Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
"How a small-town boy from the Midwest who'd never seen an ocean until I joined the Merchant Marines got into a mess like this and how I survived it is my story to tell. The forty-year-old cockroach and rat-infested banana boat carrying bombs across the North Atlantic in wintertime, my first foreign trip, wasn't typical but it was my introduction to life on the deep."
Charles' memoir takes you through his training to be a seaman in July 1942 to working various ships crossing the ocean in the middle of a major war. His stories of good times, terrifying moments, and the places he went while on ships transporting everything from bombs to sand are told with humor and a wry look at life on the water during World War Two.