Harpoon Venture

by Gavin Maxwell

Harpoon Venture is the thrilling story of Gavin Maxwell's four years hunting the basking shark. When Maxwell, best known for Ring of Bright Water, acquired a small island off Scotland after World War Two, he decided to hunt the thirty-foot leviathan of the northern waters for commercial purposes. He confronts danger and difficulties of a magnitude to make this a tale of sea chase with very few peers among books of maritime adventure.

Genres: Nonfiction, Scotland, Biography

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Gavin Maxwell was a Scottish naturalist and author, best known for his work with otters. He was born in Scotland in 1914 to Lieutenant-Colonel Aymer Maxwell and Lady Mary Percy, whose father was the seventh Duke of Northumberland. He was raised in the small village of Elrig, near Port William, which he later described in his autobiography The House of Elrig (1965).

After serving in the Second World War as an instructor with the Special Operations Executive, he purchased the Isle of Soay in the Inner Hebrides, where he attempted to establish a shark fishery. In 1956 he travelled to the Tigris Basin in Southern Iraq with the explorer Wilfred Thesiger to explore the area's vast unspoiled marshes; Maxwell's account of their travels was published as A Reed Shaken by the Wind (1959). It was there that he adopted the otter Mijbil. The story of how Maxwell brought Mijbil back to rise in his isolated home in Sandaig (named Camusfeàrna in the book) on the west coast of Scotland, is told in Ring of Bright Water (1960); the book sold more than two million copies and in 1969 was made into a film. It was the first in Maxwell's 'otter trilogy', for which he remains best known: its sequels were The Rocks Remain (1963) and Raven Seek Thy Brother (1968).

The house at Sandaig was destroyed by fire in 1968, and Maxwell moved into a former lighthouse keeper's cottage on the nearby island of Eilean Bàn. He died in 1969. His Eilean Bàn home remains a museum and the island a wildlife sanctuary.

Reviews

[Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mixed feelings over this one. I love Gavin Maxwell as an author and adore his RING OF BRIGHT WATER trilogy. He keeps you interested in the most mundane day-to-day details of life and his writings are next to none in terms of realism and depth. However, I'm also a huge nature lover, and HARPOON AT A VENTURE is all about the mass killing of wild creatures for human profit. After WW2, Maxwell set up a business hunting basking sharks off the western coast of Scotland for their liver oil, and this short book charts the rise and fall of the enterprise.

It's repetitive stuff indeed, with plenty of bloodshed filling the pages which I found somewhat repellent. On the other hand, seafaring always interests me and the usual tall stories and heroism abound here. The pages are full of well-described land and sea scapes, quirky characters, and captures of a way of life long extinct. In the end, the subject matter put me off too much to enjoy it, and I can only be grateful that Maxwell saw the error of his ways in later years.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harpoon at a Venture erzählt von dem Versuch, auf der kleinen Hebrideninsel Soay ein Unternehmen zu gründen. Gavin Maxwell kaufte die Insel nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg. Er wollte nicht nur der Besitzer der Insel sein, sondern auch den Einwohnern eine Perspektive bieten. Nach einigen Überlegungen fasste er den Entschluss, etwas schon Bekanntes größer aufzuziehen und entschied sich für die Jagd auf Riesenhaie. Es folgten Jahre voller Lehren, Rückschlägen und der Erkenntnis, dass es auch die besten Absichten nicht immer zum Erfolg führen.



Meine Meinung

Ich kannte Gavon Maxwell bereits aus der Trilogie The ring of bright water, das zeitlich nach diesem Buch spielt. Jetzt habe ich erfahren, wie es dazu kam, dass Gavin Maxwell die Insel kaufte (wobei es mich immer wieder überrascht, wie einfach es doch ist, eine Insel zu kaufen). Die Idee dazu kam ihm während seines Dienstes im Krieg: einer seiner Kameraden kam von den äußeren Hebriden und ist ihm durch seine Gelassenheit aufgefallen. Ich finde, es gibt schlechtere Gründe, sich für die Hebriden zu entscheiden.



