Cruise of the Conrad

by Alan Villiers

Cruise of the Conrad, a best seller in 1937, is the journal of a voyage round the world in the fully-rigged ship JOSEPH CONRAD, 212 tons, in the years 1934, 1935 and 1936 by way of Good Hope, the South Sea, ahead of the Roaring Forties to the East Indies, on to Singapore, driven by the South East Monsoon and north about Australia and New Zealand, finally rounding Cape Horn before returning home after two years. Alan Villiers was well qualified for the venture after rounding Cape Horn six times in grain ships and serving in whaling barques in the Tasman Sea. He took with him a heterogeneous collection of mariners and schoolboys, 32 all told. He was a fair and egalitarian Master and looked after the interest of his crew.

The voyage of the JOSEPH CONRAD is the truthful story of a great voyage, packed with adventure, how they were blown on the Brooklyn Rocks in a blizzard, the near loss of the vessel on Wari reef and overall the joy of a fine ship with a possible 10,000 square feet of sail to challenge the elements. JOSEPH CONRAD is now preserved in the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut.

Genres: Nautical

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1937

About the author

Mr. Alan Villiers (23 September 1903 - 3 March 1982) was an Australian sailor who had won considerable fame for himself as a result of his voyages in sailing-ships. Mr. Villiers preferred the excitement and the danger of small sailing-ships to the comfort and the safety of the modern ship.

Reviews

[Alberto Bolanos · Rating 3 out of 5]

For those not really used to sailing language (which includes myself), the first half of this book can be a difficult read. I did a lot of wikipedia searches and dictionary searches to try to get comfortable with the sailing language and, although there's a lot of spots I'm still not fully certain about, the book DOES get easier to read after a bit of time. It's totally worth it if you've ever been curious about how they were able to make sailing ships move so 'freely' in the waters (or as freely as they could move).

Besides my general struggle with sailing language (not on the part of Villiers, his language is very smooth throughout the whole book), the book was a pretty interesting read. The story marks a transitory period between when we started ditching classier sailing ships in leiu for steamboats and
'mightier' vessels. However, there's something homely in the community found aboard a square-rigged ship, and Villiers taps into it pretty well here and there.

Our failure as people within the South Sea islands are also mentioned, and the aftermath of our desctruction is also clearly described through Villier's travels within the area. This is one of the biggest points of the book. Whether explicity or implictly mentioned, a wide history of injustice continued (and perhaps still continues) to permeate for indigenous communities along those islands. This is a point that should definitely be publicized more outside of this book.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detailed description of his unique voyage around the world in his own square rigger: this must have been the highlight of his life!