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paul_cornelius's review against another edition
5.0
The Wreck of the Mary Deare is likely Hammond Innes' most famous and successful work, helped in part by the feature film made just three years after the novel's publication. It opens with thrills and adventure and never really stops. Even a lengthy courtroom scene covering the middle of the story works only to enhance tension and suspense. And all the while, it is probably Innes' most intense character study, in particular of Gideon Patch through the eyes of John Sands, who boards the Mary Deare, an ancient dead in the water wreck of a freighter, only to find Patch as the sole survivor of a mysterious incident in which the entire crew has abandoned the ship.
Innes' own love of the sea comes through in this work. His writing leaves just enough detail and use of nautical descriptions to attest to his expertise, while not alienating readers with only a cursory knowledge of the sea and ships. Some of the imagery is startling. I doubt there is another sea story that will ever match Innes' description of Patch's and Sands' escape through the Minkies, the shelf or rocks that dot the English Channel just south of Jersey. Sucked into this maelstrom at high tide, the water level then drops 30 to 40 feet, forcing the pair out of their dinghy and into a wild rush across the now dry patch of sand, gravel, and stone--only to be caught just six hours later by the rising tide and made to swim one last desperate mile to safety. I don't think Innes ever managed a better passage.
A note about the film version: it brought together two major stars, Gary Cooper as Patch and Charlton Heston as Sands, along with a third soon-to-be major star, Richard Harris as the villainous Higgins. It is also notable because the film had Eric Ambler as its screenwriter. Thus was Britain's preeminent postwar adventure writer, Innes, teamed up in a way with its most important writer of political thrillers and adventure mysteries, Ambler. But for the unsatisfying turn to a scuba diving story at the end, in place of the race across the Minkies, the film holds up well as a comparison to the novel.
Innes' own love of the sea comes through in this work. His writing leaves just enough detail and use of nautical descriptions to attest to his expertise, while not alienating readers with only a cursory knowledge of the sea and ships. Some of the imagery is startling. I doubt there is another sea story that will ever match Innes' description of Patch's and Sands' escape through the Minkies, the shelf or rocks that dot the English Channel just south of Jersey. Sucked into this maelstrom at high tide, the water level then drops 30 to 40 feet, forcing the pair out of their dinghy and into a wild rush across the now dry patch of sand, gravel, and stone--only to be caught just six hours later by the rising tide and made to swim one last desperate mile to safety. I don't think Innes ever managed a better passage.
A note about the film version: it brought together two major stars, Gary Cooper as Patch and Charlton Heston as Sands, along with a third soon-to-be major star, Richard Harris as the villainous Higgins. It is also notable because the film had Eric Ambler as its screenwriter. Thus was Britain's preeminent postwar adventure writer, Innes, teamed up in a way with its most important writer of political thrillers and adventure mysteries, Ambler. But for the unsatisfying turn to a scuba diving story at the end, in place of the race across the Minkies, the film holds up well as a comparison to the novel.
fictionfan's review against another edition
5.0
Worse things happen at sea…
The little sailing boat Sea Witch is crossing the Channel one night, when suddenly a large ship looms out of the darkness and nearly rams her. The crew of the Sea Witch are planning to start a new business venture as salvagers and when they realise the ship may have been abandoned the skipper, John Sands, who is also our narrator, sees this as a possible salvage opportunity. So despite the fact that a storm is approaching, he decides to board the ship, the Mary Deare, to see whether they can bring it to harbour. But when he gets aboard, he finds the badly damaged ship is not completely abandoned – its captain, Gideon Patch, is there, exhausted and drunk and on the point of giving up hope. The storm hits, and Sands is unable to get back to the Sea Witch, so he and Patch are left to try to prevent the Mary Deare from sinking before help arrives. But what has caused the damage to the Mary Deare? And why has her crew, all but Patch, abandoned her? Sands finds himself caught up in a mystery as well as an adventure…
Hammond Innes was a big name in adventure writing in the last century, with a long career spanning from the 1930s to the 1990s. I’m sure I probably read some in my youth, but if so they’ve long faded from my mind. This one dates from 1956. The entire plot involves sailing – both big and small ships – and is full of nautical terminology and information about sea conditions, tides, and so on. Innes was apparently a keen sailor himself and clearly knows his stuff, and has the happy knack of not dumbing his knowledge down but still managing to keep the unknowledgable reader, like me, following in his wake. The story takes place mostly in the Minquiers, a cluster of reefs, rocks and tiny islets off the shores of the Channel Islands.
The story is divided into three parts, roughly speaking, with the first and last being adventures on the sea and aboard the Mary Deare, while the middle section involves the official court inquiry into what happened aboard. The adventures are exciting, though I did wonder if even strong experienced men could really have survived some of the physical ordeals Hammond puts them through.
The court case is what gives the adventure its plot. The Mary Deare has had a run of bad luck, firstly with the captain dying unexpectedly, so that Patch, who had only joined the ship in its last port, is thrust into the role of captain. A man is missing, a representative of the ship’s owners, and it is presumed he must have fallen overboard. Then there’s a fire which cuts off ship-to-shore communications, and finally an explosion in the cargo hold, breaching the hull. But are these things all accidents, or is there a nefarious plan afoot? The crew claim Patch ordered them to take to the lifeboats and make for shore, but Patch denies this, counter-claiming that they effectively mutinied under the direction of another crewman, Higgins. Then there are rumours that something dodgy went on the last time the ship was in harbour – that the supposed cargo of aero-engines had been secretly transferred to another ship. Patch, whose career and reputation are on the line, believes the only thing to do is to salvage the wreck and examine the cargo, and he ropes in Sands and the Sea Witch to help him.
