There’s a list of reasons I’d not wish to be in 1908 … dentistry for one, living conditions, formalised, starched clothing, the wars about to be unleashed … the sheer weight of those canvas sails, the heavy masts, booms and gaffs, the injuries …
… and yet, and yet, there was soething charming. Were I to sail again … my own craft … for sure it would be gaff-rigged … a ketch to be exact.
Read "The Silver Darlings".' A good impression of how hard life was for the relatively privileged in those days.