The Last of the Wind Ships

by Alan Villiers

A tribute to the last days of the great merchant sailboats and their crews from a unique photographic talent. The photographic work of Alan Villiers is arguably the most important photo-historical record of early-twentieth-century maritime history in the world. In capturing on film life aboard the last of the great merchant sail ships, he has provided us with a singular record of the end of an era.

Passionate about the sea from an early age, Villiers worked on several commercial sailing vessels before taking on a job as a journalist on a whaling expedition to Antarctica in 1923, which ultimately resulted in the writing of his first book. Other acclaimed books would follow (as well as one film). These powerful images, published for the first time in this volume, date from the late 1920s through the 1930s and were taken aboard the three ships Villiers worked on during this period: the Herzogin Cecilie, the Grace Harwar, and the Panama. 140 duotones

Genres: History

224 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1934

About the author

Mr. Alan Villiers was an Australian 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

[Gunther Prien · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually have the older 1930s edition which I think is better than the new edition. So if you can find an old edition - buy that one.

[Petri Volanen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pitipä kaivautua hyvän luettavan puutteessa oman hyllyn tarjontaan - päädyin tällä kertaa tähän. Enemmän kuvakirja kuin varsinainen kirja, mutta herran jestas miten upea! Kuvia on tähän kerätty kolmelta matkalta viimeisten suurten, oikeasti käytössä olleitten purjelaivojen mukana. Kuvateksteinä on enimmäkseen käytetty lainauksia äijän kirjoista. Viiden tähden teos, ehdottomasti.

[Dick Varga]

how does it compare to Eric Newby's Last Grain Race, an account of the steel windjammer Mushulu's circumnavigation of the globe, UK down the Atlantic to Australia via Cape Good Hope, across Indian Ocean and Great Southern Ocean, across Pacific and the Great Southern Ocean ,around Cape Horn, up the South and North Atlantic to UK? Newby did not have a movie camera as far as I know.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first hand experience of Alan Villiers as a sailor on one of the last operating merchant wind ships. Carried grain from Australia. He documented the life of a sailor on such a vessel, something that would not have been much fun. Especially when you had to climb the masts to adjust the sails, and hope not to fall off despite the wind, cold, and motion. One person did go overboard and perish during the journey.