Eric Newby, author of The Last Grain Race, has died aged 86. Born in 1919 he signed up as a merchant seaman on board the Mariehamn four-masted barque, Moshulu.

His passage aboard her from Belfast to Australia earned him the respect of the Finnish crew. The return trip from Port Victoria to Queenstown, Cork, was the last of the great prewar grain races involving two German four-masted barques, Pamir and Passat.

Moshulu won taking 91 days. The Last Grain Race published in 1956 is one of the top 100 sailing books picked by readers and Yachting Monthly staff and published in our forthcoming December issue.