Lunchtime read: The Shadow-Line

Life is hard at the moment and I have to go and have a business meeting in town so have cut my lunch short so this is only chapter one.

Highlights from most of chapter one
* The story starts with a man who has decided to resign his position as mate on a steamer that is berthed in a Turkish harbour despite the fact that he likes the boat and the captain

* He goes to stay until he heads home in a seaman's hotel and meets a strange navigator who makes him discover that there is a vacancy for a master's job and urges him to go to the harbour office to apply for it before a rival, Hamilton, at the boarding house also applies for it

* He goes to the Harbour master and is criticised for not coming sooner and is told about the position and accepts it and signs a contract to that effect and is told to get ready to head off that evening to go and meet the boat

More tomorrow...