The Last Grain Race
by Eric Newby · first published 1956
100% recommend
Why HN recommends it
Memoir of Eric Newby signing on as an untrained sailor on a grain ship sailing from Europe to Australia in 1939; readers praise it as an engaging, well-told read about life aboard a pre-war sailing vessel.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
An engaging and informative first-hand account of the last 'grain race' of maritime history, from respected travel writer Eric Newby. In 1938, a young Eric Newby - later renowned as a travel writer of exceptional talent - set sail aboard Moshulu, the largest sailing ship still employed in the transportation of grain from Australia to Europe. Every year from 1921 to 1939, the vessels involved in the grain trade would strive to find the shortest, fastest passage home - 'the grain race' - in the face of turbulent seas, atrocious weather conditions and hard graft. First published in 1956, 'The Las
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If you like this stuff:’one of my all time favorite books is “The Last Grain Race” by Eric Newby. He signed on as a sailor on the Last sail shipment of grain from Rotterdam to Sydney in 1939 (just as WWII was breaking out in Europe). As is typical for him he knew nothing about sailing…
on “Sail Freight Projects Around the World” ↗Book recommendation if you found this article interesting (and haven't already read the book, a classic) : Eric Newby, The Last Grain Race https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Grain_Race
on “How to design a sailing ship for the 21st century?” ↗If you haven't read it, "the last grain race" by Eric Newby is a great read, of his time on the pre-ww2 era sailing vessel "moshulu" doing the Australia-Europe run with bagged wheat. He had a very interesting and varied life, this is only one lacuna…
on “SS United States, the fastest passenger liner ever built” ↗Up until WWII, Finnish shippers were competitive using sailing ships for long range bulk transport of grain, Eric Newby details one such voyage as a sailor in The Last Grain Race (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Grain_Race). I see no particular reason why sailing ships with a little optimization couldn't be competitive these days if they were back then, especially since…
on “350 tons of of chocolate and wine arrive on world’s largest cargo sailboat” ↗Related book recommendation: The Last Grain Race, by Eric Newby.
on “Largest wind-powered cargo ship made first delivery across the Atlantic” ↗Sailing ships continued to be economic into the 1930s, for certain cargoes and routes. See Eric Newby, "The Last Grain Race".
on “350 tons of of chocolate and wine arrive on world’s largest cargo sailboat” ↗