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

by Eric Newby

Book Overview

Over 150 photographs taken by the author depict the daily life aboard the Moshulu, one of the last commercial sailing vessels. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812932528
• ISBN13: 9780812932522
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 2.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 10.0" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

A wonderful piece of maritime history

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. Yet ironically, most of these sailors frowned upon steamship crewmenas being too soft!To all of those "arm chair sailors" who may think that a seamens lifewas carefree and romantic, I strongly urge them read this bookand dispell any such myths!

As good as it gets

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 safety gaps, he resists the tiresome 20th-century urge to become a whistleblower. (Then again, perhaps the knowledge that he was witnessing a dying way of life made an expose pointless.)As one would expect in such a cramped environment, observations of the other crewmembers form an important part of the narrative. That they are a dirty and rough lot is clear. Newby, however, handles the yawning social gulf between himself and the career seamen with general good humor, never resorting to national stereotyping to downgrade his adversaries (the crew was mostly Scandinavian). His description of being forced "op the rigging" by a loutish officer just minutes after arriving on board is a good example of this evenhandedness and should be ranked among the classic passages of travel writing. I can't see Theroux ever forgiving that kind of treatment.Apart from the sheer height of the rigging, the greatest shock delivered by the book is the realization that this "vanished" way of life existed so recently. (In my case, only 25 years before I was born.) To use a cliché, it makes one stop and think. Although Newby goes to considerable pains to explain why the age of commercial sail had to end - indeed, was already past its time - you cannot help but explore the "what ifs". What if World War II hadn't scattered the fleet? What if the owners had found ways to reduce their operating costs by a few percentage points? Would it have made the difference? Would square riggers still have been plying the high seas on my sixteenth birthday? Could I have been another Eric Newby?Again, just a wonderful book. Together with Laurens Van Der Post, Newby is my ticket to all things "vanished".

If You Read Only One Book This Year: Get Them Both

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 advantage of the pictorial release.)After a brief stint as an office clerk, Newby at eighteen signed on as an apprentice seaman for an around the world cargo voyage, with no nautical experience or skills other than a careful eye and superb memory for detail. "The Last Great Grain Race" is the story of one of the last four-masted barques, which in 1938 sailed from Ireland to Australia to pick up a cargo of grain and return to Ireland, a voyage which would take nine months. Ultimately it was to become the last voyage in such a vessel, as the impending war would change the world forever. We are fortunate that Newby was along to document the voyage. We are equally appreciative of his thoughtfulness in bringing his camera, as "Learning the Ropes" is the superb photo essay of this journey.Newby apparently was a very skilled photographer. Oddly, he only briefly mentions his possession of a camera in "The Last Great Grain Race." He never lets on that his is so actively chronicling events and shipmates throughout the voyage. Though Newby does an excellent job describing what is like to climb aloft in all kinds of weather, the black and white photographs take the reader aloft as well and provide the narrative even with more impact and grace.The crew is as varied and colorful as one might expect the conditions are harsh and oftentimes dangerous; the work is unrelenting, demanding and dangerous in its own right. Newby works alongside seasoned veterans and never shirks.Grain Race however does have its limitations. There is a tremendous amount of technical detail that can often leave the reader literally at sea. For example "There were still the sheets of the topmast staysails to be shifted over the stays and sheeted home, the main and mizzen courses to be reset, and the yards trimmed to the Mate's satisfaction with the brace whips." Newby does provide a graphic of the sail plan and running rigging (79 reference points), but these are only of marginal assistance.Another shortcoming is the language barrier Newby faces. This is a Finnish crew and commands are rarely given in English. Newby and the reader often have to work out the language; if the reader misses the first context or explanation then subsequent uses of the terminology will be lost, a glossary might have helped here. Newby does faithfully record dialects especially when he is being spoken to in occasionally recognizable English and these dialogues are often amusingly recounted.Eric Newby should seriously consider issuing both in a single volume and one has to wonder why this w

A wonderful history of a wonderful vessel

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 most akin to the print version of the film "Around Cape Horn" narrated by Captain Irving Johnson. While the Moshulu is a different boat with a different purpose than the Peking, if you liked that particular movie, you'll like this book.I was pleased to find this book and have given it to my other "sailor" friends as gifts. I highly reccommend it to anyone with a love of the sea or its history.