Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
of the unspeakable 1914-18 conflict. There grew up a profound nos-
talgia for that age, whose gracefulness and leisure, unbesmirched by
the smoke and noise of steam propulsion, seemed to be typified by
the sleek old clippers.
In 1923 the cult of the sailing ship, a purely archaeological in-
terest, be it understood, was flourishing; and like many another de-
votee I was scouring second-hand bookshops in seaport towns for logs
of the colonial passage. There was a good deal of sentiment in the im-
pulse that sent me forth, as far as my circumstances permitted, in the
wake of the Lightning or the Oweenee; together with a certain amount
of curiosity as to what a really big sea looked like . . .
3
That was how the Irish nationalist Conor O'Brien described the
urge that sent a former gun-runner and blockade buster around the
globe in the 1920s.
In a changed world the practicalities of oceanic voyaging were
also changing. The demise of the commercial sailing vessel had di-
verted generations of design and construction expertise into the
yacht-building industry. Pleasure boats were better made than ever
before and anyone with the necessary capital and sense of adventure
could buy a craft that would enable him to give substance to his
dreams. For those whose courage or foolhardiness fell short of brav-
ing the terrors of the Horn one of the wonders of modern engin-
eering had come to their aid. August 1914 went down in history for
two great events: the opening of World War I and the opening of
the Panama Canal. Europeans and east coast Americans could now
reach the Pacific islands without having to face the perils of the
high south latitudes and most escapist circumnavigators took the
Panama route.
Escapism was strong in the inter-war years and particularly the
desire to visit the 'paradise' islands in which beautiful, smiling nat-
