Flying Cloud: The True Story of America's Most Famous Clipper Ship and the Woman Who Guided Her

The good aspects of this book are that is quite informative and easyto read. Nautical terms are clearly defined and easy tounderstand. Several charts explain the Profile, Deck, Spar Plan,Sailing Plan, Points of Sail, and Wind and Water Currents. Diagramsalso explain how a full-rigged ship is tacked (turned) and follow thecourse of the ship during its maiden voyage, which was mostinteresting around Cape Horn. Several photographs reproduce a paintingand engraving of the "Flying Cloud", its builder DonaldMcKay, and Captain Creesy. Unfortunately no photo of Mrs. Creesy isreproduced. Still the charts, diagrams and photographs are veryhelpful.Another good aspect of the book is that Shaw provides quitea lot of information regarding the "Flying Cloud", which iswhy I bought the book.... Information is also given on how much waterwas carried, that it was for drinking and not bathing, and what typeof provisioning was loaded. Shaw writes about the nature of the cargoand that the value of the shipping costs equalled "FlyingCloud's" building costs. We are informed about the contents ofthe Medicine Cabinet, about the livestock taken aboard, aboutCelestial Navigation, the fact that fresh foods iced lasted for over amonth, and much more. Here the book is very strong.The book isreally about Captain Creesy's wife, Eleanor, who was the navigator onthe journey described, and who worked as a partner with herhusband. Shaw tries very hard to show what an intelligent and unusualperson she was for her time, or really any time at all, and what anexcellent navigator she was. She is portayed as a kind, sensitive,concerned and brave person, popular with both passengers and crewalike, devoted to her husband and the ship. I can imagine that it musthave been difficult to recreate her persona, from the doubtless scantsources. Shaw brings this off fairly well.The worst aspect of thisbook is that it is not the "True Story" of the FlyingCloud. All dialogues, and fortunately there are not too many, areinvented, and are times rather tedious. For example, tender momentsbetween Captain Creesy and his wife are not credible, and are alsowritten, as most of the other dialogues, in an unmistakable TwentiethCentury Style. This greatly distracts from the Story. Other dialogues,such as that of the Captain and the first Mate, Thomas Austin, arealso much too obviously contrived, as are those between thepassengers, which are just plain unbelievable. Shaw should not havetitled the Book "The True Story", or he should have notincluded dialogues. It seems that Mr. Shaw had difficulties with thesesections as the style shifts markedly between these and the maritimeportions of the book, where he is much more knowledgable and obviouslymore comfortable. For the reader these shifts aredistracting.....Also Shaw would havedone well to work with an Editor to correct the many stylistic flaws,especially in the dialogues. Had he done so, the book would have beengreat, instead of just a good read, and could have become a classicbook in an often overlooked area of American History. I stillrecommend this book for leisurly reading. It's enjoyable to read andinformative.

I give the book five stars in spite of its minor flaws. Having read several accounts of the Flying Cloud’s maiden voyage and Eleanor Creesy’s navigation skills, in my opinion this is the best.As for the books flaws, I was both annoyed like some other reviewers and oddly enough pleased to read the invented spoken words attributed to Captain Creesy and Eleanor. They do come across as contrived, though at the same time they impart a measure of flavor and familiarity to the two protagonists.I was also disappointed in the lack of detail in the description of the end of the voyage: the last night hove to before the Farallon Islands and the last few miles to San Francisco the next day. The author provided a great deal of interesting detail about the rest of the voyage from the point of view of the Creesys and the ship, but the last few paragraphs were written in almost summary form from the point of view of observers in semaphore towers as the ship passed through the Golden Gate and dropped anchor. It was if the author had gotten tired of writing and just wanted to end the story.Nonetheless, as others have written, the great strength of the book is that it is a tribute to Eleanor Creesy, a truly remarkable woman and one of the great navigators. Her 1854 navigation of the Flying Cloud New York to San Francisco in 89 days and 8 hours is a record that stood for 135 years. Giovanni Soldini, the captain of the racing yacht Maserati which holds the current record of 47 days, paid homage to Eleanor by saying “She chose a nearly perfect route, with no information, no satellites, no anything. She really was a fantastic navigator. Much better than I.”

The book tells a fantastic story of maritime trade in the mid-1800s and some of the people involved. Not only are Captain and Ellen Cressy center stage. They were a remarkable couple. Strong secondary roles are played by Lt Maury who created the sailing directions we still use today and Donald McKay the ship designer-builder. The story of clippers ships and ocean sailing competition is still being played out today in far different types of yachts.The strength of the Perkins and Ellen combination is that she was a full time and trusted navigator. Back in the days of sextants, navigating was an all day job. That Ellen did the navigating left Perkins with the time to drive his ship to its best. A remarkable combination, maybe the first one ever. It is still a best practice on racing and voyaging yachts to this day. The skipper and navigator must think as one while being two persons.The only complaint about the book is the charts, too few. The maps are helpful but I got so wrapped up in the story that I had to do more detailed research using my own pilot charts and internet resources.I grew up with this story being told and retold to me by my grandmother who was quite a sailor and navigator in her own right. Every trip I make with my wife as navigator is better than when she is not aboard.