Alan Villiers: Voyager of the Winds

When Australian journalist Alan Villiers sailed on the last of the giant merchant windjammers in the 1920s and ’30s, his writings and photographs made him famous.

Villiers crewed on beautiful Herzogin Cecilie, tragic Grace Harwar, and magnificent Parma. He took tiny Joseph Conrad around the globe, sailed on Arabian dhows, led wartime landing craft, captained Mayflower II across the Atlantic, and inspired modern sail training and ship restoration projects.

Drawn from his personal diaries, this award-winning biography of the author-adventurer reveals both his mythmaking and his achievements. It is a tribute to the greatest sailing ships ever launched – and to the extraordinary man who loved them.

Winner of the Mountbatten Maritime Award. Second edition, revised and with over 100 photographs.

“A delightful warts-and-all biography of one of the world’s most notable chroniclers of seafaring life. This fine biography does him proud.” (Austmarine)