The Ghost Pirates

by William Hope Hodgson

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: Horror, Classics, Fiction, Pirates, Fantasy, Weird Fiction, Mystery

146 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1909

About the author

William Hope Hodgson was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror, fantastic fiction, and science fiction. Early in his writing career he dedicated effort to poetry, although few of his poems were published during his lifetime. He also attracted some notice as a photographer and achieved some renown as a bodybuilder. Hodgson served with the British Army durng World War One. He died, at age 40, at Ypres, killed by German artillery fire.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

In The Ghost Pirates as well as in his The Boats of the “Glen Carrig” and The House on the Borderland William Hope Hodgson cares least about plausibility thus the novels read as some picturesque accounts of mental cases and constitute a weird trilogy of phantasmagorical occurrences. To me it’s what makes them especially inimitable.
The narrator begins his tale reporting of his signing on a ship about which strange rumors circulated all around… And quite soon he has his first odd vision…

…abruptly, away aft, my rather sleepy gaze had lighted on something altogether extraordinary and outrageous. It was nothing less than the form of a man stepping inboard over the starboard rail, a little abaft the main rigging. I stood up, and caught at the handrail, and stared.

At first everyone thinks it’s just imagination… Then the unknown danger becomes apparent… And fear of the unknown is paralyzing…

I was wrenched at with a brutal ferocity that appalled me. I said nothing, but lashed out into the night with my left foot. It is queer, but I cannot say with certainty that I struck anything; I was too downright desperate with funk, to be sure; and yet it seemed to me that my foot encountered something soft, that gave under the blow.

Some enigmatic phenomena we observe are in the world without and some are in the world within.

[Henry Avila · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something strange about the sailing ship the Mortzestus, people in hush voices give hints on the beach to him in San Francisco at the turn of the century, ( 20th that is) but do not say what, it does feel vaguely uneasy when Mr. Jessop signs on board, rumors or no rumors he misses home, England still baffling though why all the previous crew has deserted the vessel, even the officers except one, young Williams a British man who wants to be paid and he tells the curious sailor, too many shadows seen... They head south on the long voyage around the horn, the stormy tip of South America ( no Panama Canal then) back to Britain if all goes well, things at first do until a weird mist appears, it engulfs the ship and quickly leaves then a hand falls off the Mast crashing on the distant deck below, smashing his body into oblivion...word spreads this ship is haunted, sounds heard vague images of the unreal seen by the unbelievers most of the sailors laugh it off as silliness not Mr. Jessop, he has viewed them too many times, things coming on board out of the sea over the rails . Nevertheless these apparitions continue more accidents occur, then on watch in a quiet night Jessop sees a green light nearby another ship signaling? Tells the second mate Mr.Tulipson, pointing at the object but it fades away this happens three times, the officer thinks the sleepy man was dreaming or is going insane sends him down to his bunk and replaced by another. In an earlier incident he looks at an ominous phantom ship passing by, lets go of the wheel and the vessel completely turns around, traveling on the opposite direction north instead of south, the alert angry captain called here the "old man " is justifiably furious, curses the discombobulated Jessop, he the dazed man quietly goes into the darkness to his bed...This is unreal there has to be an explanation , ghosts are not anything but fairy tales told by those who like to scare people and enjoy them...The weather has been unusually calm light breezes hit the sails, the seas too, waves not high this should be a the perfect trip yet oddly, no other ships are seen in the busy shipping lanes... He Jessop tells the captain and the second mate his wild theory of what's going on, backed up by another sailor they do not laugh now, the countless deadly episodes , are too fresh on everyone's minds... This fine voyage into the unknown, by this talented writer is for the readers who love strange, macabre, ghostly tales and like to read at night with just a small light on alone, suspend reality and believe in the unbelievable....it won't harm you, well not too much...the mind is resilient.

