"In Windjammers and Sea Tramps, Mr. Walter Runciman, sen., has put together memories and information drawn from many years' experience of the British mercantile marine, mostly in sailing vessels."—St. James' Gazette.
"His yarns are chiefly of the things that took place a generation ago, when there was far more brutality on ocean-going ships than there is in these more enlightened days."—Daily News.
"Mr. Walter Runciman, sen., has given the characteristic title, Windjammers and Sea Tramps, to a little book of recollections and opinions on the merchant service. His pages are full of experience and rich anecdotage, and smack refreshingly of the sea."—Manchester Guardian.
"Mr. Runciman packs together a surprising amount of information on our merchant service, and his modest hope that 'he has succeeded in making the book interesting' is very fully justified."—Saturday Review.
"To all lovers of the sea, to all those whose hearts go the merrier for the sight of a ship or a yarn with an old salt, this book will come a little sadly, and bring regrets for the old days and the dead traditions. Not many men now living can remember the old sea order."—The Speaker.
"Mr. Walter Runciman is a practical sailor. He has had experience of the sea in many capacities, and this lends weight to his opinions on matters connected with the mercantile marine and interest to the various yarns which he has to spin."—Pall Mall Gazette.
"Every self-respecting Briton knows that a windjammer is a sailing vessel, and the book before us, written by a man who 'went in at the hawse-hole and came out of the cabin-window,' should commend itself to a maritime nation."—Birmingham Gazette.