An unusual blend of cargo freight, holiday-making passengers and government officials, the combination cargo-passenger ship is an oddity now all but relegated to the past. In its heyday, however, royals such as Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, were known to travel by `banana boat' to the Caribbean.

Ships such as Fyffes Line's Golfito would stop at Trinidad, Barbados and Kingston to load up with bananas, whilst passengers would make the most of the exotic setting. Carrying between 50 and 100 passengers with anything up to 10,000 tons of cargo, these ships were both working freighters as well as elegant cruise-like ships, renowned for their intimate, yacht-like atmosphere.

William Miller is the author of ninety books on passenger ships and is an acknowledged world expert on the subject. Told with affection, this nostalgic insight into the world of passenger-cargo ships brings to life, in full colour, the magnificent ships and passengers from the golden age of interoceanic travel.