Pauline Isabel Dowling found out the true price of bananas when her unexpected trailing career began. Going to work with one’s husband, in this case Captain Stuart Ross, is a weird idea, but she loved the sea (and him), so it had to be done if she were to see him for more than four months a year. It was an eye opener. Sailing as a passenger on the MV ACT 7, where she met him, had been one thing, but a banana boat, the MV Avelona Star, in the north Atlantic in winter? Many people have written about banana boats, but few partners have spoken up. Fewer still have told the political story of not only bananas, but the decline of the merchant navy, the effect of flagging out, the deterioration of some British ships, and the morale of the few British left sailing, and how it feels to be female in a place which is, at best, tolerant and at worst anti women. “Going Bananas. My Trailing Career Volume 1” is the unvarnished truth about one four month tour. And, according to reviews is “funny, interesting, brilliantly written, full of tales that should be tall but plainly aren't.” And “a brilliant read. Mostly an entertaining account of the ups and downs of life on the waves but with some serious insights into the banana trade and the realities of modern shipping.”
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