Customer Reviews

Atlantic: The Last Great Race of Princes

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This fascinating book transported me back into the Gilded Age through one of my favorite topics- sailing. If you haven't read before about the 1905 Kaiser's Cup Transatlantic Race, do so now with Cookman's exciting narrative. This is one of the most dramatic stories I've ever read; it's hard to believe that it's non-fiction.

Mention this time to any serious sailor you know and they'll usually respond it's the schooner Atlantic's time across its namesake ocean in the 1905 Kaiser's Cup race. Well maybe they won't remember the name and date of the race and that it was from Sandy Hook, New Jersey to Lizard Point in Cornwall, England, but it's a fair bet that they will know that it was an incredible race and remains a remarkable yachting accomplishment.

Indeed Atlantic set a crossing record and while the time has since been bested, it's only a few that have done so and only fairly recently, and most significantly, only with custom-built boats designed specifically for that purpose. It required a carbon-fibre, hydrofoil trimaran to first beat the record in 1980. The Atlantic was a 185-foot-long steel three-masted schooner weighing 206 tons. The best compliment still paid to her is that every few years yachtsmen hold the Atlantic Challenge Cup. This is not named in recognition of the ocean on which they race, but instead is a nod to the still formidable challenge this yacht of yore holds for modern racers.

Scott Cookman does an excellent job giving us a feel for the Atlantic and the thrilling race. He also brings alive the times, the places, and the people involved. Kaiser Wilhelm II suffused in Germany's imperial glow was the one who proposed an open race across the Atlantic. The German cruiser Pfiel would be stationed at the finish line ready to fete the winner and award a gold cup. The Kaiser could afford to be so magnanimous because with his own personal yacht - the 143 ton schooner Hamburg - in the race, he was certain of victory.

Cookman vividly describes the racing conditions during this 11 yacht race. Quickly a smaller yawl Ailsa, the Atlantic, and the Hamburg established themselves in the lead. Fog had initially delayed the start but once underway and at sea, freshening winds sped the contestants along. Cookman reports that the logbooks indicated strengthening winds as the race progressed but it is to a famous story the he turns to give us a true glimpse of what it was like on deck. Atlantic was owned by millionaire Wilson Marshall and he had invited a few guests on board for the race. The hired skipper was a dour Scotsman named Charlie Barr who as an experienced sailor, relished the opportunity afforded him by this splendid yacht and took full measure of it, mercilessly pushing the Atlantic onward. During the height of a storm and supposedly fearing a catastophe, Marshall came up on deck to demand his boat be reigned in by shortening sail. Captain Barr shouting above the noise of the storm told Marshall "you hired me, sir, to win this race, and by God, that's what I am going to do". He promptly ordered the owner below.

The Atlantic did win, beating Hamburg by almost a day. With her nearly 19,000 square feet of sail she completed the 3,000 mile race at an average speed of over 10 knots. On her best days she covered over 350 miles at close to 15 knots. In addition to the splendor of ATLANTIC and it indeed being "The Last Great Race of Princes", Cookman's book tells us a little about the owners of these boats. We learn about the sailing lives of those princes of industry: J.P. Morgan, Thomas Lipton, and Alexander Belmont. All had entries in the race.

This is a well written and thrilling tale of a fantastic yacht race. It will obviously be appreciated by sailors but it has a much broader appeal. Anyone with interest in not just maritime history, but history in general, will enjoy the descriptions of the people and times of Victorian England and our own age of big industry egos.

To those few who actually didn't like this book (some of whom wrote reviews on this site), please send me your copy at 101 East State Street, Ithaca, NY 14850 as I could never have enough copies of this incredible book.

It helps I am an avid sailor and have often dreamt (and am somewhat planning) a crossing of the Atlantic in my own sailboat (the inspiration for this was the book "Tinkerbelle"). My wife bought me "Atlantic" for Christmas and I read this book non-stop during our recent vacation in Mexico. The way Cookman (the author) toggles between the Kaiser Cup race and the historical aspects of NY/NJ during the turn of the century is amazing. Just when we get DEEP into the history of the people involved (and their lavish lifestyles), you suddenly find yourself back on the water in the race. It is compelling and a great way to fill in the entire picture of this point in time.

