Astronauts of Cape Horn

'Nicholas Gray is an indefatigable chronicler of nautical tribulation. His last book, Last Voyages (Fernhurst Books) did what it said on the tin, and in some style. His new book is Astronauts of Cape Horn (The Conrad Press). The title is odd but understandable, given the fact that by the time twelve men had gone to the moon, only eleven sailors had rounded Cape Horn alone. It is a lively read, but not necessarily one to give to someone you are trying to encourage to take up sailing, as it fair to say that some of the sailors involved did not have an absolutely splendid time. Vito Dumas strikes a sort of mid-point for discomfort and stress. Alfon Hansen, who did not survive, is a low point, and the Roses, Chichesters, Allcards and Knox-Johnstons, while evidently regarding the rounding of this most lethal of capes as no picnic, strike a competent and practical note. Nicholas Gray is a writer who understands the extremes of human endurance, and the way they can tip the human mind into something approaching madness. His narrative of an early circumnavigation by the Argentinian Vito Dumas is enough to make many swear never to go out of sight of land, but is a riveting read from the first word to the last'. * ASTRONAUTS OF CAPE HORN. REVIEW FROM AUTUMN 2018 ISSUE OF THE MARINE QUARTERLY by Sam Llewellyn, Editor *:`Nicholas Gray's book explores some of the earliest yachtsmen to sail round Cape Horn, impelled solely by their determination. His accounts of Al Hansen, Vito Dumas, Marcel Bardiaux and Edward Allcard are gripping and his original research makes this an important book" - Yachting Monthly.'