Additional information
by Douglas Cabral (Author)
The sailor is Robert S. Douglas. Son of an advisor to presidents, he might have joined the family business. He might have become a rancher or a jet aircraft pilot. Each of these might have called him, but each failed to capture his devoted attention. Instead, this Midwesterner made a singular and historic seagoing vision the centerpiece of his life's work. He became the builder, owner, and captain of the engineless topsail schooner he refers to simply as "my Shenandoah."
Front Jacket
This is the true story of a majestic square-rigged schooner and the sailor who conceived, built, and commanded her for more than half a century.
She is Shenandoah. Sailing out of Vineyard Haven Harbor, Shenandoah has ranged the southern New England coast since 1964. Her vast spread of canvas thrills and entices all those who see her. Her sweeping lines and lofty rig transform familiar anchorages. The thousands who have sailed aboard her--young and old, crew and guests--bear today the indelible mark of the matchless charms, the rigors, and the lessons learned aboard this time-shifting creation.
The sailor is Robert S. Douglas. Son of an advisor to presidents, he might have joined the family business. He might have become a rancher or a jet aircraft pilot. Each of these might have called him, but each failed to capture his devoted attention. Instead, this Midwesterner made a singular and historic seagoing vision the centerpiece of his life's work. He became the builder, owner, and captain of the engineless topsail schooner he refers to simply as "my Shenandoah."
Cutting through the waters of Vineyard Sound, sweeping around a headland, Bob Douglas's Shenandoah is not merely beautiful, she is the embodiment of a dream, a dream that carried her captain on a thousand varied voyages over Nantucket and Long Island Sounds and on a rhumb-line course from youth to old age.
Back Jacket
How long does it take before a ship and her master become one?
