GANGWAY

A Life at Sea
by Simon Quail
Can you survive the storms of youth? This lively and entertaining memoir reveals that you can. Life will get better. This authentic tale reveals how a young deck officer survived all that the wild ocean could throw at him. He survived challenges physically, emotionally, and spiritually. He became a Master Mariner and a Master of Arts. In his search for life at sea, the ship’s gangway was his link to new worlds and experiences. He learned that today was not the end. Tomorrow was a new horizon worth seeking. So, climb the gangway and discover new and exciting worlds. Find life. Simon Quail went to sea as a deck apprentice in 1966 when the British Merchant Navy was at its height. Serving on three dozen ships over twenty years, he sailed the five oceans of the world. Gangway is an engaging mix of personal accounts and technical data. The author describes the changes in the social life on ships crewed by over fifty men. Long ocean voyages were rewarded by days or even weeks in port – with opportunities to explore new cultures ashore. He became skilled in the ancient art of navigation – coastal and Astro – long before the advent of GPS. Through this insightful account, we learn that a ship’s gangway is the link between the solidity of the land and the mysterious, often dangerous, instability of the seas and oceans that circle our planet. Gangway is a maritime memoir that describes the challenges of a life at sea in the last age of the motor ship before the age of the super ship. Simon Quail is a Liveryman of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners.