The Last Grain Race - Softcover

Newby, Eric

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0864427689 ISBN 13: 9780864427687

Publisher: Lonely Planet, 1999

Synopsis

In 1938 an eighteen-year-old boy signed on for the round trip from Europe to Australia in the last commercial sailing fleet to make that formidable journey. The four-masted barque Moshulu ended up as a dockside restaurant in Philadelphia; the young apprentice went on to become one of the greatest travel writers of this century. The Last Grain Race is Eric Newby's spell-binding account of his time spent on the Moshulu's last voyage in the Australian grain trade.

As always, Eric Newby's sharp eye for detail captures the hardships, danger, squabbles, companionship and sheer joy of shipboard life - bedbugs, ferocious storms, eccentric Finnish crew and all. By pure chance, Eric witnessed the passing of the era of sail, and his tale is all the more significant for being the last of its kind.

About this title

From the Publisher:

7 1.5-hour cassettes

About the Author:

ERIC NEWBY was born in London in 1919 and was educated at St Paul's School. In 1938, he joined the four-masted Finnish barque `Moshulu' as an apprentice and sailed in the last Grain Race from Ireland by way of Australia and Cape Horn. During World War II, he served in the Black Watch and the Special Boat Section. In 1942, he was captured and remained a prisoner-of-war until 1945. He subsequently married the girl who helped him escape, and for the next fifty years, his wife Wanda was at his side on many adventures. After the war, his world expanded still further - into the fashion business and book publishing. Whatever else he was doing, Newby always travelled on a grand scale, either under his own steam or as the Travel Editor for the Observer. He was made a CBE in 1994 and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award of the British Guild of Travel Writers in 2001. Eric Newby died in 2006.

About this edition

• Publisher: Lonely Planet
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0864427689
• ISBN 13: 9780864427687
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288