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fishermen rafting up their boats at a seawall in south Brittany, three quarters of a century ago- they just look so at home in their work-worn craft , so aware of what they are and their place in the worldand so proud of it! The book ends with an invaluable listing of 250 extant sailing vessels, from the giant Kruzenstern to sailing barges and fishing smacks, and another list providing addresses of organizations maintaining or supporting traditional sailing vessels. In all , this colorful review of the world of traditional sailing vessels will make rewarding reading for old hands and new, and it provides authoritative information on a lively and varied heritage. PETER STANFORD
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Coasting Bargemaster, by Bob Roberts (Terence Dalton , Mallard Reprints, Water Street, Lavenham, Suffolk, England 1984, 152pp, illus, ÂŁ6.95). This reprint in paperback of a book first published in 1949 is actually an entirely new edition with many additional illustrations and an invaluable new introduction by Frank Carr. Bob Roberts, last of the "sailormen ," (as the sailing barge seamen were called) became a legend in his own time. The book covers a lifetime spent in sail around the coasts of Britain in peace and war, beginning with Roberts at age fifteen aboard the famous barkentine Waterwitch, one of the last square-riggers to trade under the Red Ensign. It records his graduating to an exciting experience as captain and part owner of a topsail schooner trading on the SW coast. The schooner finally became a constructive total loss on the Irish coast. After a spell ashore as a journalist in London , Bob Roberts felt the call of the sea too strong, and began life afloat again as mate of a Thames barge, the Audrey. His journalistic experience stands him in good stead as he relates his varied experiences around the south and east coasts, first as mate of various barges, and then as captain of the Northdown , a famous racer. From her he transferred to the Martinet, last of the " boomie" barges , an unlucky ship with an evil reputation , in which he served during the early years of World War II. Roberts was determined to tame her, and did so for a time, until her loss off Orford Ness in 1941. He then commanded the big steel barge Greenhithe for a time, and after a break took over Everard's famous Cambria , one of the last barges to trade under sail. Eventually he bought her and sailed her in trade until 1970, when she was sold for preservation to the Maritime Trust. All this makes up what was truly a full life if ever there was one. To quote
Frank Carr:, " In this book he leaves a legacy for posterity to enjoy. We shall not look upon his like again." JAMES FORSYTH E
Major Forsythe, Hon. Secretary of the World Ship Trust, is also President of the Norfolk Wherry Trust, and a student of working sail. The Piscataqua Gundalow: Workhorse of a Tidal Empire, by Richard E . Winslow III (The Portsmouth Marine Society, Portsmouth NH , 1983, 164pp, illus, $12). The gundalow, whose name is derived from "gondola" and can be spelled in a variety of ways , was for 250 years a familiar sight on the inland waterways above Portsmouth , New Hampshire. Displaced by successive improvements in transportation , the lateen-rigged lighter disappeared from popular use about the turn of the century. Now this singular craft is represented by a replica of the last working gundalow, and is named for that vessel's builder and master, Captain Edward H. Adams, " the last of the gundalowmen ." Mr. Winslow's book is divided into three chapters. The first is an absorbing history of the Piscataqua River and its tributaries, and of the towns that grew up along their banks. Because the gundalow was utilitarian and of humble construction , little is known of its early development except what can be found in occasional documents (three of which , from 1697, 1747, and 1842, are reproduced , together with some seventy illustrations) . But Winslow is nothing if not resourceful , and the eighteen pages of references will satisfy the most avid gundalowphile. Drawing on published and unpublished sources, including interviews, journals, periodicals, histories , and literature, Winslow draws us into the mainstream of the Piscataqua's "tidal empire." In this gundalow's-eye-view of events, we are treated to some extravagant New England provincialism . For instance, Winslow writes, ''As 'All roads lead to Rome,' all waters eventually lead to Portsmouth , 'the Queen of the Piscataqua ,' where sooner or later all gundalows docked ." And we learn elsewhere or Captain Adams' relation to John Adams, " who used the Piscataqua ferries in 1770 en route, eventually, to the Presidency." Chapter Two is a biography of Captain Adams , who lived for ninety years on Great Bay as a gundalow captain , among other things, and who was a fathomless well of local knowledge and practical observmtion. " I had to make a living," goes ome quote, "and that's an awful SEA HISlDRY, SUMMER 1985