Being the Walter Mitty that I am, I thought it would always be fun to sail through a Force 12 storm (but only on an aircraft carrier or battleship or maybe the QM 2 being also a major chicken). Well, O'Hanlon had the same wish only he wanted to experience it on a fishing trawler in the North Sea. He was invited on the Norlantean by a fishing biologist friend. Jason, the captain, is very good at what he does -- he has to be since he took out a 2,000,000 pound loan to refit the ship. Talk about pressure to perform. Lots of really interesting details such as most of the ocean (99%) remains unexplored and is below 2 km deep. This is a deep trawling vessel so many of the fish that get pulled up are interesting, if not bizarre, something that truly excites O'Hanlon's friend. O'Hanlon rather vividly describes what it is like to get seasick (no thanks, I remember being seasick - it's a state where you wish you would die, but unfortunately also realize you won't.) Not to mention, the terror of that 1 in 100,000 "lump," what we might call a rogue wave that towers about the normal huge waves in a storm. The crew, in the meantime, during the harsh weather is gutting fish with razor sharp knives.
I would have given this book more stars had he not spent so much time on the idiosyncratic characters. I prefer more detail about the technology and the social and cultural issues faced by the crew.
