Burke's Navy

Windjammer Barefoot Cruises

The author was asked to bring forth the facts of Windjammer’s demise and present them. This authorized the three Letters of Marque to investigate and present those facts so they can now be judged. The author pulls back the family curtain of privacy to reveal the inner workings of Windjammer Barefoot Cruises, or “Burke’s Navy”, as some crew in the company called Burke’s Windjammers. Burke’s Navy was at one time the largest fleet of cruising sailing ships in the world. Though aged and sometimes poorly maintained, they continued to sail the Caribbean, and sometimes the world. That is until Captain Mike Burke, the owner and originator of the Windjammer Barefoot Cruises, turned the company over to his adult children. Then the ships became as glass and started to crack and tumble as the company came to ruin. What was written in the newspapers about Windjammers demise was only the surface of what Marque found when he went to investigate its implosion. Learn how the largest modern day sailing ship fleet afloat floundered and was run aground by greed, circumstances and incompetence by pirates of privilege.