Shanghaied: A Book Review

Title: Shanghaied, Jon Howe. Koehlerbooks, Virginia Beach, VA. 2023

I recently read Jon Howe’s novel Shanghaied, the story of Eamon, a young man kidnapped and pressed into service aboard a merchant sailing vessel. While the characters are fictional, the book holds true to the wider events of the early 1800s, and accurately conveys the rigors of life at sea as an involuntary crew member aboard a square-rigger.

Eamon’s personal goals are at odds with the vessel’s mission, and he frequently comes into conflict with the Captain, crew, and particularly the first mate. The challenges for a landlubber to learn the ropes while enduring seasickness, meager rations, and harsh discipline seem insurmountable. Despite this, he forges strong bonds with a few of his fellow seamen whilst grudgingly becoming a useful sailor. Eamon’s intelligence and skills from his former land-based life help him advance, yet he never loses sight of his ultimate goal of reuniting with his family left behind in New England when he was shanghaied.

The story believably blends Eamon’s life aboard the square-rigger Atalanta with milestone events like storms, crossing the equator, and rounding Cape Horn, all while introducing the reader to the economics of ocean-going trade at the time, the politics of the nautical powers, and interactions with other ships. If you are not already a sailor when you start reading this book (and its helpful glossary), you will have acquired the vocabulary to blend in at your local yacht club by the end.

I particularly enjoyed the author’s accounts of shore leave, during which Eamon attempts to overcome the strictures placed on him by the first mate and Captain. These scenes bring out the contrast between the simple harshness of shipboard regimen, and the spell of brief freedoms and fragrant breezes ashore. Life on the Atalanta is difficult, but it is balanced with beauties such as encountering dolphins, star-studded night skies, and calm sunrises after a storm. Eamon eventually grows to appreciate and love this second lifestyle, while still endeavouring to reach home.

Shanghaied was engrossing and entertaining, and I read it over a short two days while on a sailing vacation of my own. Barb, too, enjoyed it. I recommend it to anyone wanting to experience vicariously the hardships, heartbreaks, and joyous moments of a life at sea.