Steaming to Bamboola

I read this for the first time shortly after I stopped sailing on US Merchant Marine ships. One of my ships was a tramp freighter working the east coast of South Americe. This copy replaced one I "loaned" out and never got back. It's a fun read, and for me, even better because I recognized so many of the details as accurate. It brought back a lot of memories, and reminded me of why going to sea was good for awhile, and not a great idea for a lifelong career! Buckley lived the life and is a great observer people, and of what is going on around him.

Christopher Buckley wrote a great book here. Too bad he didn't stick with this sort of writing. Had to make a lving I guess. This book is about the average Joe (sailors on a tramp steamer) and what he has to do to make a living. Ironic that Buckley comes from such an upper toff family --he's the son of Bill Buckley. The folks written about here never went to an Ivy League school. They live in trailer or crappy little houses by the highway somewhere. Buckley celebrates them and entertains us. A great great read.

I'm positive that I sailed with at least two of the people in this book. Sal was really Sol and always claimed that we were gonna get gassed one night while sleeping in our bunks. The fellow from Norfolk got booted off the ship and threatened to come back in order to knife the 2nd Engineer, henceforth he was always referred to as "Knifeman". An excellant book and an all too true tale about the misfits of the American Merchant Marine.

I read this book after seeing Chris Buckley on the Letterman show. This is a a thoroughly entertaining chronicle of how a child of wealth and privelege (and sailing) decides to enlist in the merchant marine and see the world. Buckley's own adventures are highly entertaining and he throws in enough other skewed sea stories to keep the reader intrigued. Since it is mostly a collection of nautical anecdotes it is easy to put down and pick up again later, it is light and genuinely funny and a perfect companion for the pool or beach.

Two of the most regrettable things I have done in my 43 years of life was agreeing to allow my children to do science experiements in my kitchen and lending my copy of Steaming to Bamboola to friends. Both have been disasters . "Steaming" can be best described as One flew Over the Cuckoos' nest on water. Mr. Buckley has a wonderful wit. Do not read this book while others try to sleep or in a quiet corner as this book does not allow for repose but rather loud outbursts of laughter. I miss my copy of Steaming to Bamboola and my kitchen.