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Rounding Cape Horn : And Other Sea Stories
This collection includes novella "Rounding Cape Horn" and 9 other short stories, all of them about sea travel and
THE LIFE-SAVERS
THANKSGIVING ON THE DICKY BIRD
MY BRAZILIAN ADVENTURE
BRINGING IN A DERELICT
THE MONOMANIAC
CROSSING THE LINE
MISSING
A DANGEROUS CARGO
THE PARSON’S TEXT
THE LIFE-SAVERS
THANKSGIVING ON THE DICKY BIRD
MY BRAZILIAN ADVENTURE
BRINGING IN A DERELICT
THE MONOMANIAC
CROSSING THE LINE
MISSING
A DANGEROUS CARGO
THE PARSON’S TEXT
180 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 12, 2017
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About the author
Walter McRoberts
15 booksWalter McRoberts was an adventure traveler and author, best known for his short story collection, Rounding Cape Horn and Other Stories (1895) Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean—roll! Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain; Man marks the earth with ruin—his control Stops with the shore.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 1, 2022
Aug 29, 9pm ~~ Review asap.
Aug 30, 215pm ~~ This 1895 collection has ten entertaining sea stories. To clarify, eight were entertaining and two were skipped for racist overtones in the first couple of paragraphs. Those two stories might have been great also, but I preferred not to read past certain words and ideas of the day.
After I finished the book, I tried to find out a little about the author, because the stories were so vivid, and full of such impressive detail and naval language that I thought surely the man must have been a sailor or a captain on a real sailing vessel. But all my limited research skills could find was that he was an 'adventure traveler' and that this was his most well-known book. It is the only one at Project Gutenberg so I won't be able to judge any lesser-known works.
The collection begins dramatically with The Life-Savers, a tale about a storm, a shipwreck, and the crew of a life-saving station in New England. The second is one that I skipped, but My Brazilian Adventure got right back into the swing of the action when a man follows the signs sent to him in a dream. What does it mean and what will he find when he arrives at the coordinates?! Actually my biggest puzzle over that story was why the Brazilian natives he ended up dealing with were all speaking Spanish rather than Portuguese, which is the official language of the country.
But that was a minor blip in a nifty little tale. I especially liked Crossing The Line, a hilarious story about the traditional visit from Neptune when the ship crosses the Equator with any sailors aboard who had not crossed the line before. The captain of this particular ship traveled with his sister, and borrowed without permission a couple of items of clothing from her trunks to dress up a Mermaid who would accompany Neptune. But the captain, the crew, the Mermaid, and Neptune himself were put in their places when Sister discovered who was wearing her best red silk bed jacket!
The Monomaniac was full of tension which built up and up until it exploded but it still left me with an unanswered question. In this story there are two lady passengers, the widow and daughter of a friend of the Captain. The widow had made a few voyages with her husband so was used to being onboard a sailing ship, and the author described a few of the feminine touches she had brought to the stateroom of this vessel. One was "a globe of goldfish swinging from the ceiling". Now I don't know about anyone else, but I just don't think that would be a very practical thing to have around. I wonder if anyone really did such a thing? I could understand a parrot or even a monkey, but a goldfish? In a bowl swinging around ready to clunk someone in the head? Imagine it in a storm?! The state room would be the most dangerous place on the ship! lol
The final story in the collection was Rounding Cape Horn and although our crew had a rough journey, I have read of much worse. But the author puts the reader right there onboard ship, with the wind shrieking and the ice forming on the lines and the ship nearly going under because of the huge seas smashing down on it. Gosh, by the time I was at the end I was cold and wet and a little bit seasick!
And I learned something. I thought 'rounding the horn' was something accomplished just by getting your ship past the tip of South America sticking out into the ocean down there. but here is the author's explanation of the phrase, and it makes much more sense:
"...from the moment a ship crosses the fiftieth parallel in the South Atlantic until she has passed down around the stormy Cape and up in the Pacific to the fiftieth parallel in that ocean,—a distance approaching a thousand miles, she is said to be 'rounding Cape Horn'. Until she is across 50 in the Pacific, the vessel is never safe from being blown clear back to the Cape by the furious western gales and hurricanes that rage almost continuously in this region."
