An award-winning investigation into the strange and secretive world of international shipping. 'Arresting, sharply observed, deeply researched and compelling... Plenty of books promise to reveal the secrets of little-known worlds but few actually deliver. This is one that does' Melanie McGrath, Sunday Telegraph There are 100,000 freighters on the seas. Between them they carry nearly everything we eat, wear and work with. In this unique and fascinating investigation, Rose George joins the crew of a container ship travelling the long journey from Felixstowe to Singapore and charts the murky waters of international shipping. This is an eye-opening tale of powerful naval fleets, pirate gangs, and illegal floating factories, which reveals the vast hidden industry upon which our world turns and our future depends. 'This is a remarkable work of embedded reportage - hair-raising, witty, compassionate - that deserves to be read' Sukhdev Sandhu, Guardian A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and winner of a Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship and a Mountbatten Maritime Award

Prizes

Winner of Travelling Scholarships Award 2011 (UK),Long-listed for Mountbatten Maritime Award 2013 (UK)

Arresting, sharply observed, deeply researched and compelling... Plenty of books promise to reveal the secrets of little-known worlds but few actually deliver. This is one that does -- Melanie McGrath * Sunday Telegraph *
From the always intriguing catalogue of Portobello Books, [this book] goes behind the scenes of those mammoth vessels that ply the oceans bringing us all our lovely stuff -- Melissa Katsoulis * Daily Telegraph *
As fascinating as it is troublingly insightful... This is a remarkable work of embedded reportage - hair-raising, witty, compassionate - that deserves to be read -- Sukhdev Sandhu * Guardian *
A marvel of information, insight and intelligence laced with humour, humanity and high spirits -- Iain Finlayson * The Times *
With her precise and beautiful clarity of prose, [George] has now fired a brilliant star-shell over the wine-dark sea and the ships that pass in its night, illuminating the details of the invisible ocean industry that is, and always will be, essential to all of us -- Simon Winchester, author * Atlantic *
Fascinating and insightful * Observer *
A stunningly detailed and absorbing piece of investigative journalism, combined with a gripping and very human account of a long sea journey, with all its loneliness, fears, and moments of magic -- Michael Jacobs, author * Andes *
Beautifully captures the surprising nuances of this little-known world... [George's] strong, spare, gleaming prose steams along, powered by curiosity, compassion, outrage. As a writer, a reporter, and a human being, George is-stand by for nautical term-First Rate -- Mary Roach, author * Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal *
The two greatest stories are supposed to be "A man goes on a journey" and "A stranger comes to town". In this enthralling, literally wide-ranging book, George tells both: she goes on a voyage that few other journalists have accomplished, and she unveils the unknown seafarers who bring us all the world's goods. Sympathetic, deeply reported and unexpectedly poignant -- Maryn McKenna, author * Superbug *
To the classic incredible journeys-Moby Dick, Two Years Before the Mast-George adds another, her voyage round the world aboard a container ship, revealing what happens before the big bang of merchandise explodes from the high seas into civilization -- Curtis C. Ebbesmeyer, author * Flotsametrics and the Floating World *
[An] engaging voyage through the shady world of international shipping * Bookseller *
Riveting * Nature *
Few readers will be left in any doubt as to the importance of this opaque industry on which we all depend -- Sarah Mishkin * Financial Times *
It is a travelogue of sorts, written in clear, straightforward English, about the people, pirates and machinery that make up the modern maritime industry * New Statesman *
A very good book -- Michael Burleigh * Literary Review *
A very important book. [George] has vision and curiosity [and she] really does ask the right questions. You should read this book * Lloyd’s List *
Absorbing [and] engrossing * New York Times *
Cleverly constructed, carefully researched, moving, vivid... Thoughtful and provocative, written with style and passion * Nautilus International *
Fascinating * Hythe Herald *
A fascinating exploration of the world of container shipping * Yorkshire Post *
A remarkable work of embedded reportage - hair-raising, witty, compassionate - that deserves to be read * South China Morning Post *
She uncovers many serious (and murky) issues -- Pascal Lamy, Former Director General of WTO, Best Books of the Year
Excellent... panoramic -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *
Interesting, relevant, and [full of] surprising facts * Hill Dickinson Newsletter *
Eye-opening * Mail on Sunday *
Very readable and compelling * The Maritime Executive *
Fascinating [and] troublingly insightful. This is a remarkable work of embedded reportage - hair-raising, witty, compassionate - that deserves to be read by anyone interested in the cartographies of the contemporary world -- Sukhdev Sandu * Guardian *
Absorbing -- Ed Power * Irish Independent **** *
In a work of great insight and sympathy, George conveys the monotony and loneliness of the modern commercial sailor's life while also describing the omnipresent dangers -- Tom Moriarty * Irish Times *
A very well researched and written appreciation of the modern maritime industry and most of its people * Baird Publications *

ROSE GEORGE is the author of A Life Removed: Hunting for Refuge in the Modern World (long-listed for the Ulysses Reportage Prize) and The Big Necessity: Adventures in the World of Human Waste (Portobello, 2008; shortlisted for the BMA Book Prize). She contributes regularly to the London Review of Books, the Guardian, the Independent and others. http://rosegeorge.com/site/