Down to the Seas Again

The post-war renaissance of voyaging under sail

Richard Crockatt

This book is about the generation of small boat sailors in Britain whose main achievements took place between 1945 and the mid 1960s. These included circumnavigations of the world as well as Atlantic crossings, and a variety of distances and destinations between. Some voyages were full of drama, others were simply (or perhaps not so simply) supremely competent feats of seamanship.

All in one way or another pushed boundaries, even if few records were broken or indeed aimed at. In most cases the voyages were carried out without the glare of ­media attention, but to devotees of small boat sailing the names of the crews and boats still resonate powerfully: Eric and Susan Hiscock (Wanderer III), Peter and Anne Pye (Moonraker), ­Adlard Coles (Cohoe), Edward Allcard (­Temptress and Sea Wanderer), Humphrey Barton ­(Vertue XXXV), Stanley Smith, Colin Smith, and Charles Violet (Nova Espero), George and ­Isabel Millar (Truant, Serica, Amokura), Ann ­Davison (Felicity Ann), Patrick Ellam and Colin Mudie (Sopranino), Miles and Beryl Smeeton (Tzu Hang), John Guzzwell (Trekka).

The experiences of these sailors conjure up a particular moment in the history of small boat voyaging. Most were born in the first two decades of the twentieth century and learned their sailing between the wars. Though several served in the Navy or related services, the war brought them a sudden enforced abstinence from pleasure sailing which stoked an appetite for a new start once the war was over.

Maritime illustrator Claudia Myatt has depicted the principal boats in twelve full-page pencil drawings, and drawn the maps.

Richard Crockatt learned to sail at a young age on Scotland’s River Tay in the 1950s, which sparked a lifelong passion for boats and the sea. Over the past seventy years he has shipped out in all kinds of craft from dinghies to cruisers and offshore racers. In his working life at the University of East Anglia he taught history and international relations, on which he has written a number of books. In retirement from his post as Professor of American History he now sails and restores traditionally rigged dinghies and writes about sailing and maritime history.

Download a sample here

ISBN 978-1-907206-66-5; 234 x 156mm, 200pp, drawings, maps, bibliography. Hardcover with sewn binding, head & tail bands, matt laminated jacket.

Publication 14 November 2025. You can pre-order here if you wish, for delivery in November.