Publishers Weekly
02/06/2023
“I always knew sailing Rose to California was a special, once in a lifetime kind of experience. But it took me two decades to truly understand what I got out of it,” recollects shipwright Sofrin in this nostalgic account of sailing a replica of an 18th-century British warship from Rhode Island to California in 2002. Hired as a deck hand, 21-year-old Sofrin and his fellow crew members piloted the Rose down the Atlantic seaboard, through the Panama Canal, and up the Pacific coast to San Diego, where it would be used in the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. From patching a leaky hull and climbing 10 stories up to secure a broken section of the mainmast, the 30-person crew had to learn the “forgotten skills” of sailing an 18th-century “tall ship” on the fly. Sofrin intersperses details of life aboard the Rose with tidbits of tall ship history and enlightening commentary on Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels, on which the film was based. High-spirited and finely detailed, this adventure tale will delight sailors of all stripes. Photos. Agent: Max Sinsheimer, Sinsheimer Literary. (Apr.)
Woodenboat Magazine
All Hands on Deck...offers a special, tightly packaged vignette exploring the serendipity of this brief but compelling career as a shipwright and deckhand.”
executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning Starz Dan Shotz
Will Sofrin takes us on an unbelievable ride on the high seas . . . I have played pretend on the open ocean. Will Sofrin has lived the real experiences and survived to tell the tale.”
Captain Daniel Moreland
In the canon of classic literature is a disproportionate volume of epic tales of the sea. Almost invariably these tales focus on a young, green hand signing aboard a ship, casting off, and heading out into the great salty unknown for the first time. In All Hands on Deck, by Will Sofrin, we have a latter-day tale of a seagoing apprenticeship under sail. Lucid, personal, funny, and instructive, it could be read next to Two Years Before the Mast with no apologies. Ships and times may have changed, but the sea and young souls drawn to the sea have changed but little. This story is a worthy tale of a young man and a ship and the sea. I enjoyed it immensely.
trailblazing round-the-world sailor Tracy Edwards
A thrilling account. Readers needn’t have ever set foot on a boat to enjoy this story.”
marine artist and illustrator of the Patrick O'Br Geoff Hunt
While researching for paintings I have probably read hundreds of ships' logbooks from the glory days of the Royal Navy, just as Patrick O'Brian did, so I know what things looked like from the quarterdeck (there are very, very few surviving accounts from the crews). But with this book Will Sofrin gives us a great insight into the intense working life of the lower deck, now just as it was then, constantly battling the elements, gear failure, and sometimes each other.
Booklist
Sofrin spares little detail, making all the issues of sailing and shipbuilding much less intimidating through carefully rendered diagrams, with all parts of the ship’s superstructure and complex rigging meticulously labeled. Fans of the movie and serious sailors will revel in Sofrin’s tale.”
New York Times bestselling author of Extreme Survi Michael Tougias
All Hands on Deck is a fascinating read: a combination of a travelogue to distant lands, maritime history, and adventures and misadventures on the high seas. Through it all, author Will Sofrin is learning to live in tight and uncomfortable quarters on a tall ship alongside crewmembers of very divergent personalities. They ultimately form a team with the common goal of staying alive on an unforgiving and unpredictable ocean.
Dean King
Like many a sailor, Will Sofrin is a wicked good storyteller, with a jaundiced eye, an impish sense of humor, and a nose for the telling detail. Lovers of the Aubrey-Maturin novels and the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World will find his account a worthy addition to the salty O’Brian world we love. You don’t want to miss it!
Peter Weir
Fact stalks fiction in this epic tale. Huzzah!
Quarterdeck
A tale worthy of Patrick O’Brian himself … All Hands on Deck is a vivid reminder not only of how far the sailing world has come, but also of how much we still share with the Jack Tars who came before us.
award-winning author of the Norsemen Saga and Bene James L. Nelson
People love tall ships, but the lives and culture of modern tall ship sailors are a mystery to most who attend sea festivals and the like. In All Hands on Deck, Will Sofrin accomplishes two things: He brings to light the real world of today’s traditional mariners while telling the thrilling tale of how he himself was plunged into that world. With accomplished and insightful storytelling, Sofrin recounts an extraordinary, often hair-raising voyage, and in doing so reveals to readers the lives of the modern-day sailors of the big rigs.
author of the National Book Award–winning In Nathaniel Philbrick
Will Sofrin’s thrilling account of the eventful, sometimes terrifying delivery of the tall ship that starred in Peter Weir’s adaptation of Patrick O’Brian’s The Far Side of the World is a must-read. Even if you haven’t seen the movie or read O’Brian’s novels, this is an adventure story of the highest order.
