Sailing Tall

Book excerpt: Author Max Wood served his apprenticeship on one of the very last commerical voyages of any cargo square-rigger. Sailing Tall is a piece of living history, in which he documents in great detail work practices and a way of life now gone by. It is also a vivid and honest account of the "true" sailors. A natural storyteller, Wood tells it as it really was: the exhilaration, the camaraderie, the constant hard work, the occasional terrors, the frequent boredom...and also the pride of being one of those determined few who, throughout the ages, have challenged the forces of nature for little reward but a spartan life. These memoirs constitute an invaluable document and a moving portrait of a boy's coming-of-age, as Wood leaves his family, and learns about the world and himself.