Author(s): Garry Richardson

Transport/Maritime

The trading vessels that plied Tasmania's coastal waters were the lifeblood of all the early coastal communities. Sail & Steam is a relevant to those towns as it is to its focus: St Helens. THis is noted local historian Garry Richardson's second book in his Portland Municipality series. it recognises the importance of trading vessels to the municipality before decent roads were the norm. The trials and tribulations of the hardy seamen who manned these vessels are difficult to comprehend: the sailing vessels especially were always damp and the unpredictable weather of Tasmania is legendary, catching many unawares with resultant loss of life. Radios were not generally fitted to tehse vessels until the 1930s and there is record of one ship's crew watching helplessly as another vessel hit a reef, leaving it only the task of rescuing the survivors. Anyone with an interest in seafaring will find it hard to put this book down.