Time was sail-powered vessels ruled the waves. The Age of Sail, as we now call it, lasted millennia. Then came steam engines and the internal combustion engine. For over a century, sail hung on. But the end was never really in doubt, and with the arrival of the 20th century, square-rigger sailing, in particular, nearly disappeared, despite the best efforts of such mariners as Australian Cape Horner, Alan Villiers. A handful of training ships, like the U.S. Coast Guard cutter, Eagle, hung on, the value of experience under sail having long been recognized by the navies of the world. A scattering of vessels also continued to make their living in places like the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and coastal New England: think Indonesian trading schooners and the windjammer fleet in Maine. But that was pretty much it…
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