Euterpe: Diaries, Letters & Logs of the Star of India As a British Emigrant Ship

The author has contacted sources around the world in a two-year quest for documents that led to this book. Logs and other accounts of British voyages to New Zealand were unearthed by this search. Selected portions of this material are presented in the book. This is the first thorough look at life in an emigrant sailing ship. Emigrants' diaries and ships logs give the reader a true taste of seafaring under sail. A balance is struck between the personal views of emigrants and the official reports of the ship's officers. The brutal hardships and brief joys of the emigrants, the details of sailing the ship, the constant battle against the great dark sea- are all here, told in the words of those who were on board.