I wouldn't be at all surprised (based on the real-life characters and their antics) if Hollywood doesn't pick up on this and make a movie to follow the book. When you get to the part about the Germans exploding and setting fire to potential competitors' boats in NYC and Brooklyn, you realize just how important this race was on an International scale.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in: sailing, New York City, New Jersey (Sandy Hook and Sea Brite), Germany and American history.

I was pleasantly surprised with this book, and also a bit dissappointed.

The book appears to be simply a record of a long forgotten yacht race that occured before the first world war, but it is much more than that.

There is a great deal of world history within- particularly the naval arms race that went on between Great Britain and Germany. The book was never a tedious read- at least for me.

However, there were more than a few errors of fact, and although I appreciate how difficult it must be to write a book on a subject such as this, they could have been easily researched and corrected.

For instance, there is a section that deals with the opulent yachts that many of the mega-rich owned at the turn of the century. One yacht was listed as having 5,000 horsepower engines, and the book states that this was roughly the power possessed by Britannic, Titanic' sister. These ships actually had ten times that amount of power.

Another also has to do with Titanic. The Atlantic passed an iceberg in the same area that Titanic later sank. One of the passengers aboard Atlantic was ironically also aboard the doomed ship. This book states that the man survived the sinking by taking a place in a lifeboat that was "resevered for women and children." There were no such boats, and the man in question- named Hoyt- actually was a victim of the disaster.

Otherwise, the book is enjoyable and it doesn't give you any reason to question your purchase later.

This is as good an account as we will get of the 1905 trans-Atlantic yacht race. Cookman sets the race in its time, describing how different American life was then. Social classes were more separated from each other, and lives were shorter. Cookman depicts the main players, nearly all of them rich and powerful men who looked down on ordinary mortals. The most interesting commoner is professional yacht racer Charley Barr, who captained the great three-masted schooner Atlantic to victory despite the yacht's self-centered owner. Racing across an ocean was more dangerous then; no radio, no global positioning system, no weather faxes, no emergency beacons. The outcome was unpredictable until the lead yacht appeared off the Lizard. If you like sailing and adventure, this one is worth reading.

Today, few would know about the 1905 'Kaiser's Cup' trans atlantic yacht race, yet it was one of the greatest and extreme sporting events of the last century that captivated the world.
Scott Cookson tells the story of the race and its background in this excellent and well researched book.
His snapshot of life and times in 1905 sets the scene, recording the unimaginable wealth of the New York idle rich who vied for recognition as the greatest yachtsman of the new century.
The Kaiser needed the prestige of winning this race in order to build his navy in preparation for war, and donated a 'solid gold cup' for the victor.
His entry yacht was a sleek racer, albeit of British design and build, captained and crewed by German Imperial navy sailors. Renamed the 'Hamburg' it was expected to win.
The North Atlantic turned on its ugliest face for the occasion, challenging the hired skippers and crew to the most extreme conditions.
Cookson dramatically evokes the terror of the storm, as they charged through the iceberg strewn ocean in pitch darkness under full sail. With gale force winds howling in the shrouds, and battling mountainous waves that swept over the decks, the helmsman was lashed to the wheel while the sleep deprived and freezing crew struggled with the rigging in fear of their lives.
This is a marvellous true story with appeal for lovers of history and high adventure, -be they yachtsmen or not.

If I'd wanted a case of the doldrums, I'd have continued watching The Discovery Channel...Cookman's latest tragedy only intensifies the questions behind readers' minds...the search for "the answer" is exacerbated by the trials & tribulations of the individual characters...this approach tends to "muddy" what Cookman wants us to see as the crystal clear waters of his vision...

Reading this book is like eating a bowl of Grapenuts w/o milk. It's like dropping ones clothes off at the cleaners only to hear the clerk say "Sorry, we have no chemicals with which to clean your garments." This farce is Cookman's second endeavor & sorry to say, it is worse than his first attempt at "MegaAuthorDom." His "historical prose" only lends to the lack of page-turning "joie de vivre" most readers experience when settling down with a "supposed good read." Mr. Cookman should revisit his New York roots before attempting such a wayward endeavor, regardless of Mark Rodgers' ministrations on the lack of welfare aid in the State of Ohio.