Sinking Ship

Donald Cameron Naval Thriller #14

by Philip McCutchan

Lieutenant-Commander Cameron, RNVR, is up against impossible odds.

He and his men are travelling aboard the Charger, under the watchful eye of Captain Mason-Goodson and his crew.

Cameron and his men are under orders not to interfere and to behave more like passengers than crew members.

But when the boat is hit by a freak storm things start to take a bad turn and Mason-Goodson’s decisions begin to cost lives and turn even his own crew against him.

And around them, the Second World War is raging and nobody has the men to spare to rescue the Charger.

Chaos erupts, the ship is barely holding on and Cameron finds himself placed in and out of command as Mason-Goodwin’s health plummets more and more.

Can Cameron keep the crew afloat until rescue comes?

Will rescue come at all?

And of course, at any moment, their enemy could be hidden amongst the waves.
This book was previously published as Cameron’s Crossing.

Genres: War, Military Fiction

210 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

aka Robert Conington Galway, Duncan MacNeil

Philip McCutchan (1920-1996) grew up in the naval atmosphere of Portsmouth Dockyard and developed a lifetime's interest in the sea. Military history was an early interest resulting in several fiction books, from amongst his large output, about the British Army and its campaigns, especially in the last 150 years.

Reviews

[Walt Crites]

The Donald Cameron series was action packed and kept me reading through the entire series. I suspect though, that e-book series like these are heavily edited, because the protagonist, Donald Cameron, was scarcely mentioned outside of actual battle scenes. After returning from his many exciting exploits, we never learn how he faired with the admiralty and what they may have thought of his actions. He was never assigned a meaningful ship; he never rose above the grade of Lt. Commander; and he had no shore life beyond the first three novels. After the 7th novel in the series, it became very pedantic, and Lt. Commander Cameron became an automation who had no life beyond the sea. Unfortunately we learned too much about his crew's lives. Personally, I would liked to have the Lt. Commander fleshed out more. But, I did read all 14 books.

[Don Brenner]

Good read

This read is a more sobering one. Donald Cameron and his new crew get to travel as guests on an escort carrier but end up becoming active crew due to extenuating circumstances and have difficult time of it.

[Mr Michael R Stevens]

Enjoyable But Not His Best

Although I enjoy the Donald Cameron series I found this one readable but hard going if that’s not a contradiction.
Not the non stop action of the others but a story still full of great characters which we get to know.
Recommended

[Brinn Colenda]

Good book. Not as good as some of the others in the series...

[Dan]

Completed a binge read of the series. Books were fun and fast moving. Terminology got in the way for us Americans. Really wish there were a couple more

[simon keen]

Great.book

Great book by an author who clearly knows.the ways of the Andrew. I book I had a job to put down.

[Mark Cavallari]

What a great series of books.

[Peter]

Enjoyable naval fiction, with the weather being the enemy this time.

[John Rosenberger]

Another good book. Sorry to see the series come to an end. Cameron is a good officer.

[John Purvis]

“Sinking Ship” (aka Cameron’s Crossing) ebook was published in 2016 (original paper version published in 1993) and was written by Phillip McCutchan (https://www.historicnavalfiction.com/...). Mr. McCutchan wrote 45 novels about the Navy. This is the last of the 14 novels in his “Donald Cameron RNVR” series.

I received a galley of this novel for review through https://www.netgalley.com. I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence. This novel is set aboard a small aircraft carrier, the Charger, crossing the North Atlantic to America during World War II. Cameron and his crew are mere passengers on the ship as they have orders to crew a destroyer currently finishing refit in the US. The Charger is without an air wing and has a minimal crew as the ship is headed for refit herself.

The Charger and her small fleet of escorts encounter a severe storm that threatens to sink them all. The carrier’s captain is showing signs of mental breakdown, making questionable decisions. Severely damaged after the storm, but unable to radio for help, the ships must continue to struggle towards the west. Once the weather clears they become a target for German aircraft and submarines. Cameron is forced to become more than a passenger if he and the crew are to survive.

I enjoyed this relatively short read of 5 hours for this 156 page novel. As with other novels in this series, a good deal of the story describes the stress and strain that various crew members are going through. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at http://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

[Michael Bully]

The novel has got some great ingredients: An aircraft carrier is having to cross the north Atlantic to Virginia in February 1942 ( I think!), at a risk from air attack, mines, U boats. The ship needs a re-fit and carries forty aircraft .One Ltn. Commander Cameron is a passenger, and as the ship gets more storm battered, seems to be without escort, the captain gets crazier. Makes rash decisions which costs men's life. The Ltn. Commander has to step up. The tension is built up well as various calamities hit the ship, until it's left as an easy target for either further storm battering or enemy attack.
Some members of the crew are given their own story involving 'problems at home' .
The novel is entertaining but the ending starts accelerating and gets very predictable as it the author wanted to hastily wrap up the story. It's adequate but such a high standard of World War 2 fiction has been set with classics like 'The Cruel Sea' and 'HMS Ulysses' so three stars seems the more appropriate rating.

[7$MartyQ]

Quite a tale

I've never read a book that was almost exclusively on the trials and tribulations of an entire ship's company trying to survive after being ravaged by the sea until now. If you were blown over the side, you were as good as dead from the cold of the North Atlantic, and if you somehow managed to remain afloat, you could just about be certain to be killed by the Germans. Really a good read.

[Reg Cassibry]

Great story of men against the sea

A different twist to a David Cameron novel. The enemy is the sea, not the Germans. Having been on a small carrier caught in a typhoon I found the story very real. ,

[Chaplain Stanley Chapin]

A good Naval yarn

To many of the poorly manned and outdated vessels shared the same fate, particularly during the early part of world war 2.