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If like me youve ever dreamed of a sailing life onboard a ninteenth century windship this book will probably cure you of any romantic notions

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These monster machines were operated almost entirely by hand by shockingly understrength crews living for months on end in intolerable conditions with grievous injury or death a constant threat by indifferent gales and malevolent seas

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But interleaved with the history is lundys account of an imagined 1885 voyage around the horn by his greatgreatuncle benjamin aboard the fictional 4masted barque beara head

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Even with the strong iron hulls and wire rigging of the 1880s cape horn killed men and ships with a regularity that would dismay the modern world

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Of course not all the seaman aboard were willing volunteers dockside crimps if necessary supplied the required number of drugged and drunken men to fill the meager crew rosters permitted by pennypinching owners

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Coal might seem at first thought an innocuous enough cargo but in fact it was not

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Coal especially damp coal often ignited by spontaneous combustion during these lengthy voyages and sometimes even exploded

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Derek lundy crafted his story after intensive research that stretched to include sailing some of the same waters himself although the author confesses a disappointed relief in not encountering a real gale off cape horn