Under Full Sail

How the mighty clipper ships transformed Australia from convict outpost to a nation.

More than one million Australians can trace their heritage to the migrant ships of the mid-to-late 19th century...

The story of the Clipper ships, and the tens of thousands of migrants they bought to the Australian colony of the nineteenth century, is one of the world's great migration stories. For anyone who travelled to Australia before 1850, it was a long and arduous journey that could take as much as four months. With the arrival of the clipper ships, and favourable winds, the journey from England could be done in a little over half this time. It was a revolution in travel that made the clipper ships the jet airlines of their day, bringing keen and willing migrants 'down under' in record time, all hell-bent on making their fortune in Australia.

Rob Mundle is back on the water, with a ripping story that starts on the sea, aboard a clipper ship charging across the Southern Ocean, laden with passengers heading for Melbourne in response to the lure of gold. Brimming with countless stories of the magnificent ships and fearless (and feckless) characters we find on them, like Englishman "Bully" Forbes and American "Bully" Waterman driving their ships to the limit and the tragic legacy of the many shipwrecks that were so much a part of this era.

ROB MUNDLE OAM is a journalist, broadcaster and bestselling author who grew up on Sydney's northside, initially in Cremorne, then on the northern beaches. His sailing career started as a four-year-old in a tiny sandpit sailboat he shared with his younger brothers, Dennis and Bruce, and the family cat.

A veteran media commentator and competitive sailor, widely regarded as Australia's 'voice of sailing', Rob was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for in recognition of his services to sailing and journalism, in 2013.

Rob is the author of 18 books including his maritime history bestsellers - Bligh, Flinders, Cook, The First Fleet, Great South Land and Under Full Sail. His book on the tragic 54th Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, Fatal Storm, became an international bestseller and was published in six languages.

A competitive sailor since the age of 11, Rob has reported on seven America's Cup matches (including the live international television coverage of Australia's historic victory in 1983), four Olympics and numerous other major events, including the Sydney-Hobart classic for 50 years. He has competed in the Sydney-Hobart on three occasions and won local, state and Australian sailing championships, as well as contested many major international offshore events. Beyond his media and racing activities he was responsible for the introduction of the international Laser and J/24 sailboat classes to Australia

Currently, the media manager for the supermaxi Sydney-Hobart racer, Wild Oats XI, Rob is also on the organising committee of Hamilton Island Race Week, Australia's largest keelboat regatta, and a Director of the Australian National Maritime Museum's Maritime Foundation. Rob was a founder of the Hayman Island Big Boat Series and a past Commodore of Southport Yacht Club on the Gold Coast. He is also the only Australian member of the America's Cup Hall of Fame Selection Committee.

Rob's on-going love of the sea and sailing sees him living at Main Beach on the edge of the Gold Coast Broadwater.