True Mariner

True Mariner Book Review by W.J.W.

Doug Squirrel’s True Mariner can best be pigeonholed as a commonplace book, in 3 parts, that details too well the author’s life and many topics regarding the US Maritime Academy [USMMA] and US Merchant Marine and mariners’ attitudes and beliefs. This reviewer read a PDF copy and can see how the book could work as a novel but its content is not structured tight enough.

From the author’s lengthy introduction which reads both as Squirrel’s
mea culpa and foundation for writing True Mariner, the reader is taken
on a journey of Squirrel’s worldview of the USA via his introduction
to the world of work as a lifeguard in Washington, DC to cadet at the
USMMA, and then mariner in the US Merchant Marine, sailing as an
engineering officer with the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command. The
discerning reader must keep in mind that True Mariner is the
weltanschauung, viz., worldview of Doug Squirrel.

The 3 sections after the introduction read autobiographically as the
foreground to Squirrel becoming a cadet.

The 4th section is an essay, One Master Under God, which is an
introduction to the non-autobiographical parts of True Mariner and
also recreates concisely shipboard life past and present but lacks
references for various vignettes.

The choice of topics—women mariners, recent US Navy at-sea fiascoes, mariners’ alcoholism, et al—perplexed this reviewer but may be of interest to the novelty-seeking reader and be of value to esoteric
interests.