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

by Derek Lundy

A family voyage under sail

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Paperback New English

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Awards & Recognition

  • Critical praise

    Praised by the Seattle Times

    The Seattle Times is quoted praising The Way of a Ship as “a fantastic ride through one of the greatest moments ...

AlbakiReads Editorial

A family voyage under sail

Derek Lundy reconstructs the 1880s voyage of his forebear Benjamin Lundy, who signed aboard a commercial square-rigger bound around Cape Horn. The account places one perilous passage within the broader world of life aboard a sailing vessel in the last era of commercial sail. Its combination of family history and maritime reconstruction connects an individual journey with the demanding conditions of long-distance sailing before steam replaced sail on many routes.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in maritime history and commercial sailing ships
  • Readers drawn to historical biography and family history
  • Those curious about voyages around Cape Horn

Themes

Maritime historyFamily historyLife at seaCommercial sailing in the 1880s

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

When, as a young man in the 1880s, Benjamin Lundy signed up for duty aboard a square-rigged commercial sailing vessel, he began a journey more exciting, and more terrifying, than he could have ever imagined: a treacherous, white-knuckle passage around that notorious "graveyard of ships," Cape Horn.

A century later, Derek Lundy, author of the bestselling Godforsaken Sea and an accomplished amateur seaman himself, set out to recount his forebear's journey. The Way of a Ship is a mesmerizing account of life on board a square-rigger, a remarkable reconstruction of a harrowing voyage through the most dangerous waters. Derek Lundy's masterful account evokes the excitement, romance, and brutality of a bygone era -- "a fantastic ride through one of the greatest moments in the history of adventure" (Seattle Times).

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