The Falcon on the Baltic: A Coasting Voyage from Hammersmith to Copenhagen in a Three-Ton Yacht by E. F. Knight

The Falcon on the Baltic is an English gentleman's narrative of his 1886 cruise in a small, shallow-draft boat from England across the North Sea through the canals of Holland and Germany into the Baltic. The pace is comfortable, the weather fair, the maidens comely, and the beer excellent. The boat itself is small and not expensive. She is, in fact, a converted lifeboat. Much of the book is about the details of relaxed cruising: outfitting the boat, choosing stores, navigating sandbars and harbors, and handling problems as they arise. The worst of these was a leak that no one could fix. Other times, the sea itself was the threat. Mostly, however, this cruise is about people. Children everywhere, for example, tormented the Falcon. This is a wonderful summer cruise any sailor would like to have made. Book jacket.