From the Publisher
Fact stalks fiction in this epic tale. Huzzah!”—Peter Weir, Academy Award–winning co-writer, producer, and director of Master and Commander: The Far
“High-spirited and finely detailed . . . Sofrin intersperses details of life aboard the Rose with tidbits of tall ship history and enlightening commentary on Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels . . . this adventure tale will delight sailors of all stripes.”—Publishers Weekly
“Enthralling . . . Experienced sailors and landlubbers alike will find Sofrin’s work a pleasure to read.”—Kirkus
“Sofrin spares little detail, making all the issues of sailing and shipbuilding much less intimidating through carefully rendered diagrams, with all parts of the ship’s superstructure and complex rigging meticulously labeled. Fans of the movie and serious sailors will revel in Sofrin’s tale.”—Booklist
“A tale worthy of Patrick O’Brian himself … All Hands on Deck is a vivid reminder not only of how far the sailing world has come, but also of how much we still share with the Jack Tars who came before us.”—Quarterdeck
“All Hands on Deck...offers a special, tightly packaged vignette exploring the serendipity of this brief but compelling career as a shipwright and deckhand.”—Woodenboat Magazine
“A thrilling account. Readers needn’t have ever set foot on a boat to enjoy this story.”—Tracy Edwards, trailblazing round-the-world sailor
“Will Sofrin takes us on an unbelievable ride on the high seas . . . I have played pretend on the open ocean. Will Sofrin has lived the real experiences and survived to tell the tale.”—Dan Shotz, executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning Starz series Black Sails
“Like many a sailor, Will Sofrin is a wicked good storyteller, with a jaundiced eye, an impish sense of humor, and a nose for the telling detail. Lovers of the Aubrey-Maturin novels and the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World will find his account a worthy addition to the salty O’Brian world we love. You don’t want to miss it!”—Dean King, national bestselling author of A Sea of Words, Patrick O’Brian: A Life Revealed, and Skel
“While researching for paintings I have probably read hundreds of ships' logbooks from the glory days of the Royal Navy, just as Patrick O'Brian did, so I know what things looked like from the quarterdeck (there are very, very few surviving accounts from the crews). But with this book Will Sofrin gives us a great insight into the intense working life of the lower deck, now just as it was then, constantly battling the elements, gear failure, and sometimes each other.”—Geoff Hunt, marine artist and illustrator of the Patrick O'Brian book covers
“Will Sofrin’s thrilling account of the eventful, sometimes terrifying delivery of the tall ship that starred in Peter Weir’s adaptation of Patrick O’Brian’s The Far Side of the World is a must-read. Even if you haven’t seen the movie or read O’Brian’s novels, this is an adventure story of the highest order.” —Nathaniel Philbrick, author of the National Book Award–winning In the Heart of the Sea and Travels w
“All Hands on Deck is a fascinating read: a combination of a travelogue to distant lands, maritime history, and adventures and misadventures on the high seas. Through it all, author Will Sofrin is learning to live in tight and uncomfortable quarters on a tall ship alongside crewmembers of very divergent personalities. They ultimately form a team with the common goal of staying alive on an unforgiving and unpredictable ocean.”—Michael Tougias, New York Times bestselling author of Extreme Survival and A Storm Too Soon
“In the canon of classic literature is a disproportionate volume of epic tales of the sea. Almost invariably these tales focus on a young, green hand signing aboard a ship, casting off, and heading out into the great salty unknown for the first time. In All Hands on Deck,by Will Sofrin, we have a latter-day tale of a seagoing apprenticeship under sail. Lucid, personal, funny, and instructive, it could be read next to Two Years Before the Mast with no apologies. Ships and times may have changed, but the sea and young souls drawn to the sea have changed but little. This story is a worthy tale of a young man and a ship and the sea. I enjoyed it immensely.”—Captain Daniel Moreland
“People love tall ships, but the lives and culture of modern tall ship sailors are a mystery to most who attend sea festivals and the like. In All Hands on Deck, Will Sofrin accomplishes two things: He brings to light the real world of today’s traditional mariners while telling the thrilling tale of how he himself was plunged into that world. With accomplished and insightful storytelling, Sofrin recounts an extraordinary, often hair-raising voyage, and in doing so reveals to readers the lives of the modern-day sailors of the big rigs.”—James L. Nelson, award-winning author of the Norsemen Saga and Benedict Arnold’s Navy
“In 2022, Will's twenty-year-old memories of 2002 with the Rose plunge up and down, from the present to historical descriptions of their passages and landfalls over the centuries, what life aboard these kinds of ships is now, and what it used to be like. With a cast of shipmates on the replica tall ship, from bowsprit to capstan, a door is opened for the reader between a developed modern world on a well-traveled ocean route and long-gone days when it was first being sailed, written, and talked about. A lively blend of new and old adventure stories, this book bromantically and informatively bridges time on the timeless seas.”—Tania Aebi, bestselling author of Maiden Voyage and the first American woman and youngest person to
Kirkus Reviews
2023-02-01
A memoir of the voyage of a replica warship from Rhode Island to California.
In his debut book, Sofrin recounts his 2002 journey from Newport, Rhode Island, to San Diego, California, aboard a replica of an 18th-century English Royal Navy frigate named Rose. The ship had been purchased by Twentieth Century Fox to be used in the making of the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, based on the Aubrey-Maturin series of novels by Patrick O’Brian. At the time, Sofrin was 21, with few job prospects, but he had recently spent time sailing a boat in Europe. With some hesitation, he accepted the position in Newport, working to help prepare the ship to make the trip. Later, he was asked to join the crew as a deckhand and carpenter for the passage as well as to stay on to assist with the movie. “I had assumed that I’d be spending most of a single day on Rose, doing a bunch of dirty work that nobody else wanted to do,” writes the author. “Instead, I had just been offered a paid crew position to sail from Newport to California to make a movie.” Sofrin vividly describes the motley crew and diligently chronicles their charted course through the Panama Canal and on to various locations in Mexico before docking in San Diego. They departed Newport in January and soon began encountering problems, including electrical fires, water leaks, massive waves, and gale force winds, which had them fearing they would have to abandon ship. Forced to reevaluate “how to handle adversity,” Sofrin realized that “the only way out was through.” With an enthralling style, Sofrin recounts these events as well as the personality dynamics that developed aboard the ship. Throughout, the author also discusses historic and modern aspects of sailing and accompanies his narrative with technical drawings and photographs.
Experienced sailors and landlubbers alike will find Sofrin’s work a pleasure to read.
