Charles W. Domville-Fife

Square Rigger Days: Autobiographies of Sail Charles W. Domville-Fife

Supported by a superb collection of illustrations, some never previously published, this new edition of a classic work describes the last, tough days of commercial sail, from the 1860s to World War I. Far from the romantic image conjured up by other books on the subject, this work provides readers with a true look at the harsh realities of the sailor's life on board 19th century merchant ships. To present an accurate picture, editor Charles W. Domville-Fife collected the personal stories of the seamen while they were still alive. Caught in the limbo of a dying profession where poor pay, prolonged isolation from family, and physical hardship were the norm, the men experienced neither the excitement of life on the crack clippers of earlier decades nor the safety of steamships. Instead, murder, mutiny, starvation, and shipwreck were common parts of their lives, and the retelling of their experiences makes for compelling reading. First published in 1938, these memoirs are being made available again with a new selection of photographs and a new introduction on life at sea by Robert D. Foulke.