I'm currently reading Two Years Before The Mast whenever I'm stuck waiting in an office of one sort or another. excellent book for a good idea of life on board ship. the other book I highly recommend is The Seaman's Friend. the former is written in story form, or to some effect, in diary form, the latter is a book most seaman kept in their possession for their own protection and knowledge. both are scanned and can be read online at such sites as Googlebooks and Openlibrary.org Cornelia