In this engaging tale of movement from one hemisphere to another, we see doctors at work attending to their often odious and demanding duties at sea, in quarantine, and after arrival. The book shows, in graphic detail, just why a few notorious voyages suffered tragic loss of life in the absence of competent supervision. Its emphasis, however, is on demonstrating the extent to which the professionalism of the majority of surgeon superintendents, even on ships where childhood epidemics raged, led to the extraordinary saving of life on the Australian route in the Victorian era.

A ship's newly qualified doctor relates his hilarious adventures with wine, women and mariners.

Who gets the call if it all goes wrong at sea? Meet Dr Ben MacFarlane. After spending a year as a repatriation doctor, he's heading around the world as a ship's doctor - and with 3,000 passengers and crew to look after he's in for the most exciting trip of his life. On one dramatic voyage he deals with broken bones and broken hearts, and picks up the pieces after fights in the crew bar and freak accidents on shore leave. So join Ben and his colleagues and find out why ship's doctors think bar stools should carry health warnings, why the casino can be safer than the sick bay in a storm and why no amount of sharks, pirates or tidal waves will ever be as dangerous as the midnight buffet.

First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Who gets the call if it all goes wrong at sea? Meet Dr Ben MacFarlane. After spending a year as a repatriation doctor, he's heading around the world as a ship's doctor - and with 3,000 passengers and crew to look after he's in for the most exciting trip of his life. On one dramatic voyage he deals with broken bones and broken hearts, and picks up the pieces after fights in the crew bar and freak accidents on shore leave. So join Ben and his colleagues and find out why ship's doctors think bar stools should carry health warnings, why the casino can be safer than the sick bay in a storm and why no amount of sharks, pirates or tidal waves will ever be as dangerous as the midnight buffet.