[Eloy Cryptkeeper · Rating 3 out of 5]

"—Sospecho que este barco tiene una predisposición especial a ser abordado por esas cosas —le expliqué—. Realmente no sé qué tipo de seres son. En muchos aspectos se parecen a los hombres. Pero… bueno, sólo Dios sabe qué misterios se ocultan en el mar. No tengo ni la más remota idea de si están hechos de carne y hueso, o de si son lo que nosotros llamaríamos espíritus o fantasmas…
Pienso, como ya te he dicho antes, que este buque está abierto… expuesto, desguarnecido, o como prefieras llamarlo. Yo diría que no es muy descabellado pensar que entre las cosas del mundo material y las del que no lo es hay, por decirlo así, una especie de barrera, y que, en algunos casos, este muro se puede romper. Y eso es lo que creo que le está sucediendo a este barco. Y si estoy en lo cierto, es posible que se encuentre desvalido ante el asedio de seres que pertenecen a otro estado de existencia"


Una historia que bebe parcialmente de mitos y leyendas como las del Mary Celest o El Holandés Errante. Y que a su vez representa un hito dentro de las historias sobrenaturales marítimas
Es evidente la influencia que representa esta historia en otros autores, en diferentes novelas, películas etc. Ciertos conceptos y detalles son bastante interesantes. Sin embargo creo que el paso del tiempo no le asentó muy bien y perdió un poco de fuerza.

El autor hace alarde de sus conocimientos marítimos, ya que fue marinero. Y si bien la edición posee un glosario, por lo cual no hay problemas de interpretación, pero igualmente por momentos se vuelve excesivo y repetitivo en la terminología.

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 3 out of 5]

E poi disse una cosa che mi sorprese. «Ci sono troppe ombre su questa nave. Danno sui nervi come nient’altro che abbia mai visto.» Parlò tutto d’un fiato, senza riflettere, e io mi voltai a guardarlo. «Troppe ombre!», dissi. «Che diavolo vuoi dire?» Ma lui rifiutò di dare spiegazioni o di dirmi dell’altro.

I pirati fantasma è un romanzo breve di William Hope Hodgson pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1909, in cui un marinaio di nome Jessop racconta la sua terrificante disavventura a bordo della nave Mortzestus, imbarcazione dalla pessima fama, durante un viaggio da incubo che si concluderà nel peggiore dei modi per il vascello ed i suoi occupanti, tra nebbie malevole che oscurano la rotta e misteriose ed indistinte figure spettrali che salgono a bordo dal mare nel cuore della notte, eliminando uno ad uno i membri dell’equipaggio.

Ero deciso, se fosse stato possibile, a convincerlo che si era sbagliato nel credere di aver visto qualcosa quella notte. Eppure, dopo tutto, fu inutile, come vedrete tra poco. Perché, due notti dopo, si ebbe un ulteriore e straordinario sviluppo della faccenda, che rese del tutto inutili i miei dinieghi.

Un gran bel racconto classico di orrore marittimo dal quale letteratura e cinematografia hanno attinto successivamente a piene mani, con un'atmosfera impeccabile di terrore crescente fino alla sua tragica conclusione.

Le tre notti successive trascorsero tranquillamente e poi, la quarta notte, tutti quegli strani presagi e indizi culminarono improvvisamente in qualcosa di orribile. Eppure, tutto era stato così sottile e impalpabile e, in effetti, era così il fatto in se stesso, che solo quelli che avevano conosciuto veramente la paura, furono in grado di comprendere il terrore dell’evento.

Peccato per qualche piccolo refuso in questa edizione che mi è rimasto sullo stomaco come cavoli a merenda, e per quella narrazione in prima persona di cui non sono mai stato troppo appassionato, la quale finisce per smorzare in gran parte la tensione del racconto, anticipando al lettore fin dall’inizio che il suo protagonista finirà col sopravvivere alla sua odissea.

«Penso che dovresti dire tutto questo al Secondo Ufficiale», disse. «Se è veramente come dici tu, la nave dovrebbe essere portata al porto più vicino, e bruciata.»

Lo stesso dicasi per le descrizioni appena abbozzate di ogni personaggio, a cui fa da contrappunto una serie infinita di termini tecnici marittimi il cui significato oscilla tra il familiare e lo sconosciuto propendendo spesso e volentieri verso quest’ultimo.

Come ho già detto, la notte seguente accadde qualcosa. E fece sentire a me, e forse a ogni altro, che a bordo esisteva un pericolo per tutti noi.

Tutto sommato una lettura più che piacevole dove traspare tutto quell’amore dell’autore per l’avventura ed il mare, che lo avevano spinto ad imbarcarsi come mozzo in gioventù, per poi trasformarsi in una vera e propria repulsione dovuta ai maltrattamenti e disagi patiti a bordo nel corso dei suoi viaggi, ripercuotendosi nella tetra atmosfera di questo racconto.
Vidi che era un revolver e che egli stesso ne aveva un altro. Mi accorsi che lo infilava nella tasca laterale della giubba. Il Secondo Ufficiale mantenne per un attimo la pistola, guardandola con espressione dubbiosa. «Non penso, Signore…», cominciò a dire. Ma il Comandante lo interruppe bruscamente. «Non si sa mai!», disse. «Mettetela in tasca.»

