Author Description

In 1901 Lud Gumz joined the U.S. Navy's Apprentice Boys program. He was 14 years old. This book is a transcript of his journal documenting the training cruise aboard the USS Monongahela that took the boys from Newport, Rhode Island, to Gibraltar, the south of France, and the Caribbean.Entries document the routine tasks of daily life aboard a square-rigged barkentine from holystoning the decks to scrubbing the cloths. Each day Lud commented on the weather, and many entries discussed the lackluster meals he experienced at sea-if you can count a half cup of beans and a piece of hard tack a meal. Shipboard life was monotonous and challenging especially for a farm boy growing into a sailor. Square Sails & the Apprentice Boys is a lens into one young man's journey over a century ago.