I love stories set on sailing ships, and these were so vivid that I am sure I will be rereading them Someday!
Aug 30, 215pm ~~ This 1895 collection has ten entertaining sea stories. To clarify, eight were entertaining and two were skipped for racist overtones in the first couple of paragraphs. Those two stories might have been great also, but I preferred not to read past certain words and ideas of the day.
After I finished the book, I tried to find out a little about the author, because the stories were so vivid, and full of such impressive detail and naval language that I thought surely the man must have been a sailor or a captain on a real sailing vessel. But all my limited research skills could find was that he was an 'adventure traveler' and that this was his most well-known book. It is the only one at Project Gutenberg so I won't be able to judge any lesser-known works.
The collection begins dramatically with The Life-Savers, a tale about a storm, a shipwreck, and the crew of a life-saving station in New England. The second is one that I skipped, but My Brazilian Adventure got right back into the swing of the action when a man follows the signs sent to him in a dream. What does it mean and what will he find when he arrives at the coordinates?! Actually my biggest puzzle over that story was why the Brazilian natives he ended up dealing with were all speaking Spanish rather than Portuguese, which is the official language of the country.
But that was a minor blip in a nifty little tale. I especially liked Crossing The Line, a hilarious story about the traditional visit from Neptune when the ship crosses the Equator with any sailors aboard who had not crossed the line before. The captain of this particular ship traveled with his sister, and borrowed without permission a couple of items of clothing from her trunks to dress up a Mermaid who would accompany Neptune. But the captain, the crew, the Mermaid, and Neptune himself were put in their places when Sister discovered who was wearing her best red silk bed jacket!
The Monomaniac was full of tension which built up and up until it exploded but it still left me with an unanswered question. In this story there are two lady passengers, the widow and daughter of a friend of the Captain. The widow had made a few voyages with her husband so was used to being onboard a sailing ship, and the author described a few of the feminine touches she had brought to the stateroom of this vessel. One was "a globe of goldfish swinging from the ceiling". Now I don't know about anyone else, but I just don't think that would be a very practical thing to have around. I wonder if anyone really did such a thing? I could understand a parrot or even a monkey, but a goldfish? In a bowl swinging around ready to clunk someone in the head? Imagine it in a storm?! The state room would be the most dangerous place on the ship! lol
The final story in the collection was Rounding Cape Horn and although our crew had a rough journey, I have read of much worse. But the author puts the reader right there onboard ship, with the wind shrieking and the ice forming on the lines and the ship nearly going under because of the huge seas smashing down on it. Gosh, by the time I was at the end I was cold and wet and a little bit seasick!
And I learned something. I thought 'rounding the horn' was something accomplished just by getting your ship past the tip of South America sticking out into the ocean down there. but here is the author's explanation of the phrase, and it makes much more sense:
"...from the moment a ship crosses the fiftieth parallel in the South Atlantic until she has passed down around the stormy Cape and up in the Pacific to the fiftieth parallel in that ocean,—a distance approaching a thousand miles, she is said to be 'rounding Cape Horn'. Until she is across 50 in the Pacific, the vessel is never safe from being blown clear back to the Cape by the furious western gales and hurricanes that rage almost continuously in this region."
I love stories set on sailing ships, and these were so vivid that I am sure I will be rereading them Someday!
March 3, 2019
Some Interesting Stories
There is a nice variety of stories from the days of the sailing ships. The hardships of rounding Cape Horn, some shipboard fun and a couple stories of calamities at sea.
There is a nice variety of stories from the days of the sailing ships. The hardships of rounding Cape Horn, some shipboard fun and a couple stories of calamities at sea.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews