Sixteen square-riggers of Australia and New Zealand

Sixteen square-rigged tall ships make their home in Australian and New Zealand waters. These beautiful ships can provide us with a more complete understanding of how our forebears lived and how they settled our great southern lands.

Whether original, restored or replica, and in whatever service they are now engaged, they provide a link from the old world to the new. Square-rigged tall ships have plied the southern oceans for over 200 years, setting themselves against the power of the sea and helping to forge nations and build empires.

Crews, passengers and ships often paid a high price, however, and the coastlines of both Australia and New Zealand are littered with wrecks. While the exploits of some ships are internationally renowned – the seafaring feats of Cook and Bligh, for example – others are less well known, although no less important.

The great days of exploration may be in the past, but many of today’s square-riggers still play a valuable role in developing the visionaries and trail-blazers of the future. Now, square-riggers are increasingly used to train our youth – teaching them valuable lessons of teamwork, co-operation and commitment; pushing them to explore new horizons and test their limits. And so another generation is able to meet the challenges of the sea and keep the glorious tradition of tall ships alive.

It is hoped that my book will bring to each ship the recognition she so richly deserves.

John Coombes, Author.



The author is believed to be the only specialist pro-photographer of tall ships in Australia and has a library of some 30,000 pictures of these ships. Many are included in photos of special events such as the Parade of sail - Auckland 2006, Parade of Sail - Wooden Boat Festival 2007 Hobart, Maritime Festival Newcastle 2006, Heritage Classic Newcastle 2005, Tall Ships Race Sydney Harbour 2005, Sydney Hobart Start 2006. Plus each individual ship covered in the book. Every picture is available to the public.

For more information:

Phone 02-4998 3327

Tall Ships – the Sixteen Square Riggers of Australia and New Zealand Published by Exisle Publishing
RRP $39.95 (128pp; 220mm x 290mm)