Ähnlich fiel auch die Wahl auf seinen zukünftigen Lebensunterhalt (und auch den der Inselbewohner): ein Fischer lud ihn zur Jagd auf den Hai ein und so fiel auch diese Entscheidung. So ungewöhnlich seine Kriterien sind, so ernsthaft ist Gavin Maxwell in der Ausführung. Sicherlich fehlen ihm die Erfahrung und der Weitblick, aber das macht er durch harte Arbeit wett.



Das Buch teilt sich in zwei Teile: einmal die Geschichte des kleinen Unternehmens, das Gavin gegründet hat. Das fand ich sehr interessant. Der andere Teil beschäftigt sich mit den Fischen in den einheimischen Gewässern und den verschiedenen Fangtechniken, damit konnte ich weniger anfangen. Fischerei und Angeln ist leider nicht meins.

[Gus Brydon · Rating 5 out of 5]

When reading this book about Gavin Maxwell setting up a shark fishing factory on the Island of Soay in 1945. It must be acknowledged that at this time in history, big game hunters were still roaming darkest Africa in search of trophies. Ivory piano keys and fur coats were still very much in high demand. Post WWII, natural resources around the World were in very short supply, oil was now the commodity. Gavin Maxwell saw this potential in the basking shark which could produce half a ton of oil, which in 1945 could be sold for £50 a ton, increasing price year by year. If handled properly, this could have been a very profitable industry for him and the small population on Soay, alas Maxwell didn't have the real knowhow or adaquate advice to make it a going success. A great book of derring-do, during a time when animal conservation had never been thought of. It's perhaps fortunate for the basking shark, that Gavin Maxwell didn't have the full financial backing to fully succeed with his venture. The first book written by Gavin Maxwell, who was hailed by The Times as 'a man of action who writes like a poet'.

[Mr O'Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating insight into the mind of an eccentric and likeable nature lover whose mindset is of one brought up in late imperialism - man must conquer all and capitalist enterprise is the way to do it.

Others down rated this book for its antiquated attitudes to the mass killing of what are now rare animals (he even takes potshots at orcas!) but I found this one of its most intriguing aspects.

Worth reading for the sheer romance of the Hebrides. I would have loved to have shared a bottle of rum with Gavin Maxwell while floating on a shark boat off the Sound of Soay. Perhaps in another life.

[Alan Thomson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel a bit like some of the other reviewers about this book. I think it is well written and fascinating in the trials and tribulations of setting up a basking shark venture after WW2. However some of the values and content are awful by today’s moral and ethical standards and his justification for the killing do not really stand up to scrutiny. It’s a bit like a horror film which you do and don’t want to watch at the same time. Interesting from a historical perspective though.

[Bill Leach · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of an attempt to set up a Basking Shark fishery in the Hebrides. Despite initial difficulties spearing and capturing the sharks, they eventually developed suitable harpoons. They also found that using harpoons tied to floating drums allowed them to improve their catch. Once caught, the sharks were tied to the larger boat to be transported back to the shore factory. In the end, this transport was a bottleneck in the operations and efforts made to obtain a factory boat failed.

The book contains great descriptions of the Hebrides and their natural history, where the author succeeds in showing the beauty of the area.

The inhabitants of the Hebrides are also characterized. Maxwell describes the many objects that fisherman will not tolerate on a fishing boat such as eggs, rabbits, pigs and women. Many of these things cannot be named and are referred to obliquely as the "those grunting things" and "the furry long-eared things".

Well written.

[Nick Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fancy hunting sharks? Big ones? Vegetarian ones? A good record of Gavin Maxwell-Davies attempts to set up a shark fishery in post-war West of Scotland waters. Vivid and fluid descriptions of the characters both hunters and hunted.

[Marian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit repetitive but historically and geographically interesting. And what's better than the freakish world if basking sharks. All the harpoonery was a bit brutal, PETAs beware.