The Flying Cloud's achievement was remarkable under any terms. But, writes David W. Shaw, it was all the more unusual because its navigator was a woman, Eleanor Creesy, who had been studying oceanic currents, weather phenomena, and astronomy since her girlhood in Marblehead, Massachusetts. With her husband, ship captain Josiah Perkins Creesy, she logged many thousands of miles on the ocean, traveling around the world carrying passengers and goods. In the wake of their record-setting transit from New York to California, Eleanor and Josiah became instant celebrities. But their fame was short-lived and their story quickly forgotten. Josiah died in 1871, Flying Cloud burned to the waterline in 1874, and Eleanor lived far from the sea until her death in 1900.

Though spotty in its documentation and full of invented dialog, Flying Cloud is a spirited and capable reconstruction of the clipper's voyage, and an interesting glimpse into the days of the tall ships. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title