Take the Star Road was been readable. Parts seem stilted, but not a show stopper.
It's depiction of the merchant marine shows the author's military background and lack of background in the merchant marine.
On the plus sides - he got crew sizes reasonable. A 500 meter long, and 80 meter by 80 meter cross section with a crew of 40. One person to a room, which is pretty normal for modern real world merchant ships.
Down sides - military ranks and terms. The ship's bosun is a warrant officer - although so far the book hasn't said what sovereign has issued the warrant. The regular officers are commissioned officers - again, a military term. Merchant officers are licensed (US) or certificated (UK). They don't hold a commision from a government. The other crew members have Navy style ranks - Spacer 3rd, Bosun's mate, etc. For a small crew the potential range of ranks is pretty wide.
The main character, Steve Maxwell is signed on as an Apprentice. The ship he is on rarely has an apprentice, but he manages to get berth. I find that odd. Real world ships sail with the minimum number of permanent crew - either they'd normally carry an apprentice or never. While a ship will sail short handed, it's not the norm. For hundreds of years ships have carried an entry level person - it being the way new people are trained. I don't see a ship not having an apprentice for most trips, and then being willing to take one on for the story.
Historically, UK ships were required to carry at least one apprentice. For US ships it was a required number of entry level in each department.
Crewing - single cook for 40 people, but there is apparently really good cleaning automation. The cleaning automation is explicitly mentioned, so one cook is probably reasonable.
Gripping hand - uniforms. He's using the US merchant marine wreath, but it's in gold for the Bosun. I'd expect gold to be for officers, and if the Bosun wore it, it would be in silver at best.
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