In 1969, the author, a trainee lawyer just out of law school, wondered what to do before he studied for his final exams. His father, a judge at the Old Bailey, suggested he should go on a boat in the Merchant. Dumbfounded, he agreed and thought no more about it. A year later he got his degree and the matter came up again. He met the managing director of the shipping company, had an expensive lunch with him and in July 1969, he said goodbye to his girlfriend, who gave him a book with blank pages in it and told him to write a diary of the trip. Now read on. This is an account of a trainee lawyer who spent time with the roughest seamen from July to November 1969. July to November 1969