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White Ship
In 1819 a raging storm battered Cape Horn, driving the Portuguese sailing ship San Delmar to desruction in the remote South Sandwich Islands.
Over a century and a half later, Susan Kent, research student, persuades David Seymour, zoologist, to join an expidition to the South Sandwich Islands to look for the legendary golden seals.
Over a century and a half later, Susan Kent, research student, persuades David Seymour, zoologist, to join an expidition to the South Sandwich Islands to look for the legendary golden seals.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
About the author
Ian Cameron
143 books10 followersPseudonym of Donald Gordon Payne.
Donald Gordon Payne was an English author of adventure novels and travel books.
Donald Gordon Payne was born in Denmark Hill in South East London in January 1924. His father, Francis, was a New Zealander, who served in the First World War with the ANZACS. His mother was Evelyn Rodgers, a nurse during the Great War.
He was educated at Dulwich College Preparatory School and then at Charterhouse School. As a child he travelled with his parents to New Zealand and parts of the East coast of Australia – an experience which left him with a lifelong affection for these countries.
Deferring his place at Corpus Christi College Oxford, he enlisted in the Fleet Air Arm in 1943. After training at Sealand, near Liverpool, and at Kingston, Ontario, Canada he was awarded his wings and joined Swordfish Squadron 811 and later 835. He took part in Atlantic and Russian convoys in 1944 and 1945 as a Swordfish pilot, mainly on anti-submarine duties.
After the war he studied at Oxford and became an editor and ghost writer for the London based publishing firm of Christopher Johnson. From there he moved into a full-time career as a writer.
Using James Vance Marshall as a pseudonym, Payne wrote such books as A River Ran Out of Eden (1962) and White-Out (1999). His most famous book is probably Walkabout (1959), first published as The Children and later made into a movie starring Jenny Agutter.
Payne has also used Ian Cameron and Donald Gordon as pseudonyms. As Donald Gordon, he published, among others, Riders of the Storm (2002), an official history of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. As Ian Cameron, he wrote The Lost Ones (1961), later dramatized by Disney as The Island at the Top of the World, as well as The Mountain at the Bottom of the World (1975) and The White Ship (1975).
He disliked publicity of any kind, preferring to stay out of the limelight. During his long and distinguished publishing career he made few author appearances, notably for the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Lifeboat Institution and the Reader's Digest.
He lived in Surrey, England, and had four sons and one daughter. He passed away on 22 August, 2018 at the age of 94.
Donald Gordon Payne was an English author of adventure novels and travel books.
Donald Gordon Payne was born in Denmark Hill in South East London in January 1924. His father, Francis, was a New Zealander, who served in the First World War with the ANZACS. His mother was Evelyn Rodgers, a nurse during the Great War.
He was educated at Dulwich College Preparatory School and then at Charterhouse School. As a child he travelled with his parents to New Zealand and parts of the East coast of Australia – an experience which left him with a lifelong affection for these countries.
Deferring his place at Corpus Christi College Oxford, he enlisted in the Fleet Air Arm in 1943. After training at Sealand, near Liverpool, and at Kingston, Ontario, Canada he was awarded his wings and joined Swordfish Squadron 811 and later 835. He took part in Atlantic and Russian convoys in 1944 and 1945 as a Swordfish pilot, mainly on anti-submarine duties.
After the war he studied at Oxford and became an editor and ghost writer for the London based publishing firm of Christopher Johnson. From there he moved into a full-time career as a writer.
Using James Vance Marshall as a pseudonym, Payne wrote such books as A River Ran Out of Eden (1962) and White-Out (1999). His most famous book is probably Walkabout (1959), first published as The Children and later made into a movie starring Jenny Agutter.
Payne has also used Ian Cameron and Donald Gordon as pseudonyms. As Donald Gordon, he published, among others, Riders of the Storm (2002), an official history of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. As Ian Cameron, he wrote The Lost Ones (1961), later dramatized by Disney as The Island at the Top of the World, as well as The Mountain at the Bottom of the World (1975) and The White Ship (1975).
He disliked publicity of any kind, preferring to stay out of the limelight. During his long and distinguished publishing career he made few author appearances, notably for the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Lifeboat Institution and the Reader's Digest.
He lived in Surrey, England, and had four sons and one daughter. He passed away on 22 August, 2018 at the age of 94.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 7, 2016
Aggressively persuaded to do so by zoology student, Miss Susan Kent, The British Antarctic Survey forms a 5 man expedition team to travel overseas to Candlemas Island, in the Antarctic regions. Their goal: to survey the weather conditions. However, Miss Susan Kent's goal is different to their own: to find the legendary golden seals. Through the power and money of her rich father, she convinces the reluctant British Antarctic Survey to include her on the expedition team to seek out the golden seals, and failing that, to study the more common seals living habits and ritualistic behaviors purportedly living on the island. All that and a bag of ghostly chips sets our adventures off on a dangerous undertaking of unknown proportions.