Di Hodgson mi era decisamente piaciuto di più La casa sull’abisso, ma ricordandone davvero poco e niente dovrò prima o poi rileggerlo.



Staccai una lanterna da un pennone, e indirizzai la luce verso l’ombra, ma non c’era più niente. Ma nella mia mente, immagino, rimaneva la visione strana di occhi scrutatori e umidi: quando li ricordai, li sentii violentissimi. Capii allora quanto fossero brutali… imperscrutabili.

Colonna sonora suggerita: John Carpenter - The Fog (Main Title Theme)

Tre stelle e mezzo.

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ghost Pirates by William Hope Hodgson is a classic horror, sea-adventure, pirate tale that is best grouped with stories from writers like Lovecraft, Bierce, Machen, and Blackwood: creators of the horror subgenre called "the weird." Here, the seafarers are aboard a ship rumored to contain ghosts, and consequently, they experience all manner of phenomena reminiscent of the supernatural. The story is told in first person by one of the sailors who is just a little more attentive than his shipmates. When he communicates his fears, as with every horror story ever, he is met with doubt and derision. Noteworthy for all horror fans, regardless of your bent, many horror tropes that have become cliche can be traced to this novel. I can remember many of my favorite horror comics from the EC era swiping whole parts of this novel for the quick horror beats incorporated. I am not a big fan of the weird, but I can appreciate this novel for inspiring many more traditional horror ideas. This needs to be celebrated more.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good short novel of slowly built tension and quiet horror set at sea, as were so many of Hodgson's best works. His knowledge of shipboard life and procedures is quite engrossing, and though he does tend to use nautical terms that were only vaguely understood by me I was able to keep abreast of what was happening through context. I thought it was interesting that the nature of the macabre apparitions was never fully explained, and that the details were covered up by the survivors, much like the UFO incidents later in the century. It's a great spooky read... or listen, rather, since I listened to the excellent Librivox version.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Hope Hodgson's first published novel, "The Boats of the Glen Carrig" (1907), is a story of survival after a disaster at sea, and of the monstrous plant and animal life-forms that the survivors encountered while trying to reach home. In his second book, the now-classic "The House on the Borderland" (1908), Hodgson described an old recluse's battle against swine creatures from the bowels of the Earth, and the old man's subsequent cosmic journey through both time and space. And in his third novel, 1909's "The Ghost Pirates," Hodgson returned to that milieu for which eight hard years at sea had provided such an extensive background. The book takes the form of a narrative told by able-bodied seaman Jessop, who had been sailing on the Mortzestus from San Francisco to (what we can only presume to be) England. As its name suggests, the ship has something of the spirit of death about her, and is deemed by most sailors to be unlucky. But surely none of her previous transits had ever gone as badly as the one Jessop describes. Ghostly images seen on the deck at night, and some minor accidents involving sails and rigging, only set the stage for more serious occurrences, and Hodgson soon ratchets up the suspense with some mysterious killings and unexplainable phantasms, all leading up to a murderous attack by the eldritch buccaneers of the title. As in his previous two books, Hodgson masterfully creates an atmosphere of creeping unease. With hardly a wasted word (the whole book runs to less than 140 pages; its very first sentence is "He began without any circumlocution"), Hodgson manages to sustain this jittery feeling over the novel's duration, while also letting us get to know the ship's crew and her officers. Interestingly, the Second Mate is described very sympathetically by Hodgson--he is one of the coolest-headed, most decent characters on board--despite the fact that Hodgson, when a cabin boy at the age of 14, supposedly suffered terrible treatment from his Second Mate. The Second here, Mr. Tulipson, almost strikes one as the idealized officer that Hodgson wishes he'd served under 18 years before.

