I owe thanks to David Southwood for introducing me to the Beachboys, and for encouraging me to go ahead when our collaborative work came to an end. I am also grateful to Dave for permitting me to use his powerful images in this book at no cost.
I have Ingeborg Pelser to thank for convincing me there was a book to be written, and for making this a contractual reality. When Ingeborg departed Jonathan Ball Publishers Ester Levinrad drove this project with care and enthusiasm, and her valuable insights helped transform a dossier into a work of crafted non-fiction. Hedley Twidle and Anna Hartford also provided excellent feedback on the manuscript, twice. Thanks also to Kerri von Geusau and Tammy Joubert, who read and reported back on early drafts. I would also like to mention Angela Voges, who edited the manuscript with great skill and feeling.
Able Seaman-turned-academic Amaha Senu, who heard many of these Beachboys tales from the Beachboys themselves, answered many questions about the seafarers’ experiences of stowaways, in addition to providing me with valuable source materials. I am also thankful to Benyam Bouyalew for allowing me to summarise his published life story, Benyam, and to use his ‘stowaway tips’.
The idea to divide the book into the seasons of a year came from Tom Devriendt, who organised an early article of mine this way. I also owe thanks to Tanya Pampalone, Billy Kahora, Carlos Amato, the team at African Cities Reader and Anton Harber for publishing and supporting my early articles about the Beachboys.
In Tanzania, thanks to Ian Boyd, and also Tania and Hamish Hamilton, for beds and meals and other forms of support.
Final thanks must go to my parents, Brian and Shirley Christie, who helped in so many ways, and most of all to my wife, Andret, whose support for this project kept me going.