Deep Sea and Foreign Going: A Review

I must admit that a non-fiction book about shipping is not something I would ordinarily pick up to read. As Deep Sea and Foreign Going reveals, this is perhaps not a reflection of my interests but the low profile of the shipping industry in our everyday lives - even though it brings us '90 per cent of everything'.

In an effort to find out more about an invisible industry that has such a significant role in bringing us the goods we use every day, UK writer Rose George boards the container-ship Maersk Kendal at the English port of Felixstowe. From here she travels through the Suez Canal and treacherous Somali waters, eventually finishing her journey in Singapore. Interviewing the ship's crew, captain, and various other players in the modern shipping industry - from chaplains to pirate negotiators - George has written a book that is both intriguing and informative.

Ships bring us everything from mobile phones to furniture, cars and food, but most of us know very little, if anything, about it. The book opens with a discussion of how the shipping industry has largely been removed from our everyday consciousness. This is partly because ports are no longer part of residential neighbourhoods, and in a post-9/11 world, security concerns make them nearly impossible to visit (when was the last time you saw a container-ship up close?). Even though we don't see it, the magnitude of the modern shipping industry is astounding - if all the containers of shipping company Maersk were lined up, they would stretch half way around the world.

It is no surprise then that this book taught me a lot about aspects of shipping I would normally not think about. For example, in many cases seafarers work for months at sea with very little contact with home, few recreation or support services and, until 2012, international standards allowed them to work a 98-hour week. In heartbreaking interviews the seafarers talk of their experiences with search and rescue missions at sea and offer anecdotes of modern shipwrecks, which although sad are nonetheless fascinating.

By evanblaser via Flickr

One aspect of modern shipping that perhaps more of us are aware of is the rise of piracy. As George travels through the Somali waters she gives a thorough insight into the dirty and desperate trend that in 2010, Harvard Business School called the 'best business model of the year'. Surprisingly, shipping companies are forced to negotiate with pirates using expert consultants such as John Chase, whose interview paints a chilling picture of the business. George finds that pirates are rarely prosecuted due to the mobile nature of witnesses and the need to find a nation willing to try them as incidents often take place in international waters. As a result, stamping out piracy is a real challenge.

By Grolltech via Wiki.

Being an animal lover, one of the most disturbing revelations was the impact that the growth in the shipping industry, and our increasing intrusion on the oceans, is having on marine life. George's research describes how we are not just polluting the oceans with plastic and chemicals, but also with noise from thousands upon thousands of ships. This comes from the use of seismic surveys and echoes from fish finders, which disturb and disrupt marine animals that are sensitive to sound waves. Research shows that every ten years the noise from commercial shipping doubles, and that this increasing disturbance has effects on the communication and feeding habits of whales, dolphins, fish and other species.

Deep Sea and Foreign Going is a fascinating book if you want to know how your iPhone, television or even baked beans made it into your home, and the incredible stories surrounding its journey. Pick it up and give it a go, even if it is a topic that wouldn't usually be on your radar.

Deep Sea and Foreign Going: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry that Brings You 90% of Everything by Rose George is published by Allen & Unwin and available for purchase here.

-Eliza Murphy