As a snapshot of what life was really like for the sailors of around 100 years ago, the book is also exemplary. Hodgson, at one time a Third Mate himself, really knew the life inside and out, and his shipboard descriptions smack of authenticity. It would certainly help a modern-day landlubber, when reading "The Ghost Pirates," to have an UNabridged dictionary handy, to look up all the many nautical terms that Hodgson casually dishes out; words such as "futtock shroud," "washboard," "bunt gasket," "jackstay," "clewline," "dogwatch," "taffrail," "crosstree," "ratline," "craneline," "bollard," "paunch mat," "shakings," "jibboom," "spanker boom" and "crossjack." Looking up all these terms will slow the reader down, perhaps, but will also surely repay his or her efforts with a richer, in-depth experience. As a primer of life at sea and as a creepy fantasy of the unexplainable (and I should perhaps mention here that the bizarre happenings in this novel, like those in "The House on the Borderland," are barely explained by the author; some events in this mysterious world, it must be inferred, just cannot be rationalized), "The Ghost Pirates" succeeds marvelously. Though sadly out of print at the current time (like most of the other Hodgson titles), it is well worth seeking out.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atmospheric Haunting!

A small backstory:

Jessop decides to sign with a ship called the Mortzestus but hears rumors that it could be haunted - though quite a few of the crew laugh it off but then when Jessop slowly starts encountering unusual activity for himself is when he becomes a believer. Seeing shadows in places where there should be none and seeing ghosts of men flitting out of the corner of his eye is when he wonders if the rumors are true, but when crewmen start dying in unexplained ways is when things take a spooky turn!

That is about all I can give on a small backstory, so if you want to know more than you will need to read the book!

Thoughts:

Something a little different for me as I don't normally read the older horror classics unless the books are well known. I have had this book on my kindle for about three years and decided to step into it for a challenge in one of my groups.

I am happy that I read it as I was surprised by how quick I became involved in the story as the haunting takes place early on in the book. The story is told in the first person of the character Jessop and what he went through on his journey aboard the ship. First time reading this author though I have a some of his books on my kindle that I need to read eventually. The book was written in 1909 but it holds up well to an atmospheric haunting. I had to get use to the pirate jargon but once the story unfolded it was easy to keep up with what was going on aboard the ship.

I felt that this book was a good comparison to the classic horror movie The Fog - once you have that image in your mind with the pirates and ghost ship then you will be able transport yourself back to pirate days aboard a haunted ship. Giving this book four Supernatural Spooks stars!

[Warren Fournier · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has gotten some perplexing praise as being one of the "tightest" books ever written, "with barely a word wasted." True, the novel is very short. A novella really. But there is so much repetitious drivel and padding, I can't help but feel it would have worked better as a short story. Chapter after chapter consists primarily of the following kind of stuff:

"Sir! I saw something!" he sang out.

"Where?" the second mate sang back.

"Off the port bow!"

"I don't see nothing. You're dotty. Hey, why don't you get a bunch of the crew to climb aloft about the braces and yards for no good reason so they can fall needlessly to their deaths and give the author of our story something to write about other than us sitting on the poop, smoking our pipes, and speaking colorful jargon?"

"We just did that last chapter, Sir."

"That's quite enough out of you, Sailor! Do as you're told."

"Sir!"

"What now?"

"I just saw something!"

"Where?"

And so on. This is the main reason for the middling rating of an otherwise effective chiller that ranks among the best in terms of claustrophobic atmosphere, sense of impending doom, and mystery. Everything takes place on an unlucky packet ship that is slowly commandeered by beings from another dimension, leading to a disorienting and frightening conclusion. I rank this story in creepiness with some of the greatest classic scifi horrors like Campbell's "Who Goes There?"

In fact, this book wraps up a loose trilogy of horror novels that the author designed as early examples of scifi horror rather than the traditional supernatural horror of ghosts and ghouls, following the more infamous "House on the Borderland."

If you're a fan of classic fiction, if you like to scare yourself with non-gory but powerful creepy books, and if you are looking for a quick beach read, this is a good choice for you. I would consider it a near masterpiece of the genre if it weren't so repetitious.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The thing, whatever it was, had come more forward over the rail; but now, before the light, it recoiled with a queer, horrible litheness. It slid back, and down, and so out of sight. I have only a confused notion of a wet glistening Something, and two vile eyes."

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in 1909. A wee slow to start, but holds up very well nonetheless.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow.

I loved the slow-building, claustrophobic atmosphere of dread in this one. It's such a start setting - men at sea on a cargo ship, miles from land. The ship has a bad reputation, and the men soon start to find out why as mysterious lights in the distance, shadowy figures on board, strange shapes below the waves and inexplicable deaths start to pile up. The dense nautical jargon adds to the effect, to the authenticity of the voice and in contrasting the workaday practicality of professional terminology with the outre happenings on board. The events are made more chilling by the narrator's speculations on what is happening and the way they evade conventional supernaturalism for something much more unprecedented and incomprehensible. Characters are picked out in just enough detail - not a lot, to be sure - to make us feel involved in the fate of these men.

