The Great Days of Sail: Reminiscences of a Tea Clipper Captain

by Andrew Shewan

Captain Andrew Shewan was the last surviving tea clipper captain and in his seventies set down his experiences in The Great Days of Sail, his only book, published in the year he died. Brought up in Blackwall, his knowledge of the clippers was gathered from first-hand experience. He was on board almost every one of the British clippers he mentions and raced with many of them on the High Seas. He and his father and grandfather before him lived and worked through a period of the utmost importance for the history of sail. He tells his own story, and his descriptions are more vivid and real than the best academic historian has been able to produce.? ?Shewan discusses the tactics of passagemaking, evaluates the merits, or otherwise, of well-known clipper ships, and sets down numerous anecdotes to conjure up the flavour of the clipper days.

The Captain Andrew Shewan was one of the best known of the skilful and daring captains of the clipper ship era. He personified the age described in this book. His grandfather was a whaling captain and his father rose to command the early 'crack' the Lammermuir. Shewan himself was appointed captain of the Norman Court at the age of twenty-three, racing from ports in China with the new season's cargo of tea.?

Genres: Nautical

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973