The Way of a Ship: A Square-Rigger Voyage in the Last Days of Sail

Ecco Press, New York, New York, U. S. A., 2003. Hardcover. Condition: As New. Dust Jacket Condition: As New. First Edition. When as a young man in the 1880s, Benjamin Lundy signed up for unimaginably hard duty aboard a square-rigged commercial sailing vessel - one destined for a treacherous, white-knuckle passage around that notorious "graveyard of ships, " Cape Horn - he had no idea that his experience would also provide a window into an epochal transition that would fundamentally change man's relation to the sea. A century later, Derek Lundy, an accomplished amateur seaman, set out to recount his forebear's journey. This is a mesmerizing account of Benjamin's life on board the square-rigger Beara Head, a remarkable reconstruction of a harrowing journey through the most dangerous waters, furling sails 150 feet aloft in heavy weather; enduring cold and danger; sleep-deprived and malnourished, at times half-starved; fighting each day to save the ship and his crewmates. In the process, Benjamin "learns the eternal lessons the sea, which is to say that he finds out the sort of man he is. " 352 pages. …