All in all, a marvellously paced and controlled tale of the uncanny.

[Antonella Imperiali · Rating 4 out of 5]

...la sensazione che mi prese più forte, era che sott’acqua, tra le ombre del sartiame, qualcosa si muovesse.

Un vascello immerso in una nebbia improvvisa e circondato da acque oscure dalle quali emergono forme e figure ombrose e angoscianti che si muovono tra vele, alberi, coffe, sartie, ponti, quadrati e battagliole, seminando panico e morte tra l’equipaggio. Nemmeno la luce confortevole delle lampade riuscirà a tenere lontane tali presenze; inevitabile un’arrembaggio finale, dagli esiti catastrofici.
Essendo scritto in prima persona, si capisce che ci sarà chi potrà raccontarlo, anche se - sicuramente - nessuno ci crederà.

Una bella sorpresa. Intrigante quanto basta, con picchi di suspense nei momenti giusti, belle descrizioni che creano atmosfere inquietanti e tese.
L’immaginazione ha il suo bel lavoro da fare.
I termini marinareschi non mi hanno agevolata, ciononostante mi sono goduta tutto il racconto.

Ho sempre ritenuto il mare un elemento da temere, questo libro ha confermato (per altre vie) i miei timori.

Nonostante sia stato scritto i primi anni del ‘900, direi che regge bene il tempo.

4 stelle quasi piene.


📖 GRI - Tema del mese (feb/20): il mare
📚 GRI - Monopoli 23
💀 HC 2020 - task 10

[P.E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spooky Spot

'And then the next thing came--the mist.'


This time, we find ourselves aboard a ship plagued by persistent rumours of being renowned to supernatural stowaways... Soon the rumours are too much to be merely talked away...

While the atmosphere is gradually escalating throughout the story, the veritable storm of exposition through seaman lingo and lexicon are the death of momentum and narrative efficience... The ship is much sooner foundering under the deluge of dialogues than it is in the actual story ;)

Some moments truly elicited something akin to excitation, so... 3/5 it is!


Thanks to Extra Seasoned Tar for this nice bit of buddy read! I'm looking forward to the next voyage :)

Soundscape

[Maico Morellini · Rating 4 out of 5]

La cosa più sorprendente dei grandi autori weird (o bizzarri) del passato è quanto il presente sia debitore nei loro confronti. Di William H. Hodgson e dei suoi racconti ho già parlato ma con ‘I Pirati Fantasma’ è arrivata la conferma della particolarità di questo autore.
Il romanzo (o racconto lungo, secondo l’editore ma per struttura e numero di battute secondo me si può guadagnare a buon titolo il nome di romanzo) si svolge a bordo della Mortzestus, una nave che durante il suo viaggio a Capo Horn è teatro di misteriosi accadimenti. Il punto di vista è quello del marinaio Jessop che si imbarca sulla Mortzestus già insospettito dalla strana nomea di ‘nave sfortunata’ che accompagna il vascello. Sospetti questi che sono destinati a diventare certezze quando, durante la notte, lo stesso Jessop vedrà strane figure eteree provenienti dall’oceano salire a bordo della nave. Morti misteriose e altrettanto inspiegabili sparizioni condizioneranno il destino della Mortzestus.
Due sono le caratteristiche principali di questo romanzo. La prima è la grande precisione con la quale Hodgson descrive la vita marinara. In questo attinge a piene mani dalla sua esperienza di mozzo usando termini precisi, descrizioni vivide, nel complesso una affresco talmente dettagliato da disorientare, almeno all’inizio, per l’eccesso di informazioni. La seconda è la capacità di Hodgson di confezionare un storia così originale e visionaria da aver ispirato grandi maestri del cinema e delle letteratura a distanza di decina di anni. Il romanzo è stato scritto intorno al 1909 ma la freschezza delle idee di Hodgson è impressionante: portali sul mondo dei morti, nebbie che impediscono di essere individuati e che nascondono vascelli fantasma.
E’ impossibile non notare che il film ‘The Fog’ (1980) diretto da Carpenter attinge a piene mani dall’immaginario descritto da Hodgson, dalla sua nebbia che nasconde navi spettrali e dalla quale escono pirati eterei ed invincibili.
A sua volta Hodgson recupera alcune leggende marinaresche, come quella dell’Olandese Volante, e le rielabora trasformandole in qualcosa di più occulto e terribile. Attualizzando qualcosa e riuscendo a esprimerlo in modo diretto e moderno.
La battaglia finale tra i pirati fantasma e l’equipaggio della Mortzestus è impressionante per modernità, per tempi e per svolgimento. Deve, secondo me, qualcosa anche alla struttura dei racconti di Poe nei quali gli eventi acceleravano poco alla volta fino a chiudersi in un caleidoscopio di terrore. Pensare che storie come questa sono state scritte più di cento anni fa rende ancora più impietoso il confronto con un certo horror cinematografico tutto incentrato sulla banalità dell’immagine e sulla povertà di atmosfera. Anche questa opera di Hodgson è la conferma di quanto i suoi scritti possano aver influenzato Lovecraft nel trattare il mondo dell’occulto e del sovrannaturale.
Unico difetto? Come accennava l’utilizzo massiccio di termini marinareschi che, almeno all’inizio, può disorientare un po’. Ma sotto certi aspetti questo può anche essere un pregio perchè Hodgson racconta le sue storie senza filtro e vuole a tutti i costi portarci a bordo della Mortzestus, come uno dei marinai protagonisti della storia. In questo non fa sconti e a ben vedere è giusto così.

