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I'm going to nominate The Last Grain Race by Eric Newby. I've read other books by him and greatly enjoyed them.
From Amazon (4.4 stars) and Goodreads (4.24 stars):
Every year from 1921 to 1939, the vessels involved in the grain trade would strive to find the shortest, fastest passage home from Australia to Britain – "the grain race" – in the face of turbulent seas, atrocious weather conditions and hard graft.
In 1938 an eighteen-year-old boy signed on for the round trip from Europe to Australia in the last commercial sailing fleet to make that formidable journey. The Last Grain Race is Eric Newby's spell-binding account of his time spent on the Moshulu's last voyage in the Australian grain trade.
As always, Eric Newby's sharp eye for detail captures the hardships, danger, squabbles, companionship and sheer joy of shipboard life - bedbugs, ferocious storms, eccentric Finnish crew and all. By pure chance, Eric witnessed the passing of the era of sail, and his tale is all the more significant for being the last of its kind.
US$9.99, CA$12.99, AU$10.99, UKŁ7.99, Scribd
288 pp.
Last edited by issybird; 01-02-2019 at 07:00 PM.
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