Tall Ships Today: Their Remarkable Story

Abstract

Rowe, N., Dadswell, Rv Mudie, C., & Rauworth, M. (2014). Tall ships today: Their remarkable story. London: Adlard Coles Nautical, Bloomsbury. ISBN: 978-1-47-290346-4 (hardback), 224 pages This book sets out to give insight into a fleet of around 100 sail training tall ships currently operating around the world and also to give a sense of what it is like to sail aboard one of these vessels. The book has four chapters: Origins and Evolution, The Tall Ships, The Tall Ship Experience and Racing on Tall Ships. The book has appeared with some anticipation and for good reason. The authors bring experience and insights into tall ship sailing (or sail training) that is unrivalled. My first impression of the book was one of quality in all respects. The quality is evident throughout in the writing, images and overall 'feel' of the book. The chapter sequence can be interpreted in two ways. Initially the chapters suggest a chronological approach or 'looking back to look forward' approach; but a second interpretation is that the central concerns are deliberately at the heart of the book: the ships and the value of the experiences aboard them. My inclination is that the latter interpretation was a conscious choice of the book's architect, editor and principal author Nigel Rowe who, together with the three contributing authors, have a clear vision of the value of sailing beyond learning to sail. For good reasons this has been a challenging book to review. If the book were solely of interest to one discreet audience the review could be written with the audience in mind. However, the book has appeal to, among others, historians, sailing enthusiasts, educators, recreators and of course to academics. As I read through the book my mind wandered to consider both a nephew (10 years old) and an aging relative -both of whom I am confident would devour the book in their own ways! Of course the current practices of sailing on tall ships in different parts of the world vary and the reasons for this are explored through Mudie's opening chapter on Origins and Evolution. This chapter does as the title suggests but adds much more to the book. It contains fascinating insights, such as how Greek ship builders place the bottom of the tree facing to the front of the vessel as the wood is stronger this way, or that some ship builders insisted on using only trees grown on particular hillsides (p. 22), practices which continue to this day. This chapter appears at the beginning of the book and allows the reader to make sense of the whole book. It provides context and rationale for everything that follows. A point that is neatly summarised by Rauworth who identifies three important values of sailing ships as: historical/maritime heritage, training for a seafaring career and character development (p. 30). It is this last value which the majority of the book is concerned with. The centre of the book (pp. 34A165) consists of a review of 105 different vessels from 38 countries providing a short narrative, brief specifications and images that are inspiring throughout. This provides a taster of the diversity of vessels involved in sail training and just enough to tease the reader to find out more (readily available on the internet via website addresses given in the book). For those not familiar with ship rigs there are fantastic line drawings (pp. 36-7) illustrating everything from a Gaff Cutter to a Four Mast Barque. Rauworth's introduction to this section offers a valuable overview in relation to the history and purposes of the ships featured. To complement the obvious historical and aesthetic appeal of the ships the third chapter concentrates on the current day experiences of sailing aboard these vessels. Using a case study to provide a rich and nuanced visceral experience of a first time trainee, Rowe demonstrates a grasp of the depth of learning and profound influences sail training can have by noting towards the end He began to think that perhaps the whole experience had, as his friend Paula back home had said it would, changed his life. …