Amazon.com description: Product Description: Junior-officer Laddie, nicknamed "Four-O" by the crew, signs on as Fourth Mate on the cargo liner Antigone on a voyage to the Far East. Amongst the array of characters he joins are Captain "China Dick" Richards, Sparks, the vulnerable young radio officer and "The Crowd" - the deck crew. For Four-O, promotion to the rank of junior officer marks a coming of age and the voyage a turning point for Antigone and for all those who sailed in her. Ricjard Woodman draws upon his service on ships similar to the Antigone to capture evocatively the day-to-day life aboard a cargo liner.