Collision of Destinies: The Story of a Ship, Its Crew, and the Evolution of a Man

by Steven L. Benson

Steve Benson is a pugnacious, outgoing, and athletic twenty-six-year-old. After losing his first professional teaching assignment in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he puts his career on hold and hits the road in a rebuilt Volkswagen. The trip takes him to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where he discovers an ad asking for "men with mechanical ability to work on ship" He wins the job and moves on board the 185 foot vessel on a promise he be chosen to accompany the newly remodeled vessel to South America. In this travelogue, the Miami-based renovation process is fraught with conflict and deception during which Steve and ten other crewmen survive the hostile work environment long enough to board passengers bound for the Galapagos Islands; where iguanas spit, whales calve, and seals dance in one of the world's most unique wildlife sanctuaries. It is during this incredible journey that captain Mike of the M/V Buccaneer becomes Steven's father figure, the crew his surrogate family, and Steve moves a giant step closer to becoming a man.

436 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2011

Reviews

[Fred Forbes]

Hate to rain on Steve's parade by being the the first to give him his first less than 5 star rating. I came across this book, autographed hardcover in Books and Books in Coral Gables, FL. $35 for an unknown? Despite my propensity to support Florida authors, I took a pass. Took a pass again when I spotted the trade paperback for $25 but noticed a great price for the kindle - $1.99 so downloaded as the topic seemed interesting. Steve escapes Minnesota, heads for Florida after losing his teaching job to work on restoring a ship to cruise the Galapagos islands. Steve tells a good story, and that for me is the problem. He does not write a good story. It is laid out as if he is talking to you in a bar.(Not that there is anything wrong with that!) If you took out "ass", as in "needed to calm her ass down" or "really frosted my ass" and took out the slang and vernacular (the word "man" as in "It was a good hike, man" which appears hundreds of times) it would tighten up the narrative significantly. The shift in time tense within paragraphs is annoying. The tendency to bring up then drop a topic - discussion of not being able to get off the boat due to exit visa problems, then headed for a local bar without explaining how the visa issue was resolved. And finally, the lack of fact checking. In the early part upon his arrival he mentions Florida State College being in Gainesville, but Florida State is in Tallahassee. It's biggest rival and the largest in the state is the University of Florida in Gainesville. One does not have to live here long to know that. Also the highways taken to South Florida are incorrect. Steve makes the statement that the most common swear word in the English language is an acronym meaning "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge". Not true - check snopes, Germanic in origin, been around in English since the 15th century and nearly all words that result from an acronym are from the 20th.

Still, an interesting tale and a lot of adventures so certainly worthy from that point of view. Next time around, get a good editor and try again. By the way, for all the mention of photography in the book, some pictures would have been nice!

[Julie Richardson]

Just read for a second time a great book by a friend of mine! Entertaining story; fun to read.