Product Description

Discover the history of the three-masted schooner Wawona and the quirky adventures of her captains and crews in the North Pacific. Shipbuilders, Sea Captains, and Fishermen reveals the innovations of Wawona’s builder, H.D. Bendixsen. Capt. Ralph E. “Matt” Peasley, “the big overgrown kid,” became the most famous ship captain in America. Capt. Charles Foss called on the heavens for a breeze by wearing his wife’s hats. And the crew caught hundreds of tons of cod in the stormy Bering Sea while secretly fermenting shipboard wine with canned fruit and sourdough starter. Complete with detailed illustrations, historical photographs, and great stories, Shipbuilders, Sea Captains, and Fishermen recreates a world that ended with the last sailing ships.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1235034 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 230 pages

About the Author

Joe Follansbee is an award-winning author and journalist who has contributed to Maritime Life & Traditions, The Seattle Times; The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle Magazine, Pacific Northwest Quarterly, The Mariner’s Mirror, Gastronomica, Columbia, Sea History, and Nostalgia.

Customer Reviews

Excellence
Many authors on subjects such as this focus on either the technical or human side of the story and end up with books which are a like wine made from good grapes which havs not been properly aged. Joe has written the kind of tale which makes the reader want to throw another log on the fire, refill their glass and curl back up in their favorite chair and rejoin his world. This kind of detail and balance is rare and deserves savoring.

Real adventures caringly told.
This book is a fun, informative, and diverse read. I loved learning about life on a ship, through true tales!

choose to go into detail or not
One of many features of Follansbee's writing is the straight reading is informative and interesting, and you can choose whether or not to refer to the thirty-two pages of notes, organized by chapter, and which often included even more information or anecdotes. I found myself with a finger in the appropriate section of notes as I read the chapters.

The poor sagging Wawona may yet get the support she needs to be a relic of Puget Sound. Anyone with an interest in the tall ships should enjoy this read.