First-timer Laddie, nicknamed by the crew ""Four-O"" as the registers of the Fourth Mate, sets to sea aboard the cargo liner Antigone. On a voyage to the Far East he meets a bewildering array of characters among the crew with their own experiences and stories to tell about life on the sea.

Captain ""China Dick"" Richards, unliked by his crew and eager to stamp his authority on the men; the competent Scottish First Mate, the most committed of the entire ship's company; Sparks the radio officer, and ""The Crowd"" - the deck crew, all feature in the voyage from England towards Hong Kong, Singapore and around the South China Seas. For Laddie, this voyage is a culture shock in more ways than one.

In this first-person narrative, Richard Woodman draws upon his six years' service on ships similar to the Antigone, to capture evocatively the sights, smells, and day-to-day life aboard a cargo liner during the last great days of the Merchant Navy.