Ships and Memories: Merchant Seafarers in Canada's Age of Steam

Description

179 pages
Contains Photos, Bibliography, Index
$29.95
ISBN 0-7748-0443-2
DDC 387.5'0971'0904

Publisher

Year

1993

Contributor

Reviewed by Barry M. Gough

Barry M. Gough is a history professor at Wilfrid Laurier University and
author of The Northwest Coast: British Navigation, Trade, and
Discoveries to 1812.

Review

To this reviewer’s knowledge, this book can claim to be the first oral
history of Canadian merchant seafaring in the age of steam. Based on
interviews undertaken by Jim Green and by the author himself, the text
nicely intertwines story with example. The living narrative that results
is a sympathetic depiction of a world we have lost (or almost lost).
Maritime history in Canada has enjoyed a renaissance of late, as has
oral history. This book is a welcome addition, for it shows the sort of
thing that might be done for, say, Newfoundland sealers and fishers,
Inuit whalers and hunters, or British Columbia tugboat captains and
crew. The book addresses such topics as yarns, going to sea, work,
officers and masters, class, family, masculinity, hazards, war, unions,
and Canada. The richly illustrated text enhances a lively, sympathetic,
and clear narrative.

Citation

Sager, Eric W., “Ships and Memories: Merchant Seafarers in Canada's Age of Steam,” Canadian Book Review Annual Online, accessed February 9, 2025, https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/9021.