Swing the Lamp Blair Chamberlin

Welcome aboard Bellatrix, a ragtag ship with a motley crew and a series of eccentric skippers. A crew augmented by a variety of wildlife from a seductive gibbon to a drunken piglet, by way of a dog with ideas above his station, a flock of Java sparrows and a bunch of praying mantis whose job it was to prevent the ship being over-run by cockroaches. She was severely deficient in creature comforts and lacked all modern amenities, but she was unaccountably a happy ship with a disproportionate number of "odd-balls" and"characters" among her crew. Life aboard Bellatrix was informal, hectic and at times heart-stopping, but above all else it was fun. Many of the primitive ports she visited did not feature on the itineraries of mainline cargo/passenger ships, this led to some interesting and occasionally alarming experiences. Although "Swing the Lamp" is light-hearted, it does highlight an important fact - the life depicted has now passed into maritime history. "Swing the Lamp" is a very personal, colourful, often hilarious, sometimes thought provoking but always honest account of sailing the Pacific and other oceans,. Blair Chamberlin evokes a time of simpler pleasures and of a camaraderie that sadly no longer exists. A time when the ships themselves were as characterful as the men who sailed them. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге Swing the Lamp (Blair Chamberlin)