This is a fun adventure about sailing an 18-century ship from New England to California so the ship could be used in a movie. The author made the trip and then wrote about it. He was quite young and at loose ends at the time, so it was a formative experience for him. The crew was a combination of experts and novices. They had several harrowing adventures but eventually made it to California.

After finishing The Wager by David Grann, this is an amazingly lighter side of tall ship sailing. Mixing film history of getting the actual boast from New England to California is a delight to readers who love a good adventure story.

Very informative well told story. It is very detailed memoir that explains what went into making the movie. Great book for a true fan or those looking for the details.

A memoirish account of sailing an 18th century ship to Hollywood for use in the film Master and Commander.

If you just really like Memoirs or are a huge Master and Commander fan, you’ll likely enjoy this more than I did. I was hoping for something more focused on the history of the ship and of sailing, and while that content is present throughout the book, the focus is more on the author’s personal experiences.

There is a lot of day-to-day, anecdotal storytelling, and these stories are no doubt meaningful and hilarious to the people involved, but to an objective reader, they feel a bit self-indulgent and a bit “guess you had to be there.” Please tell me more about the daily meals of a sailor on a ship like this during its time and less about that night you made port and drunk and went for Chinese food. Sigh.

Anyway, the group crewing the ship for this voyage is likable enough but not especially interesting. Calling it a “crew of misfits” is a bit of a stretch and implies a more amusing cast of characters and series of events than what actually happens.

Regardless, there’s certainly some good historical information and some interesting content about ships here, but not enough to balance out the dull, over personal stuff that dominates the story.