"West Coast Windjammers In Story and Pictures" (used book)

West Coast Windjammers In Story and Pictures

by Jim Gibbs

About the book

Used book. Hardcover. Dust jacket included. Good condition

Does anyone doubt the important place in the little wooden schooners and four-masters from Europe and the East Coast held in the settlement and building of the West? The early settlers in California, Oregon and Washington came around the Horn and sailed north from San Francisco. Lumber for homes and industry went south by sea from the northwest. And with nothing to guide them but the wind, compass, sextant, stars and a sixth sense, the sturdy little ships struggled through fog and gales, more than half of them foundering.

This is the story of those ships and of the intrepid pioneers who built them. It is told by a man who understands their epic stature, who can write with feeling of stalwart skipper, mate and seaman, of musty fo’c’sles, of the creak and goat of blocks, wind in the rigging and chantey’s sung about the capstan.

When torches were touched to the oil-soaked hulls of many old sailing vessels in Puget Sound, Jim Gibbs watched with the wonderment of youth…and saw thousands of years of sail go up in orange flames. The torch he carries now is not to destroy but preserve the golden age of schooners, barkentines and all wind ships that navigated West coast waters. Gibbs is dedicated to this purpose, is immersed in sea lore and has researched d3eeply into his subject of historic ships, cargoes, shipbuilding and dramatic episodes that characterized the doughty skippers.