Thursday, October 28, 2010

Memoir #3: The Captain's Log

subtitle: Around the world with Cruise Captain

Author: Hans Mateboer
Publisher/Format: Captains Publishing, Charlotte NC, trade pprbck 230 pgs  
Subject: Cruise ship sailing
Setting: various ports of call
Genre: memoir a la sea stories
Source: my shelves (purchased from the author)

This was an thoroughly enjoyable read. As many of you know, my spouse is a retired Navy ship captain, so I am used to hearing "sea stories." However, his tales are always centered around those haze-grey vessels with guns, and rockets, etc. Captain Mateboer was the Captain on the cruise ship we sailed last summer. He and hubbie managed to trade a few sea stories, and he signed our copy of his adventures.

The book is written as a series of discrete vignettes-- perfect short 'sea stories': the adventures of a young boy yearning to go to sea, his early travels and employment aboard cargo ships; meeting his wife on a cruise; trying to dock a ship in a foreign port when the locals were on strike; mistaking passengers for terrorists; playing practical jokes on other crew members; putting sick passengers ashore; fending off lonely women; dealing with stowaways; entertaining both big wigs and treasured friends.

A different style of memoir, but one that was quite familiar in a cherished tradition.

2 comments:

  1. I have to think that a cruise ship captain might have more amusing stories that a navel captain..because I am not sure that the navy is all that funny. Maybe more interesting, but not as fun..lol

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mr. Jenners has read pretty much every cruise book out there (including this one). I think he also wrote a cute kid's book called Peter the Cruise Ship (which we also have.)

    If you want more cruise book recommendations, I can ask my husband!

    ReplyDelete

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