Captain Peter J Lawrence embarked early on his nautical career. Barely in his twenties when he graduated from Massachusetts Maritime Academy and got his first post as 3rd mate on a cargo-passenger ship bound for East Africa in 1963, he lived aboard at sea for the majority of next two decades. From his first post he went on to take yearly exams to advance in rank to 2nd mate, chief mate, and finally to qualify as master unlimited, ocean going vessels. At 28 he got his first post as ship's master (captain) on a cargo-passenger ship route from the US to the Mediterranean.
In this sprawling memoir of two decades at sea and another twenty-some years helping to operate a busy shipping company, Captain Lawrence shares experiences and observations on maritime tradition and lore, geography, and history acquired in far-flung travels to ports ranging from Northern Europe to the eastern coast of South America, from the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal to India, from Japan to Korea to Hong Kong, and from West Africa to Australia.
Among his bouts with extreme weather at sea, it was while crossing the North Pacific toward Asia that Captain Lawrence and crew faced two monster storms approaching from different directions that were making treacherous seas. The storms won the first round, knocking tons of cargo overboard, but Captain Lawrence got the upper hand and brought the ship, crew, passengers, and remaining cargo safely to port in Yokohama, Japan.
When he was done guiding huge cargo ships across the seas of the globe, Captain Lawrence transitioned to a post on land. From his decades spent helping lead the creation and growth of a new shipping company come stories of an inside seat during the development of the US military's pre-positioning force at sea. Finally, Captain Lawrence brings readers up to date with recolections of private travel, post-retirement, in the company of his wife and traveling companion, Mary Ellen.