4 1/2 stars. Though fully entertaining, I've lowered it by one half star because, when comparing it to his previous adventure novels, Island At The Top Of The World (aka The Lost Ones ) & The Mountains At The Bottom Of The World (aka Devil Country ), it's just a whisper below them.
Written in the style of the Scientific Romances of old, by famous authors such as Jules Verne ( 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea , The Mysterious Island , Journey to the Center of the Earth ), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ( The Lost World , The Maracot Deep ), James Hilton (Lost Horizon), Edgar Rice Burroughs (The Land That Time Forgot), H. Rider Haggard (King Solomon's Mines) etc., this is old-timey adventure fiction. The addition of a ghostly presence pushes it a bit more into the realm of Fantasy, but not much more than the supernaturalism found, in say, Hilton's Lost Horizon .
The writing is strong, and vitally important to making the story feel plausible.
It is a cryptid adventure, but not as difficult to give credence to, as it would be, if it were a quest to find Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster.
Beyond that, there might even be a bit of romance on the horizon between our 2 main characters, David Seymour and Susan Kent. Or, maybe not(?).
Wait...⬆his doesn't look like a white ship to me!(?)I was glued to the book and couldn't turn the pages fast enough. And with it being only 200 pages long, it made for a fast read. But, not a forgettable one.
One of the things I love about books of this kind is when they start off in an older time-period, foreshadowing and expanding a deeper mystery to the story at large. A technique that is handled very carefully here, inter-weaving throughout the rest of it until the very end. Modern adventure novels still do this routinely, by authors such as Clive Cussler , Michael Crichton , James Rollins , Steve Alten , Jeremy Robinson , Greig Beck , Warren Fahy , Jack Rogan , Eric Penz , etc. A technique, I might add, that never gets old for me.
Ian Cameron became an instant favorite author of mine after I read Island At The Top Of The World - made into the Disney film of the same name - finding it in perfect condition at one of my favorite local bookstores, The Book Shop. After I read that, I quickly sought out a pristine copy of (the unrelated) The Mountains At The Bottom Of The World . I absolutely adored them both.
I seriously believe Ian Cameron is the closest thing to Jules Verne , so close sometimes as to almost believe he could be an incarnation of the master himself; sharply educated, imagination unbound, characters you immediately love and/or fall in step with, similarly geographically inclined, comparable build-ups of plot, sub-plots, dialogue and character development, settings equally spell-binding in locale, and the natural storytelling grace of seamlessly merging the science of the real world with the fantastic.
The only bad thing? I have now read all of his 'fantastic' novels. His remaining adventure novel is, from what I understand, a straight historical novel; Magellan and the First Circumnavigation of the World - of which I am positively going to read - and his other works are even less fantastical in nature, descriptions convincing me they are 1/2 historical novels 1/2 travel stories. Of those, the one I want to read most is Antarctica: The Last Continent .
Ian Cameron , it is interesting to note, is a pseudonym. He has also written books under his real name, Donald Gordon Payne and as Donald Gordon . But, is perhaps best known when using the pseudonym, James Vance Marshall , author of Walkabout , which was turned into an enthralling film, directed by Nicolas Roeg . Somewhat surprising as well, he wrote a children's book with this same name, once again, about golden seals, called A River Ran Out of Eden .
Anybody that knows of scientific romance adventures comparable to any of the authors I mentioned, please do me the favor and list them in the comments below my review. It would be well appreciated, as I do know most of them, but you never know if I missed noting a couple of gems I need to know about.
*Recommended(!) to those who already have a keen interest in fiction of this type, but if new to this, I suggest starting with the books by him I mentioned above, first.
January 24, 2013
I enjoyed the story.It has mystery, ghosts, a quirky plot and takes place on one of the most inaccessible islands on the planet. I didn't like the patronizing attitude toward women, but given the times I wouldn't hold that against the author!
June 22, 2021
Not what i expected!
June 11, 2022
Much better than I expected it to be, with a nice surprise at the end.
January 20, 2016
Giving it two stars was generous. I found the story line weak and hard to believe. Doing research in the polar regions in the winter? Doubtful. Golden, mythological seals? Were they not just leucistic seals? The whole book seems weak on plot and development. I only finished it because I would read anything about the Antarctic.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews