DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS

For so many centuries people used seaways for transporting their cargoes, ideas and cultures, but the seaways have never been as busy as they are today. Even though the mankind's normality is highly dependent on maritime shipping, it is still a world passing mainly unconsidered, unrecorded and in many cases even unseen. Day and night in every part of the sea and in all weather conditions seafarers handle gigantic vessels keeping the landed life in order and afloat.

These people in fact live truly extraordinary and interesting lives noting the pressures they are under and the dangers that are quite hard for others to imagine, including but of course not limited to the pirate attacks, hurricanes and harsh weather. The author joins two container vessels, traveling with their captains and crew members; in the excellent prose contemporary shipping industry battles with the implacable forces while the vessels cross the seas of history and the seafarers unfold their stories.

The author draws a beautiful but sometimes terrifying picture of the oceans and people, presenting a study of the world-scale business done afloat. The book will be interesting to all people fond of maritime shipping, seas, oceans and ships...