Last of the Cape Horners: Firsthand Accounts from the Final Days of the Commercial Tall Ships

Square-riggers are usually perceived as vessels of the nineteenth century or earlier. Yet these graceful, multi-masted beauties actually sailed on into the 1950's before they disappeared from the sea forever. THE LAST OF THE CAPE HORNERS is an exciting anthology of the best-written and most-representative accounts of life aboard commercial square-rigged sailing ships in the final fifty years of their existence.

Veteran sailor Spencer Apollonio has drawn from many little-known sources for these accounts of life aboard the last of the American, English, Scottish, and Finnish "Cape Horners" that sailed around the fabled southern tip of South America. Written by officers, crewmen, and passengers, each provides a realistic picture of a maritime era the likes of which will never be seen again.

Arranged in the sequence of a voyage around the world, the accounts outline the general nature of commercial activities, routes, and ports of call, and the gradual decline of commercial sailing ships. Apollonio describes a full range of exciting and dangerous action, as well as everyday shipboard experiences. With clear explanations of the technical aspects of sailing these tall ships and with lively accounts of life on board, THE LAST OFTHE CAPE HORNERS tales readers along fora journey through the romance and adventure of the igh seas.

Spencer Apollonio is a marine biologist who has sailed a traditional wooden gaff-rigged sloop along the coast of Maine for more than twenty years. Boothbay Harbor, Maine, is his homeport.