A Life At Sea

Captain John H. Drew was a sailor who served aboard sailing vessels during the nineteenth century. From 1877 through 1889 he was captain of the fabled Sea Witch, a full-rigged ship out of Boston. During his 40-plus-year career, he sailed over a million miles—and wrote almost as many words about his travels.

Captain Drew's World: Dispatches from the Age of Global Sail, edited by marine historian W. H. Bunting, republishes a selection of Drew’s writings. It extracts the most interesting of various newspaper and magazine accounts he sent home about his travels.

The testimony is bookended by a history of John Drew’s youth, an account of his early life and first voyages, and a summation of his life and the fate of the ships he voyaged on. The heart of the book is Drew’s own extensive writings about the trips he made as captain of Sea Witch.

Each section accounts for a particular expedition, interspersed with memories of earlier voyages before he became a captain. He also takes time to extensively describe each location he arrives at, and his experiences ashore at each stop.

Bunting pruned Drew’s words and updated the spelling. The result is nonetheless a hefty tome, over 700 pages. Unless you are a real maritime buff, reading it in a single sitting would be a challenge, possibly a chore. But Drew’s exploits are entertaining and episodic, written to inform and amuse periodical readers of his day. His writing style is not unlike Twain's travel writings (a contemporary and a mariner as well).

Dipped in one voyage at a time, Drew’s accounts offer charming insight into nineteenth-century life. It explores more than the maritime world. Drew also offers incisive looks at each of his stops, detailing the differences between Britain, China, the Philippines, the Caribbean and the rest of the faraway port. He also provides extensive examination of the different parts of the United States he visits, from his home state of Maine, Boston and New York City, New Orleans and the Mississippi Basin, to California and the Pacific Coast.

Whether an armchair explorer or a serious student of nineteenth-century maritime history, Captain Drew's World offers much. You'll find an accessible portal to a bygone age, rendered with rich detail. It is well worth reading for the novice and seasoned mariner alike.

Captain Drew's World: Dispatches from the Age of Global Sail,” W. H. Bunting (Editor), Texas A&M University Press, July 2026, 704 pages, $50.00 (Hardcover), $30.00 (e-book)

This review was written by Mark Lardas, who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.