The study entailed a statistical survey of the global labour market as revealed in crewing patterns and ethnographic research aboard ship to examine the structures, social dynamics and institutional contexts of transnational seafarers' communities. This data collection comprises transcripts of interviews with seafarers of all ranks and of 20 nationalities, forming the crews of 14 ships. All ships were engaged upon international wages and the interviews were conducted by 'resident' researchers, living aboard for periods of between 12 days and 3 months. Condition of labour, family, globalisation, labour market, seafarers, life history, race, seafaring labour force, work history.