All Sail Set: A Romance of the Flying Cloud

All Sail Set: A Romance of the Flying Cloud

Young Enoch Thacher lives with his mother in East Boston, the shipbuilding capital of North America. His father was a merchant and investor, who lost everything when the Empress of Asia went down off Cape Horn. Soon thereafter, he died a broken and ruined man.

            Enoch, only fourteen, must do something to help support his mother, so he turns to the sea. First, he gets a  position with Donald McKay, the famous designer and shipbuilder, helping to draft the plans for what would become McKay's most famous ship, the Flying Cloud. After the Cloud is launched, young Thacher mopes around the office until Mr McKay notices and determines that he is heartsick for the sea. So he offers to sign Thacher for a two-year indenture, and the adventure begins.

            At sea, Thacher has to deal with an austere captain, a mutinous first mate, the hazing apprentices receive when they first cross the equator, and the storms around Cape Horn. But he also makes fast friends with the other four boys sailing “before the mast.” And in time, he becomes an experienced and canny sailor. But the trip takes its toll and Enoch learns that the sea demands a great deal from those that travel on it.          

            I am sorry to say that I came to this book completely ignorant of this shipbuilder, Donald McKay, this ship, the Flying Cloud, and this record-breaking event, when the Flying Cloud became the fastest ship to sail from the New York to the Golden Gate (San Francisco) around the horn of South America. The journey took 89 days and 21 hours in 1851, and in 1854 she broke her own record, sailing the same route in 89 days and 8 hours. This record stood for more than 130 years, until 1989.

            I found this book “in the wild” recently, having never heard of it before. Actually, I knew nothing written by Armstrong Sperry but the novella Call It Courage so this was a nice surprise. Secondly, I was gripped by the cover art, a clipper ship in woodcut from the Golden Age of Sail. I knew this was gonna be a good one. Thirdly, our family has been interested in sailing since last year, when we first read Swallows and Amazons and went for our first day sail. And I'm all about learning some history that I've never heard of.

            Be aware, this is not easy reading. It is written in the maritime tradition of books like Treasure Island and Two Years Before the Mast and may challenge your student's vocabulary; the Scottish accents might challenge your read-aloud abilities, too. You'll learn more about sails and rigging than you ever wanted to know and you might be shocked at the price exacted by the sea for this maiden voyage.

            The appendix is a short nautical glossary for us landlubbers.

CONTENT CONSIDERATIONS

            Sailors are not known for their genteel speech but this seems to be toned down for children somewhat. The “devil,” “Satan,” “hell,” “perdition,” and “blaspheming heathen” are referred to a total of about ten times. The exclamation “God!” is used twice, but in the situation it may have been a sincere prayer.

            A fistfight takes place between mutinous members of the crew and the captain, but the fight is stopped before a knife is used. A work-related injury is described but not in gruesome detail.

            A common superstition of sailors is referred to and a whale is harpooned but again, not in graphic detail.

            The Flying Cloud plans to sail on to China after San Francisco, and in discussing that future voyage, a very short stereotypical comment is made about Chinese people.         

            Sadly, the chicken coop and other livestock are washed overboard in a high seas, hinting that later an apprentice will be lost during the trip around Cape Horn.