The Last Time Around Cape Horn: The Historic 1949 Voyage of the Windjammer Pamir

by William F. Stark, Peter Stark (Introduction)

In 1949, a young Dartmouth student named William Stark left his study-abroad program in Zurich for a berth as an Ordinary Seaman on a Finnish windjammer that would carry 60,000 sacks of barley 12,000 miles in 128 days from Australia to Europe, around Cape Horn. This is Stark's engrossing memoir of the end of a long tradition of young men going to sea in the Great Age of Sail , and the final rounding by a commercial sailing ship of fearsome Cape Horn -- the veritable Mount Everest of sailing. Stark vividly chronicles the Pamir's journey through the world's stormiest seas as he worked brutal four-hour watches on decks awash with the huge swells of the Southern Ocean, and scrambled up ice-coated rigging to manhandle sails on masts that were up to twenty stories high. Stark experienced the shipboard life of the seventeenth century in 1949 on a vessel longer than a football field. Contrasting the romance and realities of life on the sea, and poignantly evoking the passionate love affair he left behind, Stark wrote a thrilling narrative that brings closure to the era of Cape Horn merchant sailors that began more than three centuries before. Pages of memorable photographs are included.

Genres: Nonfiction, Maritime

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 23, 2003

Reviews

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommended for anyone who loves the sea or sailing. I came across this book by chance and got totally caught up in Stark's adventure. I vividly remember approaching Cape Horn some years ago in a small modern cruise ship and circling for hours so that a crew member could tender ashore to get a certificate/memento for the passengers. It was not to happen, as the rough waters and strong winds prohibited any safe passage. I can't begin to imagine what it was like for any sailing vessel to navigate these treacherous seas. If son, Peter Stark, writes as well as his father, I look forward to checking out his travel books.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fabulous book! William Stark interrupted his college studies to sail as a seaman on the last of the great four masted square riggers to sail around Cape Horn. The writing is wonderful, the story highly engaging--I couldn't put it down.

[Kalina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this some time ago when I was dreaming of joining the Two Weeks Before the Mast program on the Lady Washington, and found it extremely engaging. This is a story of sailing a tall ship in a modern context -- not during the golden age of sail, but when the world had already changed and technologies were advancing, so in the story telling you traverse two eras. If you love ships or adventure or both, this is a very engaging read.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

As sometimes happens with memoirs, this is one in which I was totally captivated by the story being told even as I found the narrator somewhat insufferable.

A rare complaint about the paperback edition: my father-in-law gave me this book brand new, and the very first time I read it, pages started falling out of the binding! Cheap, cheap, cheap!

[Billy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good. 1949 story of what, unbeknownst to the Captain and crew, would be the last voyage of the Great Grain racers. Author dropped out of a semester abroad while at Dartmouth and heads to Australia to sail the square riggers. Ends up aboard the Pamir, and describes the voyage home....

[Rosalie R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome. Learned a lot more about large, old sailing vessels and the people who sailed them.

[Donna Good · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful tale.