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

By Peter Stark and William F. Stark

Book Overview

A memorable tale of adventure on the turbulent seas of the Great Southern and Atlantic oceans--on one of the most historic voyages of our time--finds its way into paperback. This is William F. Stark's engrossing memoir of the last leg of the Grain Race, and the Pamir's rounding of fearsome Cape Horn--the storm-tossed tip of South America just 600 miles from Antarctica--the veritable Mount Everest of sailing. In 1949, the crew of thirty-four sailors from around the world experienced the shipboard life of the seventeenth century on a four-masted vessel that carried hundreds of acres of sail. In 128 days the Pamir journeyed 16,000 miles from Port Victoria, Australia, to Falmouth, England, through the world's stormiest seas, as Stark worked on decks awash with huge swells, and scrambled up ice-coated rigging to manhandle sails on masts that were up to twenty stories high. Contrasting romance with the realities of life at sea, and poignantly evoking the love affair he left behind to join the Pamir, while punctuating his tale with illuminating photos, maps, and details of maritime history, Stark has written a thrilling book that climaxes the fabled era begun by Cape Horn merchant sailors more than three centuries ago.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786714611
• ISBN13: 9780786714612
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 231 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.1" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Last Time Around Cape Horn

This was a gift for a friend who was taking a cruise around Cape Horn this Christmas. It was much enjoyed by the recipient.

A Very Worthwhile Reading Experience

The author presents a very well written personal memoir of his 1949 trip around Cape Horn on an old fashioned windjammer. He was a junior at Dartmouth studying "abroad" in Europe when in pursuit of his dream he travelled by airplane to Australia in the hope of securing a deckhand position on a four masted barque. I found that the story was very well presented. Not being a sailor myself, I found that the author more than adequately presented the nautical and seafaring jargon in easy to understand layman's terms. In reading this book I felt that I was the beneficiary of an "old timer" telling his very personal story of a great adventure just to me. You will not be disappointed if you enjoy sea stories well told.

Follow your dream!

A gem. I didn't want it to end. The best adventure I've read since Stephen Ambrose's ''Undaunted Courage.'' Give it to your father; give it to your sons.