At Sea with Ahto (Privately Printed, 1937) is a rare yachting narrative, issued in only 50 copies, of which few are known to survive. This copy is number 22 of 50. One is currently held at the University of Massachusetts Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center.
Written collectively by the eleven teenage crew members and illustrated with their own photographs, it records an adventurous cruise aboard the Estonian-built ketch Ahto from Port Chester, NY through the Cape Cod Canal to Prince Edward Island and back. The vessel was commanded by Ahto Valter—an Estonian sailor who first crossed the Atlantic as a teenager in a 27-foot sloop and later achieved fame as the first to circumnavigate the globe under the Estonian flag. This early, intimate chronicle captures both the spirit of youthful seamanship and the beginnings of Valter’s legendary career, making it one of the rarer and more charming cruising books of its era.
At Sea with Ahto (Privately Printed, 1937) is a rare yachting narrative, issued in only 50 copies, of which few are known to survive. This copy is number 22 of 50. One is currently held at the University of Massachusetts Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center.
Written collectively by the eleven teenage crew members and illustrated with their own photographs, it records an adventurous cruise aboard the Estonian-built ketch Ahto from Port Chester, NY through the Cape Cod Canal to Prince Edward Island and back. The vessel was commanded by Ahto Valter—an Estonian sailor who first crossed the Atlantic as a teenager in a 27-foot sloop and later achieved fame as the first to circumnavigate the globe under the Estonian flag. This early, intimate chronicle captures both the spirit of youthful seamanship and the beginnings of Valter’s legendary career, making it one of the rarer and more charming cruising books of its era.
