Clare, Horatio

Down to the Sea in Ships

For centuries, container ships have sailed and motored their way across the world's oceans and yet little thought is given to the men who, today, cross seas for a living. Their cargo is everything that is essential to the world on dry land, and the story of how the things we need get to where we need them is anything but simple. Teams of men take on physically taxing tasks, face battering waves, endure administrative deadlocks, and brave pirate-infested waters (cutlasses have been replaced with machine-guns). And all around the sea remains an unknowable, unassailable force, its vastness instantly dwarfing even the largest container vessel. Horatio Clare climbed aboard as writer-in-residence to a large shipping company u and was taken in by Captain and crew as a temporary seafarer. Together they experienced two unforgettable journeys: the first, from East to West (Felixstowe to Los Angeles, via Suez) was tanned with Pacific sun and enlivened by flying fish; the second northerly passage, from Antwerp to Montreal, was scented with diesel, sounded with creaks and lashed with heaving gales. In Clare's vibrant prose, natural forces clash with heavy industry, but above all it is the men utheir obsessions, their stories, their relationships u who bring this book to life. A beautiful and terrifying portrait of the ocean and its wildlife, a fascinating study of big business afloat, Down to the Sea in Ships is a startling study of men at work, when they are 'landlocked' on ship together for months on end, facing the wide expanse of the sea.