'Magnificent' Robert Macfarlane

Winner of the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year

Our lives depend on shipping but it is a world which is largely hidden from us. In every lonely corner of every sea, through every night, every day, and every imaginable weather, tiny crews of seafarers work the giant ships which keep landed life afloat. These ordinary men live extraordinary lives, subject to dangers and difficulties we can only imagine, from hurricanes and pirates to years of confinement in hazardous, if not hellish, environments. Horatio Clare joins two container ships on their epic voyages across the globe and experiences unforgettable journeys. As the ships cross seas of history and incident, seafarers unfold the stories of their lives, and a beautiful and terrifying portrait of the oceans and their human subjects emerges.

'Tremendous'The Times

Horatio Clare is the bestselling author of the memoirsRunning for the HillsandTruantand the travel booksA Single Swallow(which follows the birds' migration from South Africa to the UK),Down to the Sea in Ships(the story of two voyages on container vessels) andOrison for a Curlew, a journey in search of one of the worlds rarest birds. His books for children includeAubrey and the Terrible YootandAubrey and the Terrible Ladybirds.Horatios essays and reviews appear on BBC radio and in theFinancial Times, theObserverand theSpectator, among other publications. He lives with his family in West Yorkshire.

Acclaimed nature writer Horatio Clare travels the great oceans on cargo ships, and witnesses the collision of two temperaments: man and the sea>