For the Wall Street Journal, he named a list of his favorite books about sailing. Number One on his list:
The Last Grain RaceRead about the other titles on Knox-Johnson's list.
by Eric Newby
Houghton Mifflin, 1956
In the late 1930s, when the young Eric Newby signed on for an around-the-world voyage on a working square-rigger, war clouds were gathering all over the world as nations rearmed, and newer, faster vessels were being launched. Amid this frenzied activity, cargoes of grain were still being transported to Europe from Australia in sailing ships. Fewer than a dozen of these mighty windjammers remained, but their sailors, as men will, still competed to make the fastest voyage -- hence "The Last Grain Race." To hang over an icy spar that rolled and jerked while trying to haul in a stiff, ice-covered sail in howling winds with sleet lashing exposed flesh -- that was the truth of rounding Cape Horn. There was no romance in it, just back-breaking labor for 12 hours a day, more if the ship needed it. Newby faithfully recorded this experience and many others, conveying the feel of life on the great sailing ships.
--Marshal Zeringue