To research Deep Sea and Foreign Going the author Rose George travelled with the crew of a container ship from Felixstowe to Singapore. This book shares what she discovered on this journey but also about the sea going container ship business which transports about 90% of everything we buy across the world.
This is not a subject that particularly interested me until my friend Jane suggested that I would enjoy this book – she was right. Like many people I had never considered the number of containers and ships that transport items using the seas – there are currently about 100,000 ships carrying containers. Each ship obviously has a crew but they are not always well paid and health and safety can be an issue as well as isolation. This book makes it obvious how vulnerable these men (they are usually men) are, especially when they are at sea with no means of communication with the land and at the mercy of other sailors, loneliness and the weather.
The author talks about where the crews come from and what makes them chose a life at sea. She experiences the conditions in which they live, the long hours they work and the facilities on shore which have grown up to service them, including Seamen’s Missions. She explores the ownership and registration of ships and how the owners are very often hidden from sight and usually cannot be held to account for what happens to their crews, and often their cargos.
The book looks at pirate gangs, mostly around Somalia, why this crime persists and the effect on individuals kidnapped and the industry as a whole. The author also explores other illegal activities including people smuggling and reveals how few checks there are to prevent crime.
The ship and the author travel in and out of various ports and through the Suez Canal and we are told about tugs, manoeuvring in close quarters and the risk of sinking, or losing containers into the sea. The weather obviously affects how far the ships travel each day and therefore the profitability for the owners.
This book is well written with short chapters and contains lots of facts enlivened with anecdotes and stories of the author’s voyage. I found it fascinating and eye opening reading.
Anne Is Reading 