Looking for a Ship

This is an extraordinary tale of life aboard what may be one of the last American merchant ships. As the story begins, Andy Chase, who holds a license as a second mate is looking for a ship. In less than ten years, the United States Merchant Marine has shrunk from more than two thousand ships to fewer than four hundred, and Chase faces the scarcity of jobs from which all American merchant mariners have been suffering. With John McPhee along, Chase finds a job as a second mate aboard the S.S. Stella Lykes, captained by the extraordinary Paul McHenry Washburn. The journey takes them on a forty-two day run down the Pacific coast of South America, with stops to unload and pick up freight at such ports as Cartagena, Valparaiso, Balboa, Lima, and Guayaquilan area notorious for pirates. As the crew make their ocean voyage, they tell sea stories of other runs and other ships, tales of disaster, stupidity, greed, generosity, and courage. Through the journey itself and the tales told emerge the history and character of a fascinating calling. John McPheeis the author of more than 25 books, includingAnnals of the Former World, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction in 1999. He has been a staff writer atThe New Yorkersince 1965 and lives in Princeton, New Jersey. McPhee'sEncounters with the ArchdruidandThe Curve of Binding Energywere both nominated for National Book Awards in the category of science. This is an extraordinary tale of life aboard what may be one of the last American merchant ships. As the story begins, Andy Chase, who holds a license as a second mate, is looking for a ship. In less than ten years, the United States Merchant Marine has shrunk from more than two thousand ships to fewer than four hundred, and Chase faces the scarcity of jobs from which all American merchant mariners have been suffering. With John McPhee along, Chase finds a job as a second mate aboard the S.S. Stella Lykes, captained by the extraordinary Paul McHenry Washburn. The journey takes them on a forty-two day run down the Pacific coast of South America, with stops to unload and pick up freight at such ports as Cartagena, Valparaiso, Balboa, Lima, and Guayaquilan area notorious for pirates. As the crew make their ocean voyage, they tell sea stories of other runs and other ships, tales of disaster, stupidity, greed, generosity, and courage. Through the journey itself and the tales told emerge the history and character of a fascinating calling. "The usualthat is to say, terrificMcPhee treatment, in which the author surrenders to his subject and conquers it: in this case, the merchant marine of the United States."The New York Times Book Review "Remarkably adroit and compelling . . . the sea seems to be his natural home."William Warner,The Washington Post Book World "McPhee makes Captain Paul McHenry Washburn one of the most memorable men of sea literature."Stephen Jones,Chicago Tribune "Looking for a Shipis not a treatise on the decline of the American merchant marines, any more thanMoby-Dickwas meant to be aJournal of Commercereport on the whaling industry . . . Style is what McPhee is loaded down to the plimsoll marks in: felicitous phrases, keen observations, the knack of unloading a cargo of information without hitting the reader on the head with a jumbo boom."Richard F. Shepard,The New York Times

John McPhee was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and was educated at Princeton University and Cambridge University. His writing career began at Time magazine and led to his long association with The New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer since 1965. The same year he published his first book, A Sense of Where You Are, with FSG, and soon followed with The Headmaster (1966), Oranges (1967), The Pine Barrens (1968), A Roomful of Hovings and Other Profiles (collection, 1969), The Crofter and the Laird (1969), Levels of the Game (1970), Encounters with the Archdruid (1972), The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed (1973), The Curve of Binding Energy (1974), Pieces of the Frame (collection, 1975), and The Survival of the Bark Canoe (1975). Both Encounters with the Archdruid and The Curve of Binding Energy were nominated for National Book Awards in the category of science.

“The usual—that is to say, terrific—McPhee treatment, in which the author surrenders to his subject and conquers it: in this case, the merchant marine of the United States.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Remarkably adroit and compelling...the sea seems to be his natural home.” --William Warner, The Washington Post Book World
“McPhee makes Captain Paul McHenry Washburn one of the most memorable men of sea literature.” --Stephen Jones, Chicago Tribune
“Looking for a Ship is not a treatise on the decline of the American merchant marine, any more than Moby-Dick was meant to be a Journal off Commerce report on the whaling industry...Style is what McPhee is loaded down to the Plimsoll marks in: felicitous phrases, keen observation, the knack of unloading a cargo of information without hitting the reader on the head with a jumbo boom.” --Richard F. Shepard, The New York Times