For the majority, sea travel was a novel and exotic experience, and a surprising number of 'Great Britain's' voyagers recorded their impressions in letters home or journals passed on to their descendants. Every aspect of this curious world was found worthy of comment, from the food to the onboard entertainment, not to mention the dubious, colourful and eccentric characters encountered. From this rich variey, Nick Fogg has fashioned a vivid depiction of shipboard life at a crossroads in history when the miseries of passaging under sail were beginning to give way to the kind of luxuries modern travellers take for granted.