The Last Grain Race: An Epic Adventure of the Sea

The Last Grain Race: An Epic Adventure of the Sea by Eric Newby recounts the author’s daring 1938 voyage as an 18-year-old apprentice aboard the four-masted Finnish barque Moshulu, one of the final commercial sailing ships racing to transport grain from Australia to Europe before steamships dominated maritime trade. Newby vividly captures the brutal realities of life at sea, from perilous climbs in the rigging amid roaring forties storms and near-fatal falls, to wretched food infested with bugs, grueling labor under tyrannical officers, and the raw camaraderie among a multinational crew of young apprentices. Despite the squalor and danger—including rounding Cape Horn and battling hurricanes—the narrative brims with humor, awe at the ship’s power under full sail, and poignant reflections on a vanishing era of sail-powered adventure.