''Racundra's First Cruise'' is the first book about sailing written by

Arthur Ransome Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...

, author of the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series. It describes a trip he made across the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

from

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and back in a 9 metre sailing boat that he had built.

Background

During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Ransome had spent much of his time as a news correspondent in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, where he covered the

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

and its aftermath. He was living in Moscow when he approached the designer Otto Eggers in

Reval Tallinn is the capital and most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and administratively lies in the Harju ''maakond'' (co ...

(Tallinn) in Estonia to build him a sturdy cruising boat. He planned to sail ''Racundra'' back to England, but delays in finishing her meant that there was only time for a proving trip in 1922 before the winter and the return to England had to be put off. The six-week trip took till nearly the end of September and much of the account was written on board. He was to marry Evgenia Petrovna Shelepina, the ex-private secretary of

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

two years later when his divorce papers came through, before Racundra's third cruise. :"''Racundra'' turned out to be all that I had hoped. We took her to sea in the Baltic autumn; we had her at sea when big steamers reported damage from the heavy weather, and never once did she show the smallest sign of disquiet. Weather that was good enough for us was good enough for her, and when the Equinox flung her home with a last flick of his mighty tail, she sailed through the rollers on the bar and the troubled Dvina, serene, neat, as if she was returning from a day's trip in June."

The voyage

Ransome set out with two crew whom he doesn't name directly. One is simply called "The Cook", in actuality his lover and later wife Evgenia Petrovna Shelepina, but he says that she takes "most of the credit for the ease and pleasantness of the voyage. She can take her trick at the tiller if need be, but that, for her, is holiday. All the hard work was hers." The other is called the " Ancient Mariner", an old sailor who Ransome had met in Riga living in a small hut on a raft and who had sailed in the tea clippers including ''Thermopylae'', and been harbourmaster of the "Lilliput port". When he begged Ransome to take him, "I, of course, agreed with joy, as there is no such rigger in the Baltic as the Ancient Mariner". His real name was Captain Carl Sehmel and his character is also featured in several of the Swallows and Amazons books as Peter Duck and Simon, a wherry sailor in '' Coot Club''.

Sequel

A sequel, ''Racundra's Third Cruise (Racundra Goes Inland)'', was compiled by Brian Hammett from Ransome's unpublished typescript and published in 2002. It details a cruise inland on the same boat, up the river

Lielupe The Lielupe ( in Latvian language, Latvian Literal translation, literally: ''Large River'', , ) is a river in central Latvia. Its length is (the length would reach if the Mēmele River were counted as part of the Lielupe). The surface area of ...

(then known as the Aa) from Riga to

Jelgava Jelgava () is a state city in central Latvia. It is located about southwest of Riga. It is the largest town in the Semigallia region of Latvia. Jelgava was the capital of the united Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1578–1795) and was the ad ...

, taken in late summer 1924, as a honeymoon cruise after his marriage to Evgenia Shelepina.

References

* * * * *{{citation, title=The Life of Arthur Ransome, first=Hugh , last=Brogan , year=1985, publisher=London: Hamish Hamilton 1923 non-fiction books Sailing books Works by Arthur Ransome