Looking for a ship
by John McPhee · first published 1990
5mentions
3recommended by
5HN commenters
2014–2023first – last mentioned
60% recommend40% neutral
This is an extraordinary tale of life on the high seas aboard one of the last American merchant ships, the S.S. Stella Lykes, on a forty-two-day journey from Charleston down the Pacific coast of South America. As the crew of the Stella Lykes makes their ocean voyage, they tell stories of other runs and other ships, tales of disaster, stupidity, greed, generosity, and courage.
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I was about to post about John McPhee, too, when I saw your comment. Excellent book, recommended. Somewhat related, also great: Looking for a Ship.
on “The Trucking Industry Needs More Drivers. Maybe It Needs to Pay More” ↗Since you called out working on a container ship, a lot of these have a nautical bent but that’s an area of my personal interest as well. Looking for a ship, John McPhee, Book about a sailor looking for work and eventually catching a ship. Born A Crime, Trevor Noah, not about another career but Apertheid South Africa, I enjoyed it and wished I would have…
on “Ask HN: Recommend books that give you insight into other professions” ↗McPhee is truly a national treasure. If you're interested, that article was one of several published in his book Uncommon Carriers which includes a train and river barge voyage. Looking for a Ship is also great as it follows a merchant marine through various stages of that job. The Curve of Binding Energy is a fascinating study of Theodore Taylor, the engineer behind the smallest nuke warhead…
on “What it's Really Like to be an Alaskan Truck Driver” ↗…coded-16.tff > Up came portions of his book “The Founding Fish.” He typed in further commands, and hunks of green text went blinking around: a complete inventory of his published articles; his 1990 book, “Looking for a Ship.” > I felt as if I were in a computer museum, watching the curator take his favorite oddity for a spin. McPhee has never used a traditional word processor in his life. He is one of the world’s few remaining…
on “Kedit, the text editor of John McPhee” ↗I just finished Looking for a Ship a few weeks ago. I have read Oranges as well, and Annals of the Former World, and some of his shorter pieces in a Best Of collection. I am hit and miss on his writing, but when it hits, it hits hard for…
on “What it's Really Like to be an Alaskan Truck Driver” ↗