Seven Ships to Darien

By Ronald Phillips

The 1950s. The world was changing. The former Empire and an unlikely sailor were coming of age. As continents and countries were redefining themselves for the post-War world, Ronald Phillips set out to see the world from the decks of the P&O line. The engrossing story of the seven merchant ships and their na?ve young crew member is interwoven with the tale of Ronald's own family, who had, three generations ago, escaped the pogroms of Eastern Europe to start a new life in London. Fascinating and always entertaining, whether regaling us with tales of scams in Petticoat Lane or smuggling and corruption in Latin America, evoking memorable journeys through Suez and Panama or life as a wartime evacuee in the Potteries, encountering a Hollywood princess in Monaco or a good time girl in Curacao, Ronald Phillips guides us through his early years with candour and wit. Peopled with a cast of eccentrics, from the cousin who could not boil an egg, yet became cook to the stars, to the Garden Suburbs hostess that tamed the Australian outback with gentility and a will of iron; not to mention that flirtatious grandmother who never committed bigamy outside the family, could hold her gin with the sailors and was nice to the soldiers, this is as much a book about family and romance as it is an engaging travelogue and glimpse into a kaleidoscope of colourful cultures. Seven Ships took our hero around the world and an eighth nearly took him to war. And they showed him a disappearing world: Africa and India coming to terms with new identities and old established traditions, Australia and New Zealand asserting their own approach to the wider world, South America playing by very different rules and a Europe that is all but forgotten today. As well as a lively page-turning memoir, this story provides a perceptive and memorable snapshot of life on the cusp of Empire and Independence across five continents aboard the Seven Ships to Darien.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1482392372
• ISBN13: 9781482392371
• Release Date: February 2013
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 492 Pages
• Weight: 1.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.1" x 6.0"