This site is the home of Steeled, a nautical memoir written by the late Captain Salim Chida. We recently concluded a second draft of his manuscript.
We will be querying publishers in the near future. Please subscribe to get updates.
- Man Overboard
An excerpt from the chapter, Man Overboard. We loaded steel coils and set sail for Port Klang in Malaysia. At Port Dampier in northwest Australia, we took a full load of bulk iron ore destined for Kaohsiung in Taiwan. There, we had a change in the crew. The Radio Officer left and was replaced by - The Handwritten Manuscript
These are the notebooks containing Captain Chida’s original manuscript that were then typed up in a second pass. A couple other documents are shared here amongst several he had in storage. - Growlers in Newfoundland
An excerpt from the chapter Growlers in Newfoundland. The Panama Canal transit is a beautiful experience. The canal uses a rail-based system that uses electric locomotives called “mules” which are essentially rail-based tugs to move ships from higher sea levels to lower and vice versa while also guiding them through the chambers and keeping them - This Poem by Noel Payne
My father came across it in a whatsapp message from one of his retired mates. He liked it and asked me if it would be good to include in the book. I said I would look into it. I’ve pasted the poem below. It is available on various web sites. But I can’t find enough - Fight
The following is an excerpt from the chapter titled Fight. There was this one time when we had a visiting magician at school. I was sitting on the bleachers in the school auditorium watching the magic show when an older student started to kick me from behind. He was sitting higher and the toe of - The Chapters
The 52,000 word manuscript is divided into two parts. The first part has 22 chapters of a total of 61. Many chapters are just 1-3 pages in length. A couple are longer, up to 7 or 10 pages. Here is a list of the chapter headings.