The Schooner: Its Design and Development from 1600 to the Present [Hardcover]

David R. MacGregor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1997

The schooner rig has always been associated with speed and elegance, and with the romance of privateers and illicit trade; but it has also been employed in just about every conceivable seafaring role over four centuries and across the world's seas and oceans. This book is a comprehensive history of the rig's development from its emergence in Holland in the early years of the seventeenth century right up to the present when it is experiencing a renaissance in the world of luxury charter. In this broad-ranging survey the author describes in detail the development of this beautiful rig and gives examples of all these types; in doing so he tells a rich and varied story which delves into every corner of maritime history.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David MacGregor, a leading authority on merchant sail, is the author of numerous books on sailing ships. He lives in Bath, England. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Naval Inst Pr; 1st US ed edition (August 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155750847X
• ISBN-13: 978-1557508478
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,693,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating subject made dull, November 4, 2006

By 

M. Bernkopf "boatless sailing nut" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Schooner: Its Design and Development from 1600 to the Present (Paperback)

It is indeed a wonder how Mr. MacGregor managed to make the rich and fascinating subject of the schooner into a dull, almost unreadable book. There are few plans, and there is little explanation of how the vessels progressed or in what way later ones differed from early ones. There is little discussion of sail plans, as for example the advantages and/or disadvantages of the topsail schooner sail plan. Why were the fishermen on the Grand Banks the success that they were--or were they? What made the fruit schooners that serviced the XVIIII century tables of Britain so fast, and were they faster than other rigs of the same size? What was interesting about hull design, and what was perhaps fatal? These are only a few of the questions that come to mind.
Not a very good book.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Review of The Schooner, March 31, 2001

By 

Joel Kouyoumjian (The tug, Doris Hamlin) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Schooner: Its Design and Development from 1600 to the Present (Hardcover)

I found this book to be most interesting from the standpoint of differences between the development and rigging of schooners on different sides of the Atlantic. Mr. MacGregor has done a thorough job of scaling the wall of schooner development over the years and gives some fine details of various vessels. Artist conceptions, photos, facts and specs all make this book one of my favorites regarding the subject.

5.0 out of 5 stars Loaded with information, February 11, 2010

By 

Stringybark (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Schooner: Its Design and Development from 1600 to the Present (Paperback)

This book fits in well with Greenhill's "The Merchant Schooners" and Bennet's "Schooner Sunset". Almost every page is illustrated by photos or plans. There are just a handful of technical/historical books on schooners, this is one of them, and a good one at that. The text is a kind of design history, mostly from an English perspective, until the final chapters where the focus turns to Europe, then the American 'big schooners' and aspects of current-day schooners. I must admit, like all my technical or non-fiction books, I have never tried reading it cover to cover; so I can't comment on a previous reviewer's idea that it is dull if read in that way. I'm usually searching for something I want an answer to, or browsing to discover something I don't know; and I found a lot that interested me in this book, with many eye-catching details in the illustrations and an intelligently written, well-researched text.