Supercargo: A Journey Among Ports

Fascinated by the shabby mystique of port cities, and and drawn to the lingering romance of travel by ship, Thornton McCamish embarked on a journey to explore the disappearing culture of the high seas. He set out from Marseilles, following the smell of fish and diesel around the Mediterranean and the Middle East before heading to Cape Town via the Canary Islands an on through East Africa and the spice and slaver routes of the Indian Ocean.

Thornton called at ports big, small, ancient, modern and deservedly forgotten. Aboard cargo ships he discovered terrible food and nostalgia for the rum-and-poker heyday of the merchant marine. Ashore he followed in the footsteps of the explorers, spies and fun-seekers who went East in centuries past in search of riches, romance and curry. He ultimately discovers that he sea's edge is very different when seen from the deck of a freighter: it is a parallel universe populated by sea dogs, prostitutes, con men and dreamers. Ports of Call is about the romance and menace of their world, an attempt to find a place that never existed, where the girls are always friendly, the aces are always high and the treasure is still where Blackbeard buried it.