Review: The Last Schoonerman: The Remarkable Life of Captain Lou Kennedy
Posted: Wednesday, March 28, 2007
by ngoldman
Norm Goldman
Author: Joe Russell
ISBN: 0-9789350-0-4
That it was possible during the middle of the twentieth century to profitably haul cargo between the
With his clear and simple style, Joe Russell invites his readers to share the personal experiences, escapades and hardships of Captain Lou Kenedy as he paints evocative images with his tales pertaining to each one of Kenedy’s schooners beginning with his first one, Abundance and ending with Sea Fox.
Russell in his The Last Schoonerman: The Remarkable Life of Captain Lou Kenedy depicts a world that is filled with excitement and much danger. And what a way to earn a living when you have to endure horrendous hurricanes, run-ins with the authorities, tragedies that at times ended in the death of some of your crew members, being attacked by German submarines during World War II, crewmen that get into all kinds of trouble, while at the same time keeping calm and making sure you don’t loose your sanity.
Russell gathered his material from boxes of photos, transcripts, magazine articles, log books, and family memorabilia that were sent to him from Kenedy’s daughter, Patsy who approached him offering the opportunity to write about her feisty father. It should be mentioned, as Russell asserts in the preface, that all his writing up to then was centered on cruising guides and destination pieces for Cruising World. In addition to these resources, Russell used material from a four-part, 1953-54 Saturday Evening Post series. The biography also includes many quotations from an interview conducted by Ralph Getson of the Lunenburg (
Rich with research and anecdote, this is a remarkable book depicting a character who exhibited a great deal of moxie or as Russell states, “this is a story of a man who successfully pounded a square lifestyle into a round society." It should be pointed out that each chapter contains a brief description of each one of Kenedy’s schooners that includes its name, year of launching, rig, official number, builder, and material, length between perpendiculars, beam dimensions, draft dimensions and depth of hold. The book also contains a very useful glossary of nautical terms, the Beaufort Wind Scale, the 32 Points of the Compass and a comprehensive index.
Russell has done an excellent job of capturing the flavor of a by-gone era that we will never see again providing his readers with nuggets of fascinating tales of not only a unique individual but also of the sea with its unknowable beauty and terror.
The above review was contributed by: NORM GOLDMAN: Retired Title Attorney: Editor & Publisher of Bookpleasures. Here are Norm Goldman's Reviews
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)I've know Brian Kenedy and his wife Barbara for many years. Throughout those years, Brian told me many wonderous stories about his Dad. And, of the many adventureous years, in his youth, being spent as one of his Dad's many deck hands. When the life of Brians father was published this past Dec., I couldn't wait to read it. The book kept me captive for several hours, forgoing both lunch and dinner to finish reading it. In turn, I purchased 4 more copies and gave them to friends as Christmas presents. I had previously read the book "Adventure" about the life of Capt. Jim Sharp and the old Gloucester fishing schooner Adventure. His too is a great story, but Captain Lou Kenedy is the epitomy of the true definition of "Old Salt" in every respect. I feel as though I got to know him personally through his son Brians stories, but how I wish that I could have met this outstanding adventureous captain in the flesh.
When I was a teenager working on the Vineyard Haven waterfront, I had the pleasure of meeting and sailing with Capt'n Kennedy and his wife after he retired. He had a beautiful Han-designed motorsailer and sailed from Florida to Nova Scotia each year and stopped into Vineyard Haven on his way. He was a wonderful story teller and I loved to sit in the evening and listen to his stories.
lou wqas great men, i sailed with him,i had him and patsy at my house,i pick him over in Delta ville when he let sea fox go, it was a sad moment , i drove to Nova Scotia to visit him and patsy, it was an honor to have meet him and his wife,i became a sailor because of him , he give me 3 small wood frame that he had on sea fox wall,they are on the wall of my boat today,i sailed in a 50 knots storm last summer,i asked Lou to guide and help me, it was all find,thank you to his family for the schooner men,Pierre Bernard Chevy chase md.
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