Author Description

I was six years old the first time I remember hearing about my great-grandfather. He had one eye and he sailed around the world in a wooden ship. He sounded scary. He was the captain, Captain Omar Pasha Brown. I fancied his vessels carried precious cargo and thought there might still be some treasures hidden away in the old homestead. When I visited West Quaco, New Brunswick, I would check under the bed hoping to find gold or jewels. There weren't any. Turns out his cargo was mostly lumber, oil, corn, salt, or cotton. A bit of wine too. He sailed around the world to ports in Japan, Russia, Australia, England, France, India, Kenya, and Brazil, and traveled through the dangerous waters around Cape Horn many times. This is the story of the voyage on the Kate F Troop from New York City to South America in the fall of 1902. Omar’s wife Clara, and their two sons, John and Douglas accompanied him on this voyage. Letters and documents from several of his other journeys were used to authenticate the story. Quotes from the historical correspondence have been italicized.