Our Bestseller. Lives and Work at Sea: Herbert Holdsworth, Colin Hannah, and the Ship Ladakh, by William L.H. Scarratt. Throughout its history, the British merchant marine often employed people from the same extended families, and it was not uncommon to have brothers or cousins working together on the same ship. Until now, however, relatively little has been written to provide an accurate account of the working lives of families and ships engaged in the ocean-going trade of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.