John McPhee sails with first mate Andy Chase on an “exotic” run to South America aboard the S.S. Stella Lykes. McPhee captures the excitement and the perilous dangers of the sea, of stowaways and cocaine heists, pirates and freak waves. From port to port the crew recounts stories of other voyages—apocryphal tales that could fill up several lifetimes, tinged with a barely-concealed regret for a way of life that is passing quickly away.