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A Sailor's Tales by Captain William Wells (view source)
Revision as of 17:57, 27 May 2010
, 17:57, 27 May 2010no edit summary
Possibly the most difficult thing for young Billy was thinking of what he was doing as work and even some half a century later his enthusiasm for what he was doing shines through. He had the aptitude and was willing to work hard so promotion followed promotion and it wasn't that long before he had his own command. Much as he loved this he felt that his future was in a different direction. He wanted to be a pilot – the man who brings ships great and small into ports all over the world. Most of the book is about Captain Wells' experiences as a pilot.
There is something endlessly fascinating about reading or listening to (I'll come back to this later!) someone who loves their job and is good at it. They explain, without jargon, what they did and why. They know how it fit into figured the greater scheme of things and understand how it developed and changed over the years. The anecdotes might illustrate the life they lived but there's also a wider picture which emerges and this is the pleasure of ''A Sailor's Tales''. We don't just see Captain Wells' life but the development of the pilotage service in various parts of the world –and the recent changes which might affect its efficiency.
It is, though, a real pleasure to read the individual anecdotes. I found myself telling the stories to my husband, showing him pictures of the various vessels and even, at one point, demonstrating how a large ship could be brought into a relatively narrow dock with the aid of a mouse and mouse pad. I left my husband looking at some of the many pictures and came back later to find him engrossed in the stories. It's a couple of days now since I finished the book and I've found myself thinking back over what I've read.