By 'Bill Cumming
From Baird Maritime:
This fine book describes the end of the sailing ship era mostly as seen through the eyes of the Craig family from Ayrshire, south of Glasgow.
The Craig family because prominent ship owners from the 1860s. They began to commission a series of all-iron clippers from a numbers of leading Clyde-side shipbuilders. At that time Glasgow was very much the centre of the shipbuilding universe. Local naval architects and ship builders were the world leaders.
The family, through prudent management were successful! Their solid cash flow enabled the purchase of bigger, better and faster ships.
The ultimate ship of their line was the 'County of Roxburgh'. A magnificent ship, probably the fastest ever commercial sailing ship, she was launched in mid-1886. She roamed the world successfully until 1906 when she was caught in a serious cyclone near French Polynesia. It swept her onto a reef and then onto Takaroa Island where her iron hull still lies. The finale to forty enterprising and exciting years.
The last ships were sold and a great company faded away – rather like the sailing ship era of which it had been an important part.
