LOG OF THE HUIA

AUTHOR - Clifford W. Hawkins

PUBLICATION - Collins, Auckland, NZ, 1973.

CONDITION - Hardback first edition. The book has some rubbing and discolouration on the top and bottom edges, but the pages are clean and bright, and the binding is good. There is a little faint browning on the page edging. Dustwrapper is in very good condition with only a little bumping at spine and corners.

PRICE - $30

DESCRIPTION - The Huia was a topsail schooner launched at Aratapu, in New Zealand's Northland on 20 June 1894. She sailed as a cargo carrier until 1951, around the shores of New Zealand, across the Tasman, and the Pacific. She ended her days wrecked on the Komekame Reef. A prosaic sounding history, but in fact quite otherwise, for the Huia sailed these fifty-odd years on some of the most dangerous waters in the world. Clifford Hawkins has indefatigably compiled the story from many sources; he has even sailed a voyage or two as crew, and his fascination with the sea and sail comes through strongly in the narrative, which makes good reading for everyone interested in sail. But what makes this book possibly unique is the truly magnificent collection of photographs taken over the years. It is rarely that the verity of being at sea under sail is brought out so powerfully on paper, and as an added bonus all the facts about the Huia are here, from the kauri which made her keel, to complete diagrams of rigging, sails, flags, accommodation.

Shipping Books