When God was an atheist sailor

200 Pages·22.345 MB·English

by  Burgess Cogill

WHEN
GOD
WAS AN
ATHEIST
SAILOR
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FPT ISBN 0-3T3-0271b-3 >$17- c1Susa
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Kirkus Reviews says:
"The author ofthis utterly charming idyll
was born September 5, 1902, on an ocean-
going schooner becalmed in the mid-
Pacific's doldrums. Commanded by her
Danish-born father, the great sailing ship
was the little girl's home until she was
pipedashore toattend school in 1910.
"Based in San Francisco, it had ports of
call ranging from the Pacific Northwest
down to Peru. Between and during com-
mercial voyages, the square-rigged craftwas
an enchanted world for [Burgess and her
sister]. Amongotherpleasures, they watched
flying fish play, romped on the quarterdeck,
witnessed brawls among "crew members,
studied natural maritime wildlife, reveled in
ritesofpassage (as in firstcrossing theequa-
tor), and enjoyed a warm domestic existence
in thecaptain's well-appointedquarters..
.
"The author recollects her father as a
...domineering presence who refused to ac-
company his family to divine services; not
until years later did she realize his muscular
arms and chest bore a wealth of lusty
tattoos.
"Cogill evokes absorbing, human-scale
aspectsoifin-de-siecleAmerica."
The author ends her memoirs with a
quietly moving scene describing the mys-
(continuedonbackflap)
JacketdesignbyDorothyWachtenheim
Jacketphotographs courtesy oftheNational Maritime
Museum,SanFrancisco.
1-90
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2012
in
http://archive.org/details/whengodwasatheisOOcogi

WHEN GOD WAS
AN ATHEIST
SAILOR

WHEN GOD WAS
AN ATHEIST
SAILOR
Burgess Cogill
W W NORTON & COMPANY
• •
NEW YORK LONDON
*
Photograph on p. 79 courtesy ofthe Peabody Museum ofSalem. Photo-
graphsonpp. 90, 154, 156,and 164courtesyoftheMuhlmanCollection,
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. All other photographs
courtesy ofthe San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. Photo-
graph on p. 141 courtesy oftheOlmsteadCollection, San Francisco Mar-
itimeNational Historical Park.
Copyright © 1990, 1985 byBurgessCogill
All rightsreserved.
Printedinthe UnitedStatesofAmerica.
Thetextofthisbookiscomposedin 11/14 Monticello, with
displaytypesetin StymieExtraBold. Compositionand
manufacturingbyTheMaple-Vail Book ManufacturingGroup.
Book design by B. Klein.
First Edition
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-Publication Data
Cogill,Burgess.
When GodWasan Atheist Sailor: me—moriesofachildhoodatsea/
BurgessCogill. 1sted.
— p. cm.
1. Cogill, Burgess Journeys. 2. Snow & Burgess (Schooner)
3. Seafaringlife. I. Title.
G540.C6652 1990
9io.4'5—dci9 89-3033
ISBN D-3T3-DE71b-3
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10110
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd.
37Great Russell Street, London WCiB3NU
1234567890
To the memory ofmy father,
with love and gratitude.