Captain "China Dick" Richards, unliked by his crew and eager to stamp his authority on the men; the competent Scottish First Mate, the most committed of the entire ship's company; Sparks the radio officer, and "The Crowd" - the deck crew, all feature in the voyage from England towards Hong Kong, Singapore and around the South China Seas. For Laddie, this voyage is a culture shock in more ways than one.
In this first-person narrative, Richard Woodman draws upon his six years' service on ships similar to the Antigone, to capture evocatively the sights, smells, and day-to-day life aboard a cargo liner during the last great days of the Merchant Navy.
