Steaming to Bamboola: The World of a Tramp Freighter

by Christopher Buckley author of Thank You for Smoking and other bestselling novels

Overview

The Columbianna, an ancient tramp steamer with a notably eccentric crew, 200 layers of paint on her decks, a sailing history going back to 1945, and demons in her plumbing, was crossing the Atlantic for the umpteenth time—but on this occasion with a sharp-eyed observer, whose brilliant account brings to life the harshness, humor, and bizarreness of life on board. Steaming to Bamboola is a story of the author's time at sea. He tells first-hand about typhoons, cargoes, smuggling, mid-ocean burials, rescues, stowaways, hard places, hard drinking, and hard romance. It is the tale of a ship and her crew, men fated to wander for a living—always steaming to, but never quite reaching, Bamboola. This was the first book by renowned author and humorist Christopher Buckley, which was originally published in 1982 to glowing reviews. Forty years and over twenty books and hundreds of articles later, Buckley introduces Columbianna and her roguish crew to a new generation of readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493073924
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	05/01/2023
Pages:	242
Sales rank:	435,138
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Christopher Taylor Buckley is an American author and political satirist. He also served as chief speechwriter to Vice President George H.W. Bush. He is known for writing God is My Broker, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, The White House Mess, No Way to Treat a First Lady,Wet Work, Florence of Arabia, Boomsday, Supreme Courtship, Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir, and The Judge Hunter. He lives in Stamford, CT.

Editorial Reviews

Funny, high-spirited, immensely enjoyable.”

The Washington Post

"Rich in details, reflected in vivid prose... A fascinating story."

Monitor

"An impressive addition to the contemporary literature of sea travel. It belongs, properly, on the same shelf as Malcolm Lawry's Ultramarine, James Hanley's Boy, and certainly Traven…Often extremely funny."

Times Literary Supplement

"This book is really great. It makes you feel a world and care about it intensely when you thought that world had passed into cliche."

American Spectator

Funny, high-spirited, immensely enjoyable.

Washington Post