This inventive book uses the history of seafaring to examine the complexities of the modern world. Touching on topics such as colonialism, diplomacy, labor history, and the development of international law, it uses case studies to offer insight into the daily process of globalization.

Drawing on extensive archival material and hundreds of his own interviews, Tony Lane shows us the intersections of 19th-century colonial diplomacy, 20th-century environmental politics, and 21st-century refugee migration.