Clippers For The Record: The Story Of The Ship Thermopylae
Transportation History Australian History Antiquarian & Collectible Young Adult Non-Fiction Maritime History Memoir & Biography Adventure Non-Fiction
Clippers For The Record: The Story Of The Ship Thermopylae by Marny Matheson is a scarce 1984 Australian paperback that chronicles the world-famous clipper Thermopylae, the fastest extreme clipper of the extreme clipper era. Written for both young adults and adults, this 161-page narrative non-fiction book combines adventure, maritime history, and personal memoir, making it a compelling account of the golden age of sail and the men and ships that circled the globe under canvas alone.
Because the Thermopylae was built specifically to break records, her story is filled with record-breaking passages, fierce rivalry with the Cutty Sark, and the author's own family connection to the vessel. Matheson's accessible writing style turns technical sailing details into page-turning drama, so collectors and general readers alike gain insight into everything from the clippers' hull design to the perils of Cape Horn and the tea races of the 1800s. The book also serves as a mini-biography of the ship herself, tracing her life from launch in Aberdeen to eventual fate under Portuguese ownership.
This vintage ex-library copy retains library markings and a handwritten note (inscribed), which many collectors consider authentic evidence of institutional history and prior reader engagement. The binding is tight, pages are clean with no tears or dog ears, and the paper is healthy for a nearly forty-year-old paperback. For collectors of transportation history, Australiana, women's writing, or clipper lore, Clippers For The Record is a hard-to-find title that fills gaps in both maritime and Australian publishing history while offering a highly readable window into the age when speed under sail was the ultimate technological frontier.
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