• Age: 12
• Grade: 7

Doreen Armitage, author of the bestselling From the Wheelhouse: Tugboaters Tell their own Stories, is back with a fresh collection of salty tales from a varied collection of men who earn their living in, on or beside the sea. A former DFO skipper tells a heartrending story of trying to rescue the crew of a fish boat foundering off the west coast of Vancouver Island in wind so strong it cartwheeled their life raft "across the waves like a tumbleweed." A coastal pilot recounts the horrors of trying to scramble up the sides of towering ships in tossing seas, and a near-death experience after falling into the frigid ocean. A tugboat skipper tells of towing a mountainous bundle of logs--called a Davis raft--from the Queen Charlotte Islands only to have it hit rocks and break apart, scattering enough timber to build a small city. A commercial dive fisherman remembers the time his buddy befriended a big harmless-seeming octopus, who responded by trying to tear his helmet off.

Some of these stories involve momentous events with sinking ships and loss of life, but most simply recount everyday happenings, from the humorous to the strange. Together, they offer a captivating picture of life along BC's working waterfront in all its variety.

Doreen Armitage has lived in the Vancouver/Howe Sound area for 35 years and has spent a great deal of time boating on BC's waterways. Her articles have been published in a variety of magazines including Canadian Geographic, Outdoors Canada, Canadian Heritage and Canadian Living. Her books include Around the Sound: A History of Howe Sound-Whistler and Burrard Inlet: A History which was shortlisted for the 2002 City of Vancouver Book Award.

Doreen Armitage's profile page

"Armitage's strength as an interviewer is that she quite clearly befriends her subjects, puts them at ease, and gets them talking. Her strength as a writer is that she takes the resulting material and steps out of the way - her subject's voices are always in the forefront, with her own voice only taking over, quietly, to move the narrative from one topic to the next. The resulting text engages the reader with the same intimacy and immediacy as if one were sitting in a warm galley, chewing the fat with a mix of good friends and new acquaintances while the weather beats agains the windows."
—Simon Hill, Mariner Life

"The old cliché that fact is stranger than fiction rings true as these mariners retell accounts from a world far removed from the run-of-the-mill, land-bound occupations so many of us experience...
"Armitage still has her knack of letting these interviewees speak for themselves to portray a nautical realm that is by turn amusing, terrifying, fascinating and real."
—Martyn J. Clark, Victoria Times-Colonist

Praise for <i> Tales From the Galley</i>

Tales from the Galley: Stories of the Working Waterfront

This is a collection of stories that show the more practical side of living on the high seas. By interviewing commercial fishermen, Coast Guard skippers, deep-sea drillers and others, the author provides a look at the oceanic working class. Humorous tales of unpredictable marine life are interspersed with thrilling accounts of harsh weather, costly accidents and the ever-present danger represented by the deep sea. The resulting anecdotal picture of life along BC’s working waterfront is complemented by black and white photographs that help to bring each tale to life.

Armitage’s books include Around the Sound: A History of Howe Sound-Whistler; Burrard Inlet: A History, shortlisted for the 2002 City of Vancouver Book Award; and From the Wheelhouse: Tugboaters Tell their own Stories.