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Under Eight Flags: Vol I 1937-1947 - The First Eleven Years at Sea

by Anthony F. (Tony) Winstanley

398 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #00-0053; ISBN 1-55212-389-8; US$36.00, C$41.05, EUR29.50, £21.00

A vivid description of life aboard trampships, passenger ships and tankers before and during the War. The excitement of being pursued by a German raider and aboard a tanker which was torpedoed are among the many scenarios vividly described.

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about the book      about the author      excerpts      catalogue info

About the Book Under Eight Flags is a vivid description of life aboard trampships, passenger ships and tankers before and during the Second World War. The excitement of being pursued by a German raider and aboard a torpedoed tanker are among the many scenarios vividly described. From Turkey to Argentina, from cruise ships to tramp steamers, Under Eight Flags is an exciting and informative look at mid-century life at sea. Reader Reviews     It was with the greatest pleasure that I read Tony Winstanley's first two books which described his life at sea. I was struck by the close similarity of experiences we had in common during our first years in the shipping industry. There were many reputable shipping Companies prior to the Second World War who operated their own training schemes for teenagers who wished to take up a seagoing career as deck officers. They taught navigation, seamanship and general ship management, along with safe practices and the carriage of cargo. Such companies were difficult to get into, mainly because they had such a wide choice. Such an apprenticeship required dedication; it involved long hours, hard work, sometimes poor conditions and many months, sometimes years away from home. After apprenticeship there were three monumentally difficult examinations to be passed before finally becoming a Master Mariner. The task was daunting.     My own time at sea during the Second World War included being torpedoed and spending time in an open lifeboat. After the War, Tony's and my paths diverged. For my part, I joined Cunard White Star, as it was then known, and stayed with that Company until I retired, thirty-seven years later. Eventually, having served in all the great passenger ships of that Company, I commanded "QE2" for a total of seven years, and had the honour of taking her to the South Atlantic at the time of the Falklands crisis.     Recently I had the privilege of meeting Tony Winstanley and we spent several hours together reminiscing about the days which involved our common interest. Times have changed and technology has moved on to radically alter the way ships now operate, but it was good to speak about those days which we both knew so well. Peter Jackson Queen Elizabeth 2 Who doesn't like a sea story? If you are the story-teller's vintage you may revel in the nostagia of your own youth. If you are a generation younger, you can enjoy reading and visualizing what it was like at sea before your time. Under Eight Flags by Tony Winstanley is an interesting and well-told account of the author's first eleven years at sea. Those years were significant not only for young Winstanley but for merchant seamen in general. His sea saga starts in 1937 when trade was picking up after the Great Depression and "the Henderson Line of Glasgow was reckless enough" to employ him. Today's shipping is so impersonal and business-like that it is fun to read about the camaraderie among crews on the non air-conditioned coal-burning freighters, their cheerful acceptance of their lot and compensatory good times ashore in ports around the world where weeks not hours were spent loading and discharging. The author shows his talent for describing the pre-war scene in European and Far Eastern ports, and has a knack for familiarizing the reader with the characterization of shipmates that reminds us of some of our own--from mean old masters to cocky cadets--and today's well-fed seafarers will find incredible the standards of subsistence in tramps fifty years ago. There have been many books on the war at sea between 1939 and 1945 but this author tells it as it was for a cadet and then a junior mate, from the time they first painted the ship grey, keeping station in convoys, the excitement of being pursued by a raider, and the shock of being torpedoed, until the end, when steaming lights and deck lights were allowed again. Most interesting is his account of his Liberty ship's wanderings from India eastward, in and out of recently liberated Asian ports in Burma, Malaya, Borneo and his visit to the most devastated city -- Hiroshima. This salt-water seaman ends his candid lively yarn with his decision to settle in Western Canada in 1948. His family told him to put it all down, "warts and all". This non-expurgated version of life at sea in those days tells it like it was. -Captain Angus McDonald, FNI

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About the Author Tony Winstanley was born in London in 1920. He went to sea at 16 and served his apprenticeship with a Scottish shipping company. During the war he served as a deck officer on British and Dutch ships. In 1948, he emigrated to British Columbia, Canada with his wife and two children and continued seafaring in coastal and deep-sea ships. He gained his Master's Certificate in 1962. He has served on many different vessels including tankers, troop ships, research vessels and cruise ships. In 1973 he joined the B.C. Ferries where he worked for the next 13 years. Over a period of 55 years Tony has sailed under eight national flags. He has nine children and ten grandchildren and resides in Victoria, B.C. Also by Anthony Winstanley: Under Eight Flags Volume II Under Eight Flags Volume III

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Catalogue Information

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