Non-fiction

Sails Full and By – Dom Degnon

Published by Sheridan House, Dobbs Ferry a first edition 1995. Octavo, 244 pages illustrated. Very good near fine condition.

A seven-year circumnavigation in the 41 foot ketch “Taku”. With so much time they need a full crew of friends and family who come and go during the “voyage”. With more time than some they have more time for the exotic .. and in the Pacific Ahe, Tahiti, Samoa, Sunwarrow, Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand. Then off to the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea and then difficulties with the boat and they just made it to Australia’s Lizard island. And then more ….

A long time around the world an unusual narrative

$25.00

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Of Ships and Men – Alan Villiers

Published by Newnes, London in 1964 after the 1962 first. Tall octavo, 206 pages heavily illustrated. Very good condition and the best printing of a book published in a number of forms.

A personal anthology by the Master Mariner. In chronological order with “The Build-up” … the opening sentence is “There were sailing ships at the bottom of our street – real sailing-ships, I mean – Cape Horners, four-masted barques, fully-rigged” …. love it!

Then we are off with … “The Real Thing” and then “Steamships” and “Little Ships” and “War”.

Villiers unique knowledgeable writing style

$25.00

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Original manuscript Accounts Book 1791/92 – Webster’s Ropery Sunderland, County Durham, England

Original folio accounts book for the two-year ending 31st December 1792 most likely of or the predecessor to one of England’s leading maritime rope makers, Webster of Deptford, Sunderland County Durham. Original quarter reverse calf with marbled paper covered boards. 62 pages of fine handwriting … appears all the same hand.

Titled at the head of page the first page “An Inventory of Goods etc at the Ropery belonging Messrs William Marshall and John Webster together with an account of the Debts due to & from them this first Day of January One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety One”

The first record of rope making on Wearside (the river Weir runs through Sunderland) was in 1636. The rope was likely made from Baltic hemp. Before 1800 ropes were hand-made on ropewalks a practice that continued for another 100 years. Ropewalks had to be wide enough for four men to spin abreast of each other and long enough to make a standard 120 fathom marine rope. Up to 20 people may be employed on just one rope.

Webster’s plant at Deptford was the first on Wearside driven by steam. It is believed to be the world’s first factory producing machine-made rope. Robert Fothergill a Sunderland schoolmaster had patented a machine to spin hemp the year after our accounts book (1793). It could be that this careful record was produced as part of an exercise to obtain finance for the mechanisation … although the low wages recorded suggest that that mechanisation may well have been underway. We do know that Fothergill died shortly afterwards and Grimshaw a local clockmaker took up the rights in partnership with our Webster and two others. Although its not clear whether the Webster involved was Rowland a distinguished magistrate or John as noted here.

One of the partners in the business was the distinguished Rowland Burdon who later gave up his Parliamentary position on principle although many though that it was because Webster’s Ropery had gained very lucrative contracts with the Royal Navy and he was avoiding any backlash financially … for sure Webster’s were there at Trafalgar!

The records mention many of the vessels of the day that would have been working out of the North-east along with their captains … e.g. Captain McQuarrie of the Fanny; Johnstone of the Nancy William; Robinson of the Broughton Tower; Cleminson of the Argyll; Kennel of the Endeavour (a new one); Dixon of the Sarah; Holm of the Hollow Oak; Neal of the Betsy.

Neat recording of debts and payments with particulars of sales noted with full description for every transaction with monthly totals compared often against some measure of the physical amount sold (early KPI’s). Stock holdings, wages per wage period all set out very carefully. For an industrial historian there seems sufficient information to paint a pretty full picture of the extent of activities. We have gleamed that the Ropery Buildings are in the books at GBP 220, stockholdings were GBP205 and annual sales GBP484 with total wages of only GBP72. Looks nicely profitable.

Interestingly, the Ropery building still exists and has been restored … it is a magnificent building and has been re-established as Webster’s Ropery … but as a beautiful wedding venue … check it out we have shown an image here.

Accounting Records from 1792 …. unique Maritime interest …

$290.00

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Cutting Loose – James Lipscomb

Published by Angus and Robertson in 1975 having been published by Little, Brown in the USA the year before. Octavo, 304 pages plus diagrams of the boat and endpaper maps of the voyage. Very good condition.

This book by James Lipscomb is unusual .. five young men sail the “Four Winds” from San Pedro south to Costa Rica and then across the Pacific and on up to Singapore. His son John is the leader of the group … difficulties arise including personality issues and illness. Written in “diary fashion” it makes for interesting reading.

Cutting Loose – more than a voyage

$25.00

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Starbound (Circumnavigation) – Gordan and Nina Stuermer – 1977

Published by David McKay, New York a first edition 1977. Large octavo, 330 pages with numerous photographic illustrations taken on their voyage. Very good condition.

Gordan and Nina Stuermer decided to give up a “normal” life to sail on the square-sail ketch “Starbound”. The circumnavigated the globe in two and a half years with their teenage son. But not after living on and growing accustomed to the vessel for seven years.

They set of around the world from Annapolis, Maryland in October 1973 … down the Chesapeake Bay and off to Bermuda. Some tips on how to deal with the Panama Canal (should you be lucking enough to need them) and then into the Pacific and the beautiful island nations. Tips on the inside of the Great Barrier Reef and arriving at Dili just in time for a revolution. And further remarkable adventures ensue. Useful appendices for those with ambitious plans including the preserving of meat and other produce onboard.

Circumnavigating … a comprehensive account

$30.00

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By Way of the Wind – Jim Moore

A first edition published by Sheridan House, Dobbs Ferry, New York in 1991. Octavo, 215 pages, illustrated with the authors photographs and with endpaper maps. Very good if not fine condition

Jim Moore and his partner Molly gave up a normal life in Portland Oregon to build their dream boat a 36 foot fibreglass Cascade Sloop to be named Swan. It took them four year to get it all shipshape.

They set off in 1977 across to Hawaii, Christmas Island, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Lord Howe island, New Zealand and then on to Sydney. It was 1989 by the time they sailed round Cape York and on to their second Christmas Island before Mauritius, Cape Town St Helena and up to the West Indies and a stop off in Tampa. Back through the Panama and back to Hawaii and on home.

Entertaining circumnavigation .. including getting stuck on the Mooloolaba sand bar!

$30.00

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Sails Full and By – Dom Degnon

Of Ships and Men – Alan Villiers

Original manuscript Accounts Book 1791/92 – Webster’s Ropery Sunderland, County Durham, England

Cutting Loose – James Lipscomb

Starbound (Circumnavigation) – Gordan and Nina Stuermer – 1977

By Way of the Wind – Jim Moore

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