Eight Bells and Top Masts

The late 1950s saw the end of the trade in which old converted coal-burning ships would tramp from port to port, picking up cargo where they could. The author, who worked on these ships as a boy, faithfully recorded all he saw and heard and his diaries form the basis of this account.

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The time is the late 1950s. It is the end of an era. The end of the trade in which an old converted coal-burning ship with a Chinese crew and a handful of British officers would tramp from port to port, picking up cargo where it could, never knowing where it, and they, would be heading next. Chrisopher Lee, author of the BBC radio series "This Sceptred Isle", worked on these ships as a boy, growing up quickly as he tramped around the world. He worked with rough, strange and fascinating men and faithfully recorded all he saw and heard in diaries that form the basis of this record.