'Wheen o' topics' in a tale of two countries

Of Ships and Shoes and Scotland is a series of notes and biographical recollections of author Denis Gallagher's life at sea on 20^th century merchant vessels. The title comes from his nationality as a Scot, although he emigrated to Australia in the 1960s.

The memoir covers Gallagher's indenture as a deck apprentice in 1957 and his rise through the ranks on various cargo vessels, including the Glenartney, owned by former Liverpool company Alfred Holt, whose later demise is likened to a Greek tragedy. The reader is treated to pen portraits of 'masters-under-God' and the deck, engineering, steward and cook crews with whom the author served.

After emigrating, Gallagher became master of the first Australian flag anchor handler, operating in offshore oilfields around Australia, and he shares insights into shipping in the Western Pacific Basin and his path to becoming a shipowner and marine consultant.

This is a book to be enjoyed at different levels: cargoship mariners should enjoy reminiscences of a past era of shipping, and may agree that a cargo vessel's design has the 'ability to touch the soul'. And a post-Christmas dinner quiz (for adults only) could be to discover what happens to Gallagher's titular 'shoes' during one less-than-romantic tropical shore leave rendezvous!

This book is the Nautilus Book of the Month for December 2022, and will be sold at a discount in the Nautilus Bookshop throughout the month.

Of Ships and Shoes and Scotland             
By Denis Gallagher        
Austin Macauley Publishers, £22.99      
ISBN: 978 13984 01716