[Vicki Herbert - Vacation until Jan 2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Crew Said She was Unlucky...

No spoilers. 4 stars. Jessop signed onto the Mortzestus in San Francisco. He had heard that there were some strange yarns about the ship...

But...

The food was good, the treatment was fair and then there was the pay...

Still...

The crewmen said she was unlucky and the passages were long with foul weather. Jessop was willing to take the risk to get home...

Talk among the crew was that there was something amiss about the Mortzestus...

She was haunted...

Yet the crew laughed about these stories; All except the young Cockney Williams. He took the matter seriously...

There were too many shadows on the ship that didn't belong. Was there some truth to these fish tales?...

About shadows boarding the vessel by moonlight then disappearing over the port railings into the sea?...

After several nights of unexplained deaths and mishaps, a rumor went round that there was a Jonah aboard...

Then the mists came...

Bringing ghost ships which were signaling...

This was a good little seafaring tale that put me in mind of John Carpenter's THE FOG.

[Dave Leichter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hodgson is easily one of my favorites. Someone needs to publish an edition of this book that includes a glossary of nautical terms and an accompanying diagram of a ship.

[Andrew “The Weirdling” Glos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn’t really what I was expecting and, because of that, it was better. I expected some sort of nautical ghost story. You know, “ghost pirates” a la Scooby Doo or something like that.

What I found in stead was a sophisticated precursor to the weird fiction movement that culminated in people like Algernon Blackwood and H P Lovecraft and continues to this day in the people like Jeff VanderMeer. It was spooky and creepy. It gives a strong reminder that we know less and 1% of the universe and it is probably much larger and stranger than we imagine.

The author spent a lot of time in his young life on boats and it shows in his superb command of nautical language.

[Stefania · Rating 3 out of 5]

libretto e autore per me sconosciuti ma che si sono rivelati molto carini.
però non leggetelo di sera, io continuo ancora a girarmi indietro per vedere se c'è qualche fantasma alle mie spalle!

[José Nebreda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sigue siendo uno de mis preferidos de Hodgson. Su relectura nunca me defrauda.

[Bbrown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it absolutely unbelievable that William Hope Hodgson wrote The Ghost Pirates a mere two years after he wrote The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig' as the two books differ so much that they seem to be written by entirely different authors. While The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig' was intentionally a bit overwritten, The Ghost Pirates is written in a much more natural style. While The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig' starts in medias res without any gradual escalation of tension, The Ghost Pirates is all about that gradual escalation. While The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig' features the level of weirdness that has allowed Hodgson to stand the test of time, the supernatural elements in The Ghost Pirates are strangely muted. These differences all add up to make the the books feel entirely alien to one another, and I would have never guessed that Hodgson considers these two, along with his most famous work The House on the Borderland, to constitute a trilogy (I actually still can't fathom it).

There is a potential explanation for some of this, however: Sam Gafford, an author that focused on weird fiction, has argued based on certain of Hodgson's personal letters that the publication order for Hodgson's books is the opposite of the writing order. This, on a gut level, makes a lot of sense to me. The Ghost Pirates strikes me as Hodgson trying his hand at a typically structured horror story, written in common parlance with plenty of rising tension. After he finished writing the standard rendition of the tale, he wrote The Boats of the ‘Glen Carrig’ and decided to go in a much stranger direction, tired of writing rising tension he just got right in to it, and he didn’t hold himself back from the bizarre. It is still remarkable how different the two books are from each other, but this trajectory makes sense in a way that the reverse trajectory does not.

