Moshulu - Moshulu's Fame Through Eric Newby

Moshulu's Fame Through Eric Newby

Moshulu is famous through the books of Eric Newby. At the age of 19, he apprenticed aboard the Moshulu. He joined the ship in Belfast in 1938, sailing to Port Lincoln in Australia in 82 days with a load of ballast stone, a good passage for a windjammer. They took 4,875 tons of grain on board in Port Victoria and sailed back in the spring of 1939 to Ireland, beating a number of other sailing ships with a passage of 91 days. During this time, Newby took part in all the tasks necessary to run and maintain the ship, such as constant chipping of rust and painting of the ship, changing from storm sails to fair weather sails and back again, and perpetual overhaul of the standing and running rigging - all of this on top of the day-to-day tasks of sailing the ship. The crew at the time was predominantly Finnish and Swedish, and nationality was a source of friction amongst the crew throughout the voyage.

The journey was documented in Newby's books The Last Grain Race (1956) and Learning the Ropes: An Apprentice in the Last of the Windjammers (1999), the latter being a book of photographs he took while aboard. The title of the former book refers to the last grain race before the outbreak of World War II. While windjammers exist and sail the seas to this day, the last windjammer carrying cargo was the Peruvian Omega (ex Drumcliff) which was in use until her loss in 1958.

Moshulu, like all grain ships, was lightly manned; during Newby's time on the ship the total crew numbered only 28, including 4 officers, the cook, the steward, and 8 sailors in each of the port and starboard watches. Routine tasks such as wearing the ship required every crew member to be involved, meaning lost sleep for the free watch. If a sailor became ill or injured, chances were slim that he would receive treatment ashore, especially since Moshulu made no stops between Europe and Australia during Newby's voyage. When a man like Newby applied for a position in the crew, the captain had him climb to the top of the mainmast, pointing out that at sea he might have to climb it while it was swaying wildly. For many applicants that was enough; they were never seen again.