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Pilot Cutters Under Sail: Pilots and Pilotage in Britain and Northern Europe

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HIS0254
£30.00
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Product Details

Part Number: HIS0254

Edition: No

Printed and corrected to: No

ISBN: 9781848321540

Publisher: Seaforth Publishing

Author: Tom Cunliffe

Format: No

The pilot cutters, author Tom Cunliffe, that operated around the coasts of northern Europe until the First World War were amongst the most seaworthy and beautiful craft of their size ever built, while the small number that have survived have inspired yacht designers, sailors and traditional craft enthusiasts over the last hundred years.

Even in their day they possessed a charisma unlike any other working craft; their speed and close-windedness, their strength and seaworthiness, fused together into a hull and rig of particular elegance, all to guide the mariner through the rough and tortuous waters of the European seaboard, bought them an enviable reputation.

This new book is both a tribute to and a minutely researched history of these remarkable vessels. The author, perhaps the most experienced sailor of the type, describes the ships themselves, their masters and crews, and the skills they needed for the competitive and dangerous work of pilotage. He explains the differences between the craft of disparate coasts - of the Scilly Isles and the Bristol Channel, of northern France, and the wild coastline of Norway - and weaves into the history of their development the stories of the men who sailed them.

Written to complement the recent histories of pilot schooners and open boat pilotage, edited and written by the author, this book will be an essential addition to the libraries of historians and enthusiasts of traditional boats.

Tom Cunliffe

Tom Cunliffe is Britain’s leading sailing writer. A worldwide authority on cruising instruction and an expert on traditional sailing craft, he learned his sextant skills during numerous ocean passages, many in simple boats without engines or electronics, voyaging from Brazil to Greenland and from the Caribbean to Russia. He is the author of the yachtsman’s guide to the English Channel.

Tom’s nautical career has seen him serve as mate on a merchant ship, captain on gentleman’s yachts and skipper of racing craft. His private passion is classic sailing boats and he has owned a series of traditional gaff-rigged vessels that have taken him and his family on countless adventures from tropical rainforests to frozen fjords.

Tom has been a Yachtmaster Examiner since 1978 and has a gift for sharing his knowledge with good humour and an endless supply of tales of the sea.

He also has monthly columns in Sailing Today, Classic Boat, Yachting World and SAIL (US) magazines. He wrote and presented the BBC TV series, ‘The Boats That Built Britain’ and the popular ‘Boatyard’ series.