To actually speak about The Ghost Pirates, it is a solidly constructed horror story dragged down by certain scenes that lack finesse, as well as the fact that William Hope Hodgson makes some choices that blunt the effect of the horror he’s presenting. The book takes the form of a narrative told by main character Jessop, a sailer on the Mortzestus (with a ship name like that, would anyone really be surprised when it met with misfortune?). Shortly into the journey, Jessop and other sailors start to notice inexplicable events, minor at first, but which quickly ramp up in severity.

The early parts of this novella, where the supernatural events are still small scale, are the parts that I thought were the most effective. Later in the story, however, Jessop engages in a bunch of speculation about the paranormal events the ship is experiencing, and this section is frustrating not only because the character manages to divine the threat the ship is facing by seemingly pulling it out of thin air, but furthermore he does so while side character Tammy says “go on” four times in a row so as to allow Jessop to just dump exposition. It’s very poorly done. The general idea behind the supernatural occurrences is intriguing, and further cements Hodgson as a predecessor to Lovecraft and his ilk, but the particulars of the threat bother me: I really cannot fathom why the “ghost pirates” attacking the ship have human form and sail in the equivalent of period appropriate ships. The whole thing would be better if they were something more alien, given that the narrative already suggests that they are not of the earthly plain as we understand it and that Jessop’s ship has somehow slipped into their realm. Hodgson had the chance to introduce an inventive and memorable paranormal threat, and the supernatural creatures he describes in Boats of the ‘Glen Carrig’ and The House on the Borderland make clear that he was capable of doing so, but instead he opted for something that was frankly a bit boring. Even so, it should be noted that Hodgson developed this story long before the idea of the Bermuda Triangle became popular, yet it strangely seems to presage some of the paranormal theories put forth to try to explain that phenomenon.

The thing that most makes up for the missteps of The Ghost Pirates is the story’s atmosphere, which is much enhanced by Hodgson’s real-world nautical experience. Many authors depict every day on the high seas as an adventure, but Hodgson takes a more balanced approach and depicts regular life on the ship in a matter-of-fact matter, not exaggerated for effect. Not only does this practice make the depictions of naval life engaging, but it enhances the feeling of wrongness when the supernatural events begin to occur; instead of switching from one type of adventure to another, the narrative is instead switching from the routine to something that is anything but.

Even with this story benefiting from Hodgson’s real life experiences, the result is okay but not particularly noteworthy, a 3/5. It apparently served as a stepping stone to the slightly better Boats of the ‘Glen Carrig,’ though neither are as strong as The House on the Borderland. What a strange trilogy.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this book in the '80s and had fond memories of it. Having just re-read it (Dec 09), I was pleasantly surprised that it was every bit as good as I remembered it.

Having been published in 1905, this is not a graphic horror story, rather it is an atmospheric supernatural tale that builds tension through hints and suggestions; half-seen, half-imagined horrors. That the author, Hodgson, was in the British Navy for several years adds to the realism of his depiction of life aboard a sailing ship of the early 20th century, although his use of some technical naval terms does get you running for the dictionary.

On the whole, a very enjoyable read. Ghosts and pirates: it does what it says on the tin!

[Bryham Fabian · Rating 3 out of 5]

En realidad la nota sería: 3.75.

He disfrutado mucho la experiencia vivida con esta obra. Mi primer acercamiento oficial a una historia larga de Hodgson, sin tener en cuenta relatos sueltos que pude escuchar algunas noches en audio en años pasados, y he decir que me intrigó. Algo que vale la pena resaltar sin lugar a dudas es el manejo que la obra da a la oscuridad, no es simplemente parte de los escenarios de la historia; una característica azarosa destinada meramente a comunicarnos el paso de las noches o la forma en que se nos justifica que ocurra una fatalidad sin que nos enteremos muy bien de la causa. Nada de eso, aquí la oscuridad la sentí como un personaje más. Aquí es tratada como una situación que los personajes, sin importar quién todos saben y concuerdan instintivamente en qué la oscuridad es la antesala a una desgracia. Incluso los esfuerzos por evitarla (o la incapacidad de ver gracias a la bruma) son en si mismos la fuente principal del suspenso.

