Voyages of the Seven Seas

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Voyages of the Seven Seas

Veterans home from the war have wanderlust and sail to Europe;
broken arms, broken rudders, and faulty equipment complicate the voyage; and the following year,
only one of them makes the return trip in a voyage that breaks three sailing records-one of which still stands.

Two young veterans of WWII find that they are unable to settle into tranquil civilian life and decide to see Europe and perhaps the world itself from the deck of a small sailboat.
Laughed at and derided by others, they nonetheless set out in the summer of 1947 for Europe aboard the Seven Seas, a 38-foot gaff-rigged yawl, some 36 years old.
Stanley Cressey narrates the log for the voyage across the Atlantic with stops in Bermuda and the Azores. Once in Portugal, the two men travel to Paris for the winter.
Instead of sailing into the Mediterranean in the spring of 1948, Joe Petterson decides to sail back to Maine. As Stan decides against a second crossing, Joe becomes even more determined to make the sail alone.

The second half of the narrative is from Joe's logbook entries.
He endures gale force winds and a leaky hull, but his grit and resolve overcome all obstacles.
In the end, he lands in Northeast Harbor, Maine after a record setting crossing.
In 1948, Joe was the youngest person to sail solo from east to west across the Atlantic; he did so in the fastest time; and he made the voyage in the oldest boat

Complete with pictures and appendices full of nautical information, the editors, Browne and Doggett have compiled a truly remarkable tale designed to be not only enjoyable but inspirational for all.

We believe the narrative woven from their stories captures the essence of a time and place long lost in our current technological society. We hope you enjoy it.... ALL PROFITS FROM ROYALTIES GO TO THE SCHOLARSHIP FUND AT MAINE MARITIME ACADEMY