Books Review – Cuban Trader

Added by Patty Smith on October 12, 2012.
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Cuban Trader by Roger Asquith

ROGER ASQUITH trained as a Marine Radio Officer in London and set sail around the world on British, Australian and Swedish vessels and finally the hell ship known as the Cuban Trader. He then went on to become a cameraman for the CBC in Canada and on to Hollywood where he started writing for magazines and founded the Hollywood News Service.

This is an autobiographical novel of the Cuban Revolution, a murderous captain and a mutinous crew and their challenges while carrying hot molasses from Cuba to Philadelphia.

I found this a tough one to start. It is quite graphic in the descriptions of what happens to the young East German refugees that sign on to what they think is going to be a better life away from their past, only to find that they now work for a former Nazi U-boat officer and are sexually abused by the officer in charge of them.

Roger befriends his fellow officer, an American, Richard, and they find themselves caught in the middle of the revolution in Cuba where they are thrown in jail. The jail is rat-infested and they are forced to witness torture, gang rape and executions.

The story of their escapades and their eventual very close escape which includes gold bars, mutiny and a shipwreck, is a good one in itself and makes the book worth a read.

Cuban Trader is available through Amazon in paperback and e-book formats. ISBN 978-0615682921.

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