In the Belly of the Beast

Thomas McAndrew is a stoker on the maiden voyage of a Royal Mail Steamer; the biggest and finest to fly the British flag. After a hard winter of industrial unrest the best of men were anxious to join and the pick of Southampton went in her. But Thomas is disturbed by unspoken thoughts of foreboding and dread, a fear of something bad. A fire is burning its way through one of the giant coal bunkers hastening their passage across the icy North Atlantic and their course for a fateful meeting. This is the story of the ‘black gang’ the men who did the back breaking work deep below the waterline in the belly of the coal fired steam ships and how they toiled to survive throughout hopeless struggles with the sea. From the ‘Sons of Thunder’ Collection, by Mark Morrin.