Men of the Deep Waters

by William Hope Hodgson

Included in this volume of William Hope Hodgson's short fiction are the stories, "On the Bridge," "The Seahorses," "The Derelict," "My House Shall Be Called the House," "From the Tideless Sea," "The Captain of the Onion Boat," "The Voice in the Night," "Through the Vortex of a Cyclone," "The Mystery of the Derelict," and "The Shamraken Homeward-Bounder," and the poems "The Song of the Great Bull Whale," and "Grey Seas Are Dreaming of My Death."

Genres: Horror, Classics, Short Stories, Mystery, Weird Fiction, Anthologies

167 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1914

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

[Rex Libris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of nautical-themed short stories by Hodgson. A precursor to Lovecraft et al, Hodgson's stories generally involve interactions with spirits and monsters. In this set the general theme is ships stranded in the Sargasso Sea and attacked by odd denizens of the deep. The stories were of varying quality, but if you like stories of the macabre, then you will like Hodgson in general.

[Leila Anani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthology collecting together several of Hodgson's sea stories and two poems. This is a wonderfully varied collection of stories very different in tone from the uncanny 'The Voice in the Night' to the profoundly tragic 'The sea Horses'. The house of prayer is a bit of an oddity because it is the only tale that doesn't really have a nautical connection at all and deals with a priest trying to help out a poor but proud parishioner. The captain of the onion boat is another oddity about a sailor in love with a nun who finally carries her off - this one feels like it was written by a completely different author which just shows Hodgson's versatility.

Other than the slightly odd choice of stories to be lumped together here, this is an excellent collection from a highly underrated author.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.10⭐

The Song of the Great Bull Whale • (1912) • poem 3⭐
On the Bridge • (1912) 5⭐
The Sea Horses • (1913) 5⭐
The Derelict • (1912) 5⭐
My House Shall Be Called the House of Prayer • (1911) 4.25⭐
From the Tideless Sea • [Sargasso Sea] 3.25⭐
The Captain of the Onion Boat • (1910) 3⭐
The Voice in the Night • (1907) 5⭐
Through the Vortex of a Cyclone • (1907) 5⭐
The Mystery of the Derelict • [Sargasso Sea] • (1907) 4.25⭐
The Shamraken Homeward-Bounder • (1908) 3.5⭐
Grey Seas Are Dreaming of My Death • (1912) • poem 3⭐

[Nad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of short stories starts really strong, but once it hits the sea adventures, it becomes somewhat uneven. Most of them deal with the horrors of weeds and cyclones, and this becomes repetitive, especially if you read "The Boats of the Glen Carrig" first. Most dialogues have phonetically written accents, which is both the great asset and a great difficulty of the book.

On the Bridge - 4
Short and to the point.

The Sea Horses - 4.5
Dude, maybe think what you tell your little grandson with wild imagination you yourself contributed to developing?

The Derelict - 3
The description of what's happening with the derelict gets repetitive and you realise what's going on much faster than the characters. The reveal is pretty much spoiled by the doctor himself in his musings in the beginning. Needed more mould and less slang.

My House Shall Be Called the House of Prayer - 5
Love me some resourceful priest.

From the Tideless Sea p1 + The Losing of the Homebird + From the Tideless Sea p2 (they are all parts of a continuous story) - 4
Feels derivative if you've read "The Boats of the Glen Carrig", but adds a pinch of a different existential horror. Should have stopped here at p2.

The Fifth Message - 2.5
Continuation of the previous story, but rated separately because it goes significantly downhill. Suspense done well, but overall repetitive and the narrator is annoying. Listen to your wife, man!

The Captain of the Onion Boat - 1
The author ponders on religion and love in a verbose and boring way. Also, apparently "a woman" and "a nun" are mutually exclusive notions? 🤔

The Voice in the Night - 4
Everything is better with fungi! The only thing missing is a bit of fungus left on the ship.

Through the Vortex of a Cyclone -?
A fully nautical survival story. Probably really intense if it's the first one you read, but there are so many storm descriptions in so many Hodgson's stories that this one becomes "yet another one". Cool addition of photography and interesting electrical phenomena.

The Mystery of the Derelict - 2
Yet another old-time ship with a superstructure lost in yet another patch of weed, yet another curious bunch have to run for their lives from the horror. This time, it's giant rats, for a change.

The Shamraken Homeward-Bounder - 4
A nautical version of "Cohen and the Silver Horde" have a religious experience in a cyclone. Dialogue is practically unreadable due to heavy accents.

[arg/machine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic nautical fantasy/horror from Mr. Hodgson. In the public domain, with a free electronic copy here.