great lakes books about working as a deckhand

[Guest]

Nothing to tell you about books to read; but do take lots of pictures. You will likely never have the same experience of seeing Canada from this perspective again. I did the same job back in 1972 and saw alot; including the Edmund Fitzgerald when it was just another big freighter. Who would have known? The area above the Soo is wonderful as is the area below the Thousand Islands.
Lots of hard work; "paint, chip and sougie" is a constant phrase.
Watch out for some of the dock areas of Cleveland, etc. as they can be heavy crime areas for muggings/fights.
You might want to take a look at some of the histories of the CSL or such. Obviously, Creighton's books are big in Canada.
Oh, and try to keep a journal and put into it all the paper emphemera you can get your hands on-there are collectors out there, galore.
Regards,
Mark

[nick82]

hi,

I'm about to ship out as a deck hand on a great lakes freighter in a couple of weeks. i have no experience doing this and so i'm interested in reading some books, hopefully before i leave, about what its like to live and work on a lake freighter. i'd be interested in these titles; Lake Effect: A Deckhand's Journey on the Great Lakes Freighters, A Sailor's Logbook: A Season Aboard Great Lakes Freighters,
Deckhand: Life on Freighters of the Great Lakes.
however i'm located in montreal and i'd rather not wait for regular mail so if you have any of these titles maybe we can work something out like fedex or if ur in montreal i could pick up.

let me know,
thanks,
nick
nicholas-taylor@hotmail.com