John Thomas “Jack” Andrews lived a very full and colourful life, with much of it spent on the open seas. Living as a merchant seaman on various vessels, he travelled back and forth between Canada and the Caribbean. His life was frequently impacted by what he liked to refer to as the “stupid gene,” something he was apparently born with and which often led him into trouble and misadventure—though it never failed to amuse him. In this fascinating, often hilarious memoir, shared via short stories, sketches, and photographs, Jack brings us right along with him—into trouble and out of it—as he looks back on his life with fond affection. In these pages he describes the trials and tribulations of his early days, in the forties and fifties, growing up in Kitchener, Ontario, and his many (mis)adventures on the high seas.