All Sail Set

An exciting, fact-based, old-fashioned tale of adventure at sea, winner of a Newbery Honor for young readers in 1936.


When his father loses his fortune at sea, a boy, Enoch Thacher, signs up with a famous shipbuilder and takes a record-breaking trip around Cape Horn on the famous Flying Cloud.


The Flying Cloud was a real ship and its maker was master shipbuilder, Donald McKay (1810-1880). The era depicted in this novel is a time when the windships were the queens of the ocean and sail was king. McKay’s company, located in East Boston, launched many of the fastest clipper ships in history, with Flying Cloud being his most famous ship of all.


In All Sail Set, McKay puts Enoch to work during the lofting, building, and rigging of the Flying Cloud, and then to ship out on her for her maiden, record-breaking trip around the Horn. Accompanied by Sperry’s wonderfully vigorous drawings, this realistic nautical yarn from the glory days of sail will appeal to adults as well as young adult readers with a taste for historical adventure.