - even for non sailors (1/1 people found this helpful)
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 (3/3 people found this helpful)
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? (18/18 people found this helpful)
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.
Excellent, easy reading and informative. (5/6 people found this helpful)
This was the first Eric Newby book I have read and caused me to read many more. A very good tale of adventure.
The last hurrah of the world's greatest sailing ships (6/6 people found this helpful)
Eric Newby, still in his teens in the early part of 1939, signs on as crew on one of the last great clipper ships making the grain run from Europe to Australia and back. This book chronicles, in hilarious fashion, the adventurous and sometimes perilous journey, from his first climb of the 198 foot mainmast while docked in Belfast, through the Roaring Forties with the giant waves threatening to poop the ship, and so to Australia. Cooped up with a cabin full of Scandinavians united only by their dislike of Englishmen, Mr Newby survives and eventually thrives thanks in no small part, we must conclude, to his sense of humour. Through the standard English modesty about such things, it is easy to appreciate just how difficult Mr Newby had it and how well he rose to the occasion.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Travel & Holiday -> General
Books -> Subjects -> Travel & Holiday -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> Travel & Holiday -> Countries & Regions -> Australia & New Zealand -> Australia -> General AAS
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Age (feature_two_browse-bin)
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Paperback
Books -> Refinements -> Condition (condition-type)