Put Him in the Longboat: The Life of Edward Main Chaffers
Biography Colonial History Maritime History Transportation Exploration New Zealand History Nautical Adventure
Put Him in the Longboat: The Life of Edward Main Chaffers is a scarce 1989 New Zealand maritime biography that delivers eighty fast-moving pages of illustrated, first-hand history. Written by Doug Edwards—grandson of the sailor he chronicles—the book charts Edward Main Chaffers’ rise from teenage deckhand in 1860s Wellington to master mariner on some of the roughest coastal and trans-Tasman runs of the age. Readers ride out gales in flax-sailed cutters, load timber on the treacherous West Coast bars, and witness the day-to-day grind of crews who kept the colony supplied before rail and road existed. Because the narrative is built on family diaries, ships’ logs, and newspaper clippings, it feels less like dry record-keeping and more like listening to a seasoned storyteller in a waterfront pub.
What makes this copy particularly appealing is its “personalised” and inscribed status—hand-written notes on the inside page connect you directly to the Edwards family line, turning the book into a small piece of the maritime heritage it describes. The 1988 illustrations—period photos, rigging sketches, and port maps—are crisp on the matte stock, giving arm-chair explorers a clear view of canvassed decks and long-gone harbours. At only 80 pages it’s an ideal one-sitting read for enthusiasts of nautical history, transportation, or New Zealand’s colonial era, yet the tight binding and clean interior mean this vintage paperback still feels fresh in hand.
Collectors prize Put Him in the Longboat because it was printed regionally by GP Books in a short press run and rarely surfaces in tidy, readable condition. Keywords like “vintage maritime biography,” “New Zealand coastal shipping,” and “illustrated sailor memoir” consistently draw search traffic, and the 1989 date places it just before small-run local histories were reprinted digitally, so physical copies are genuinely scarce. Whether you’re filling a gap in a transportation library, hunting a gift for a boating grand-parent, or curating a shelf of Antipodeana, this inexpensive little paperback punches far above its weight in both story and collectible charm.
Refer to our eBay listing for a full condition report and many more high-quality pictures of this item.
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