In September 1920, George Muhlhauser left Plymouth to circumnavigate the globe in his 62-foot yacht, Amaryllis. At the time, it was the smallest ship ever to sail round the world from England. A brusque, no-nonsense captain, whose bizarre racial preconceptions were constantly at odds with reality, Muhlhauser skippered an inexperienced and ever-changing crew over 30,000 miles of ocean. A host of extraordinary characters haunt the pages: the multinational crew itself, botanists and island governors, a Fijian Prince and Queen, a Freemason captain of the port in Guadeloupe, the man of 80 who tried to join the ship to escape his masterful wife, and the three "back-to-nature" Americans who begged Muhlhauser to return them to civilization. The West Indies, the South Sea Islands, Australia, New Zealand, the East Indies and Malaya were amongst the many places visited, and Muhlhauser's delight in discovery at each port-of-call is evident in the vivid and meticulous descriptions that characterise his account of a remarkable voyage. Born in Surrey in the 1870s, Muhlhauser was educated at the Merchant Taylor's School, London. He spent his holidays on North Sea trawlers and later, during the First World War, became a navigating officer in the Royal Naval reserve. His round-the-world trip ended at Dartmouth in July 1923 but, within a few weeks of his return, Muhlhauser became ill and died. Unable to explain why anyone should wish to subject themselves to the discomfort of a long voyage in a small boat, he remarked: "At any rate it is a clean sport, and harms no one and nothing."