The Ordinary Seaman
Esteban is nineteen years old but already a veteran from the Nicaraguan war in the 1990s. He meets Bernardo, an older married man, at the airport in Managua, while waiting for a flight to New York City. These two and a dozen other Nicaraguans have been hired to work as seamen on the freighter Urus. Bernardo had been a waiter aboard freight ships before, but Esteban and several of the others have had no experience as seamen.
So they are not as disillusioned as Bernardo when they board the inoperative ship docked at a desolate Brooklyn pier. The Urus has no electricity, dark cells for cabins, and only a Bunsen burner for cooking meals, if and when they have food. Bernardo predicts, "When that statue [of Liberty] walks, chavalos, this ship will sail."
Captain Elias and his first mate Mark visit the ship daily to begin with, but don't always bring food. Things get worse when they tell the crew that the ship's owner will not pay their wages until the Urus is seaworthy. This discourages them, but when they try to escape their imprisonment and go ashore one night, they are beaten and robbed on the deserted pier, within sight of the ship.
Esteban, however, when he can't sleep at night, sneaks off the ship safely to explore the harbor, often stealing items and opening them when he's back on ship. The stolen goods are often useless but the crew look forward to Esteban's surprises.
Only John, a Ship's Visitor at the Brooklyn harbor, can offer the crew assistance in their food and clothing. He also attempts to get them back to their homes in Nicaragua.
Goldman's characters are all essential and he develops them skillfully. Esteban relives a romance, Bernardo shows a father's cynicism, Captain Elias and the first mate suffer failure, and the Ship's Visitor exhibits the only hint of optimism.
Goldman's novel is based on a number of unusual incidents that he witnessed, but the stories he creates from the incidents expose graphic elements that seem almost truer than life.
The Ordinary Seaman is Francisco Goldman's second novel and it was published in 1997.