Palliser Bay in Fremantle, Western Australia, October 2001.This ship is a standard type for a larger container ship, with cargo carried fore and aft, and no cranes. Note the Australian Pelican Pelecanus conspicillatus in the foreground. David K. Ballancereader glancing through the volumes of British Birds published during the interwar years will soon notice the number of papers and notes based on observations from passenger ships. This was also the era of the first field guide to world seabirds (Alexander 1928), soundly based on experience gained during passages in liners. After 1945, the growth of cheap air travel eventually forced these ships from service, and with them went the opportunities for ornithologists to record seabirds outside the European waters covered by the ferry network. These opportunities still exist for observers in the naval and merchant services, but the numbers of such recorders have shrunk greatly in recent decades. Passengers on cruise ships can contribute records, butthe most popular destinations for such journeys, such as the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, are rather restricted in their variety of seabirds, and cruise organisers tend to avoid subjecting customers to long sea-passages, the emphasis being on the number of ports visited in a short period, although round-the-world voyages still take place. Soper (1989) provided a good survey of what can be seen on well-known cruise routes. Apart from the increasing number of one-day `pelagic' trips, it is only in the polar regions that new opportunities have opened В­ at a price В­ for