He wrote "By Way of Cape Horn" after his harrowing experiences crewing the full-rigged "Grace Harwar" from Australia to Ireland in 1929. Villiers had a desire to document the great sailing ships before it was too late, and "Grace" was one of the last working full-riggers. With a small ill-paid crew and no need for coal, such vessels undercut steam ships, and maybe 20 ships were still involved in the trade. As Villiers first stood on the dock looking at "Grace Harwar", a wharf laborer warned "Don't ship out in her! She's a killer." The warning would prove true, as Villiers' friend Ronald Walker was lost on the journey. More than 40 years old at the time, the ship had barnacles and algae growing along her waterline. "Dirty bottoms make slow ships, and slow ships make hard passages." The ill-fated voyage took 138 days. The voyage was filmed as "The Cape Horn Road" and Villiers took many photographs, serving as a significant record of that period in full-rigged working ships.