La historia no pretende ser explicativa en ningún momento, muy a mi pesar pues lo que sugiere es fascinante: una superposición de dos planos o dimensiones en un mismo espacio con dos tipos de tripulación siendo conscientes mutuamente de esto. Lo que terminas sabiendo de ella son apenas deducciones en medio de miedos paralizantes que algunos personajes como Jessop o Tammy van creando junto al lector mientras el destino de El Mortzestus parece cerrarse inevitablemente junto al de sus tripulantes.

[GeneralTHC · Rating 4 out of 5]

4-stars
I liked this one a lot. I wish I could find more of this "hauntings at sea" type of thing. The only drawback was all the nautical terminology I wasn't sure about. Overall, it was a great Halloween read.

[Aaron Novelo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una joyita, quizá el mejor relato de terror marítimo.

[Jakub Demianczuk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bardzo lubię, choć to trochę zmurszała proza. Ale gdyby Hodgson skondensował ten tekst do rozmiarów opowiadania, to by był top, bo finał to czysta groza.

[David Merrill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is over 100 years old. It reads surprisingly current, considering that. I've read part 1 of the author's book The Night Land, which is written intentionally in an archaic style, which makes it tough going. I'll finish it eventually, but probably will have to reread part 1 again. This book wasn't tough going at all. I liked the slow build up of the hauntings until, well, I'll leave that to you to find out when you read it. Definitely a good creeper for Halloween. I may read The House On The Borderland next. I've already read The Boats Of The Glen Carrig. I have all 5 volumes of The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson, but I'm reading these from separate paperbacks I have too. I'm selling the 5 volumes on eBay because I tend not to read short stories much any more. If I end up giving them a try I may take them off eBay. We'll see.

[D'Ailleurs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Κλασσική ιστορία φαντασμάτων, κλειστοφοβική και τρομακτική όσο πρέπει. Σε όσους αρέσει η pulp λογοτεχνία ας τσεκάρει. Μετάφραση/επιμέλεια πολύ καλύτερα.

[Joel Ayala Alicea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the last installmente in what later came to be known as Trilogy of the abyss or Hodgson trilogy. But the reader should know that even though its very author regarded them as a trilogy the three novels -The boats of the Glen Carrig, The house on the borderland and The ghost pirates- may be read in any order whatsoever, because they differ in scope and theme; although the first and the last one share a common setting, the sea, the stories are quite different. So, having said, I must definitely agree with those savvy in the genre who claim that this is the best ghost story set in the sea. I've been a Hodgson fan ever since I read The house in the borderland -which according to his biographers is along with The night land, his best work- and after reading this trilogy I'm more than happy to say that I wasn't wrong. –- Esta es la última parte de lo que más tarde llegó a conocerse como La trilogía del abismo o Trilogía de Hodgson. Debo aclarar que aunque el propio autor las cataloga como tal, esta tres novelas -Los botes del Glen Carrig, La casa en el confí de la tierra y Los piratas fantasmas- se pueden leer en cualquier orden que el lector prefiera, ya que difieren en contenido y temática; aunque la primera y la última compartan un mismo escenario, el mar, las historias son muy diferentes. Así pues, no puedo más que concordar totalmente con aquellos conocedores del género que afirman que esta es la mejor historia de fantasmas ambientada en el mar. He sido fanático de Hodgson desde que leí La casa en el confín de la tierra – que según sus biógrafos es, junto con El reino de la noche, su mejor obra- y después de terminar de leer esta trilogía me alegra decir que no me equivoqué con él.

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another horror/fantasy blend. There's not much by way of explanation in this one: the first line of the first chapter kind of sums it up: "He began without any circumlocution." Hodgson builds up the setting quite well, the slow beginning of the supernatural events and the spreading fear and paranoia. There's a lot of concrete detail about life on board a ship that serves to make it very much like realism, and then all hell breaks loose. The hows and whys of it aren't explained, only the events. Creepy and urgent at times, and a bit quicker paced than The Boats of the Glen Carrig and The House on the Borderland.

There are more named characters, in this one, though they're not very distinct from one another -- I might remember a few of them, Williams and Tammy for example, but mostly they were just Generic Sailors. There's also dialogue, unlike in the other two books I've read by Hodgson, which does seem to get things going a bit more urgently.

Atmospheric, and well-described in places -- not exactly fast-paced compared to modern novels, though.