Bibliography for the user

This year marked the 50th anniversary of the training ship Suomen Joutsen's last sailing on the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland. The days when "ships were of wood and the men were of iron" are history. It should be added here that by then both the ships and the men were of iron.

The last barques of Maritime Counsellor and Captain Gustaf Erikson (1872-1947), the Pamir and the Passat, made their last voyages on the Grain Race route in 1948 -1949.

My personal experience of sailing ships is limited to living and studying at the Seamen's Vocational Institute on the Suomen Joutsen (the Swan of Finland) on the Aurajoki River, Turku, in 1969.

If I had lived a generation earlier, I would have had to get myself onto a sailing ship. Practical experience of sailing ships was once a requirement for entry to the Academy of Navigation in order to earn a shipmaster's diploma. This requirement for two year's experience under sail was abolished by decree in 1949.

I have produced the bibliography on this site with the aim of serving both enthusiasts and researchers in this field. The fascinating history of tall sailing ships comes across in the literature on them.

Helsinki, November 2001

Jukka Mikkola
Captain