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Great Sea Stories
"Joseph Conrad (Youth); William McFee (The Reluctant Hero); Joshua Slocum (Seventy-two Days Without a Port); Morley Roberts (The Captain of the Ullswater); Angus MacDonald (Ordeal); Sir Ernest Shackleton (The Boat Journey); Alan Villiers (The Saptains from Ilhavo); Sir James Bisset (A Frigid Reception); Felix Riesenberg (Christmas Day on teh High Seas); Jan De Hartog (Skipper Next to God); Kenneth Hardman (The Advantages of Seafaring); Hugh Popham (First Deck Landing); Joseph Conrad (The Character of the Foe)."
255 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1959
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August 24, 2014
This anthology varies greatly in content quality. While Alan Villiers claims he's picked the best sea stories he knows, I wonder if a few of these are just fillers to pad out the book.
Joseph Conrad's Youth and The Character of the Foe - which bookend the anthology - are both interesting reads, and well written. One can easily understand Villiers' breathless enthusiasm in his introductions - Conrad could write, and these stories show it.
McFee's The Reluctant Hero is more of a newspaper narrative, but a pretty stirring one. Joshua Slocum's Seventy-two Days Without A Port is far less interesting, and feels self-indulgent.
Easting Down by F. C. Henry is another good one, as is Morley Roberts' The Captain of the Ullswater, and Angus MacDonald's Ordealis gripping, told in that stripped down, matter-of-fact way that seems to be common in survivors of World War Two.
Shackleton's account of his sea-crossing to South Georgia manages to be a gripping tale despite its rather flat prose, and keeps me interested the whole way through.
Alan Villiers' own contribution to the anthology - The Captains of Ilhavo - is the exact opposite; repetitive, confusing and largely pointless.
Bisset and Riesenberg's stories aren't bad - they just feel very disjointed and out of context. Hartog's Skipper Next to God and Hardman's The Advantages of Seafaring dovetail quite nicely, both in theme and style, and Popham's account of landing a plane on an aircraft carrier reads well enough, but is hardly memorable.
On the whole, this is a fairly middle-of-the-road anthology, even for someone like me, who has a soft spot for sea-themed stories.
Joseph Conrad's Youth and The Character of the Foe - which bookend the anthology - are both interesting reads, and well written. One can easily understand Villiers' breathless enthusiasm in his introductions - Conrad could write, and these stories show it.
McFee's The Reluctant Hero is more of a newspaper narrative, but a pretty stirring one. Joshua Slocum's Seventy-two Days Without A Port is far less interesting, and feels self-indulgent.
Easting Down by F. C. Henry is another good one, as is Morley Roberts' The Captain of the Ullswater, and Angus MacDonald's Ordealis gripping, told in that stripped down, matter-of-fact way that seems to be common in survivors of World War Two.
Shackleton's account of his sea-crossing to South Georgia manages to be a gripping tale despite its rather flat prose, and keeps me interested the whole way through.
Alan Villiers' own contribution to the anthology - The Captains of Ilhavo - is the exact opposite; repetitive, confusing and largely pointless.
Bisset and Riesenberg's stories aren't bad - they just feel very disjointed and out of context. Hartog's Skipper Next to God and Hardman's The Advantages of Seafaring dovetail quite nicely, both in theme and style, and Popham's account of landing a plane on an aircraft carrier reads well enough, but is hardly memorable.
On the whole, this is a fairly middle-of-the-road anthology, even for someone like me, who has a soft spot for sea-themed stories.
Displaying 1 of 1 review