This book needs to come with a warning..."Be warned those who are easily influenced by what they read, you may find yourself at sea".

Horatio tells things honestly, the rough sea, the dire living conditions, long repetitive work, low pay, No FRIGGING BEER, marginally adverse weather conditions and much danger. He tells you how bad it is, how lonely it can be and yet this reader still craved the adventure....just think how much reading I could get done at sea.

Horatio explores every side of the job on board the ship, from the Captain right down to the engine room. The working conditions in the engine room are insane, how a man can work there day after day is amazing. The book is split into two, first a trip from UK to USA via the Suez canal on board a giant of a ship carrying an incredible amount of weight, the crew are neat and tidy, the ship in pretty good condition and a nice automated system for loading/unloading. Part 2 is the polar opposite Europe to Canada across the North Atlantic, a smaller boat still full of cargo, the ship is old, battered and dirty, the crew are similar, they come across as quite mad and loading/unloading is mostly manual labour.

This was a fascinating read, I have the utmost respect now for these brave sailors who bring us the crap we love to buy in shops. I'd love to see a follow up to the book, this time following one of the containers and it's contents, would be interesting to see why milk goes from Argentina to Europe and then back to Canada. I can see why this is an award winning book, brilliant writing and plan to pick up another of Horatio's books soon.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2019/02/06/down-to-the-sea-in-ships-of-ageless-oceans-and-modern-men-by-horatio-clare/