The writing is perfectly attuned to the style of the story, with great descriptions of the sea and the storms, the conditions aboard the Mary Deare, how Patch and Sands go about trying to get the engines going again, and so on. The adventure sections have a real atmosphere of tension for the most part, though I felt the final section went on a bit too long – by that stage I was ready for the plot to be brought to its conclusion.
The courtroom scenes are slower, but I enjoyed the way Innes laid out all the conflicting evidence and gave us contrasting pictures of the various crew members. We see it all through the eyes of John Sands, who, like the reader, has no knowledge of any of these men other than what they themselves tell us. Therefore, like us, Sands has to make a judgment as to whether Patch is the victim of a conspiracy or is himself the saboteur.
I listened to the audio book version, narrated by Bill Wallis, and for the most part it’s excellent. The exception is when Patch is drunk and Wallace acts this out, slurring his words. This made it very difficult for me to make out what Patch was saying, and several times I had to rewind and listen twice or three times to the same sentence. Happily Patch sobers up eventually and the problem went away. But I do wish narrators would remember that clarity is the prime essential in audiobooks, however much they may want to show off their acting skills.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this sea adventure and I'm looking forward to checking out some more of Innes’ books in the future, either in audio or print. 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
The little sailing boat Sea Witch is crossing the Channel one night, when suddenly a large ship looms out of the darkness and nearly rams her. The crew of the Sea Witch are planning to start a new business venture as salvagers and when they realise the ship may have been abandoned the skipper, John Sands, who is also our narrator, sees this as a possible salvage opportunity. So despite the fact that a storm is approaching, he decides to board the ship, the Mary Deare, to see whether they can bring it to harbour. But when he gets aboard, he finds the badly damaged ship is not completely abandoned – its captain, Gideon Patch, is there, exhausted and drunk and on the point of giving up hope. The storm hits, and Sands is unable to get back to the Sea Witch, so he and Patch are left to try to prevent the Mary Deare from sinking before help arrives. But what has caused the damage to the Mary Deare? And why has her crew, all but Patch, abandoned her? Sands finds himself caught up in a mystery as well as an adventure…
Hammond Innes was a big name in adventure writing in the last century, with a long career spanning from the 1930s to the 1990s. I’m sure I probably read some in my youth, but if so they’ve long faded from my mind. This one dates from 1956. The entire plot involves sailing – both big and small ships – and is full of nautical terminology and information about sea conditions, tides, and so on. Innes was apparently a keen sailor himself and clearly knows his stuff, and has the happy knack of not dumbing his knowledge down but still managing to keep the unknowledgable reader, like me, following in his wake. The story takes place mostly in the Minquiers, a cluster of reefs, rocks and tiny islets off the shores of the Channel Islands.
The story is divided into three parts, roughly speaking, with the first and last being adventures on the sea and aboard the Mary Deare, while the middle section involves the official court inquiry into what happened aboard. The adventures are exciting, though I did wonder if even strong experienced men could really have survived some of the physical ordeals Hammond puts them through.
The court case is what gives the adventure its plot. The Mary Deare has had a run of bad luck, firstly with the captain dying unexpectedly, so that Patch, who had only joined the ship in its last port, is thrust into the role of captain. A man is missing, a representative of the ship’s owners, and it is presumed he must have fallen overboard. Then there’s a fire which cuts off ship-to-shore communications, and finally an explosion in the cargo hold, breaching the hull. But are these things all accidents, or is there a nefarious plan afoot? The crew claim Patch ordered them to take to the lifeboats and make for shore, but Patch denies this, counter-claiming that they effectively mutinied under the direction of another crewman, Higgins. Then there are rumours that something dodgy went on the last time the ship was in harbour – that the supposed cargo of aero-engines had been secretly transferred to another ship. Patch, whose career and reputation are on the line, believes the only thing to do is to salvage the wreck and examine the cargo, and he ropes in Sands and the Sea Witch to help him.
The writing is perfectly attuned to the style of the story, with great descriptions of the sea and the storms, the conditions aboard the Mary Deare, how Patch and Sands go about trying to get the engines going again, and so on. The adventure sections have a real atmosphere of tension for the most part, though I felt the final section went on a bit too long – by that stage I was ready for the plot to be brought to its conclusion.
The courtroom scenes are slower, but I enjoyed the way Innes laid out all the conflicting evidence and gave us contrasting pictures of the various crew members. We see it all through the eyes of John Sands, who, like the reader, has no knowledge of any of these men other than what they themselves tell us. Therefore, like us, Sands has to make a judgment as to whether Patch is the victim of a conspiracy or is himself the saboteur.
I listened to the audio book version, narrated by Bill Wallis, and for the most part it’s excellent. The exception is when Patch is drunk and Wallace acts this out, slurring his words. This made it very difficult for me to make out what Patch was saying, and several times I had to rewind and listen twice or three times to the same sentence. Happily Patch sobers up eventually and the problem went away. But I do wish narrators would remember that clarity is the prime essential in audiobooks, however much they may want to show off their acting skills.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this sea adventure and I'm looking forward to checking out some more of Innes’ books in the future, either in audio or print. 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
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