Many Voyages in Strange Crafts: A Memoir

Young William Rodick was determined to go to sea, like his sea captain father. Even though his father warned him against it, William apprenticed with a merchant marine and boarded his first ship in Liverpool, England, at the age of fourteen. This began a life spent working at sea, travelling around the world and having seafaring adventures, until William's retirement at the age of eighty in 1931. His voyages were often perilous, with storms, near-drownings, illness, physical violence, and encounters with many eccentric and interesting seamen and passengers.
Many Voyages in Strange Crafts is Captain William Rodick's firsthand account of life at sea at the turn of the twentieth century. He shares the struggles of a young apprentice in a harsh world, where boys were expected to quickly become men, and a view of the world in a time now past. He includes a wealth of information about marine history, the Scottish shipbuilding industry, and the dredging and creation of the Australian harbours. Captain Rodick also served in the Great War, and for his difficult and hazardous wartime duties, he received the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire medal. In his own words, Captain Rodick had "many voyages in strange crafts."